Notes From a Scots Girl: Teaching at a Rural School in Kampot

I'm temporarily back in Scotland and it is scary how easily I seem to have slipped back into normal life; sometimes it seems like I've never even been away. Of course, this is not the case and my travels are still very much with me in memory, in the form of new friendships, how they've shaped my view of the world, fueled my passion for life and all the places and people in it. I've always had a desire to travel so that hasn't changed, but my 5 month adventure in Cambodia and Thailand has really made me realise how intrinsically important travel is to me and I now have a genuine interest in global issues; including human rights, poverty, geopolitics and the environment, to name a few. It is cliche, but my experience has made me appreciate how lucky I am to have a loving family who support me, an education that gives me opportunities and independence, a UK passport that allows me to travel easily to any country I choose and an economy where I am able to save money to travel to those countries.

Coming home was full of mixed emotions; I was so sad to leave - I felt there was still so much to see and do - but knowing I had family and friends who missed me and who would be there to welcome me home was a wonderful feeling. Coming home is, in a way, as much a part of traveling as actually being away; being reunited with friends and family, sharing all your memories in the form of photos and stories as well as giving little souvenirs; you're still riding high on the travel adrenaline bursting with tales of your adventures! It is the static of being at home day to day that seems so dull and even boring after the exciting adventures of travelling. Since coming back to Scotland, I've tried to keep the momentum up and keep busy - I managed to get a part-time job, I've seen most of my friends, spent time with family and completed an online TEFL course. This blog has become a little more sporadic than I would like, but I truly believe there is no point in writing if you don't have time to write with feeling, so today I have a rare day on the sofa before work and I'm taking time to update 'notesfromasc0tsgirl' !

Teaching at a Rural School in Kampot

Teaching at a rural school in Kampot was one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had. The school was in a very rural area of Kampot on a small island known to the locals as 'Fish Isle'. Each day to get there, Sokhun the Cambodian English teacher at the school picked me up on his scooter and we drove about 20 minutes out of Kampot town, over the 'new bridge' and across another bridge (in the picture below) to Fish Isle. Once on the island, the roads changed to red dirt track and its uneven pot-holed surface made for a bumpy ride which took a bit of getting used to since I'd never been on a motorbike before!

I loved the journey to the school, the landscape was beautiful and watching people go about their everyday lives in this rural area was fascinating.

A typical house on stilts on 'Fish Isle'

After a couple of weeks in Kampot the weather took a turn for the worse and the rainy season well and truly arrived! It made the journey to the school very difficult as the dirt track became a slippery, muddy obstacle course round deep puddles. On two occasions the rain was so heavy and the road so bad that it was too unsafe and pretty impossible for us to make the journey to school. Whilst locals usually managed to style it out driving with umbrellas, I did the unthinkable... donned a plastic poncho! In bright orange, no less! They do the job of keeping you dry well, but in the unbelievable humidity they are hot and sticky to wear! Arriving home to Little Garden, from the school, on days like these was always funny - Saran the House Mother and Sokhun's wife, would laugh at the state of us looking like drowned rats and covered in a splattering of orange all up our legs and backs from the muddy track! Saran showed me to the hose and brush where I scrubbed my legs before going into the house!

One day, on a Khmer holiday, I cycled with another volunteer who had come for a visit from the orphanage to teach the children. Although it was a school holiday, the children are so eager to learn that they want to come to school anyway, so as a volunteer of course we were up for going, even although Sokhun wouldn't be there. Half way there the weather closed in and the heavy rains came! We got absolutely soaked, but a kind Cambodian man waved us into the shelter of his home which was nothing more than a small shed made from corrugated iron pieces. Below is a picture I took from his home.

After the rains the rice paddies were drenched and the water buffalo loved it!

When I first arrived at Kampot, it was still dry and I often saw local salt farmers working in the salt fields.

One of my students and her mum outside their home on the island.

Teaching at the school was one of my favourite experiences of my whole time away. The children were full of energy and enthusiasm and so receptive to me. I have never taught before; so it was a challenge to come up with lesson plans to fill an hour, capture and hold their attention, but teaching the children was so much fun. Sokhun gave me a copy of their English book: one each for the older and younger class, so for the initial few lessons I was able to plan them around the material in the book. The benefit of native speaking English teachers abroad is the students can learn the pronunciation of words and practice their conversational English. I found, as I'm sure is the case with most classes universally, that some children were more confident in participating and speaking than others. I found that I grew to know the children quite well and could guess who would be finished their worksheets first, who would have their hand up to participate and who required more than a little encouragement! How at ease I was standing in front of the class surprised me; making silly noises imitating animals, encouraging the whole class to repeat words and sentences after me, feigning sadness when no-one wanted to come up to the front of the class, shouting loud praises of "wohoo" or "well done" or "tres bien!" when they got something right and making them all erupt into fits of laughter; I felt compelled to show them the same enthusiasm as they did me. I spent my evenings lesson planning, coming up with games and creating worksheets. The reaction from my classes was fantastic and it really was the best, most rewarding feeling when the lessons went well. Only on a couple of occasions my lesson wasn't a success - it was too difficult and I had to improvise with games like hangman! A particular treat for them were word searches, if they spotted me taking them out my bag, they would go wild! The children were super enthusiastic, but really well behaved. Sometimes, they would grow too noisy and I would laugh and cover my ears and making a shh sign with my finger over my lips and they'd soon quieten down. The boys responded well to humour and joking and I often high fived them when they done well!

The children who came to the school came from humble homes, a lot of their families were farmers harvesting rice and salt on the island. Fish Isle has a large Muslim (or Cham as they are known in Cambodia and Vietnam) community so many of the women were covered and wore a hijab. Despite their poverty and humble lifestyle the children were always smiling, laughing, running around or playing games. When Sokhun and I arrived they would rush over to us; the children would encircle me, ask me questions, hold my hand or shout my name, keen to show me something! These were children not to be pitied; although poor, they had families to go home to and access to education. Their lives are simple, yes, but compared to the children I had lived with in the orphanage and the street kids I saw in Phnom Penh they were happy and loved.

Sokhun, their normal English teacher, was just as happy to have me there. He told me that because of Cambodia's past it's difficult to find good English teachers. He was a very busy man, travelling to several schools to teach. He explained that growing up it had been forbidden to learn English, but his Mother had insisted and he was eager to learn: he learnt in secret over the years. So it was due to his Mother's forward thinking that Sokhun now has a well respected job and reasonable lifestyle today.

Lesson Preparations: