Ed has been with Marine Conservation Cambodia since the very early days, and after falling into the teaching the older children and teenagers in the village he left back to the uk to take the TEFEL teaching course, he has now returned to the island more prepared and has begun to run a proper educational center for the community of Koh Rong Samloem.
At the new education center all lessons are informal as the students often have Khmer school, work commitments and family chores which must take priority.
Dot has become the teaching assistant for all the male participants and Srey Rot is the teaching assistant for all female participants.
A new library is being created and is already open to everyone in the community and has a small mixture of factual, fictional and Khmer-English books as well as magazines. The library is a work in progress and all donations of books and educational materials are very welcome.
The idea behind the new English school and education center was to initially establish something for the older teenagers and young adults in the village. Somewhere that they can come and learn and feel comfortable doing so. There is no pressure on them and lessons are fairly informal this also means that all those that do show up for lessons are motivated and want to learn. They have lessons in basic English conversation in a relaxed and easy atmosphere preparing them for real life use of the english language and English writing lessons for those that are ready and willing. The interesting part is that some of the community that have never really spoken or spent time with volunteers and tourists have managed to pick up a basic grasp of English already but their confidence has stopped them from using it.
Having repeated class groups and levels throughout the day means that if they are working or have other commitments then they can pick the time that suits them best. Dot and Srey Rot who have both been attending the original english lessons each evening for the past year and have a good understanding of both Khmer and English, assist Ed in the lessons creating a fully operational teaching team.
The Khmer Library is for the whole community books are handed out in the morning and collected the following day. It is great to walk through the village and see people of all ages sitting enjoying the traditional Khmer folk story books that form the base of the library.
Daily Schedule
Mornings The Khmer books will be given out and collected
1pm English lesson for boys who are free at that time (beginners)
3pm English lesson for girls (intermediate)
4pm English lesson for girls (intermediate)
5pm Informal English speaking for anybody
7pm English lesson for boys who are free at that time (beginners)
8pm English lesson for more advanced levels
