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| Me with some of my 7th graders |
In this second-to-last post I want to write about some of my last experiences at the highschool I've been teaching at for the last 7 months. For my last class with my 7th and 10th grade I planned to just play games and made a kinda home-made taboo game with vocabulary that they've learned in the last year. It was a lot of fun though if I were a more ambitious teacher, I could have been rather depressed at how few of the words they actually knew. It seemed to be the first time for a lot of them playing a game requiring acting out or drawing words. A student would be presented with a word like TV (one word that all of them know) to act out and he'd just stand with a rather shocked look on his face in front of the other students, or if he even did manage to pantomime something the other students would just stare back. The school system is so centered on just repeating back answers to the teacher and getting punished (physically) for saying something wrong that the students were afraid to shout out a wrong guess. I kept encouraging them to guess and they got more and more animated as the game went on.
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| drawing what I think was supposed to be a table of sorts |
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| trying to guess the word... |
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| ...and desparing (actually just trying to hide from the picture) |
My last day of teaching was Friday, but the last school was on Saturday. The teachers had asked me to come again on Saturday so that they could say goodbye (repeatedly, first one director came during class to tell me, then another [they have 4] came to me in the teachers' lounge the next day and then I guess for good measure the director called Pastor Khan the next day to remind me of it about an hour before I was supposed to come). They told me they wanted to give me a small present and I was expecting something like a framed picture or some kind of fancy certificate. When I arrived I was told to sit at the head of the table next to the main director (seat of honor) and then one of the directors spoke a few words and said that they wanted to give a small gift. Three of my 10th graders then came out of another room holding a small wrapped box. Knowing the usual procedures I got up and took hold of one end of the present while they held on to the other so pictures could be taken. The boy held a small speech in English thanking me for my time teaching and for donating the books again. Standing there looking in to the smiling faces of my students surrounded by all the teachers was one of my best moments here in Cambodia. I love to be in the center of attention (a character trait I'm not necessarily proud of), especially when I feel like I deserve it, and I do feel very proud about my time teaching at the school. Knowing that something you have put a lot of time and effort into has been appreciated and seeing that appreciation displayed is probably one of the most rewarding experiences in life.
I then opened the present and saw that it was a length of material for making a sombut, a traditional Cambodian skirt. It took a moment or two before it dawned on me what they had actually given me. It was not just any material but hand-woven raw Cambodian silk dyed in the most brilliant emerald green. Material like that costs anywhere up from $50 and most village women own only one such skirt. For Cambodia and this area it was an unbelievably extravagant present, something I was not remotely expecting and I was (and am) very touched by it.
By that point I realized that I was expected to hold a little speech (which I hadn't prepared). I started to talk and choked up after the first few words. However I managed to regaine composure and say a few very cheesy very emotional sentences.
After the “official” part snacks and drinks were served (by the students) and everybody sat down to eat and talk. I stayed for a while to talk, took some pictures with the teachers, had a few embarrassing moments with a rather infatuated young teacher who saw that morning as his last chance and headed home, leaving an era behind...
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| me trying to say something |
After the “official” part snacks and drinks were served (by the students) and everybody sat down to eat and talk. I stayed for a while to talk, took some pictures with the teachers, had a few embarrassing moments with a rather infatuated young teacher who saw that morning as his last chance and headed home, leaving an era behind...
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| Me with some of the teachers |
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| Me with one of the few teachers who could (and would) speak English with me and who was a great help to me |
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| Me with the main director |
...Well not completely, I had already invited my students to a going-away party on the 2nd of July and was hoping to say a proper farewell to them there. The preparations for the party took place in a typically Cambodian manner: confusion, miscommunication and a lot of "It's-oks" added to that unhappy circumstance of having a fever for most of the time before and after party. However at this point I also have to say that the kids at the orphanage wre amazing, they helped me shop for supplies, helped wrap presents (I gave every student a white-out, which is kinda luxury school supply here), blow up baloons, clean the church, decorate it, and a crew of them practiced some praise-and-worship songs for the beginning of the party.
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| wrapping presents |
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| singing praise and worship songs in the beginning |
The party was a success, most of my 7th graders and a handful of my 10th graders came, we sang songs, danced, ate and had a jolly good time. One of my favorite moments was towards the end of the party: My 10th graders wanted to start dancing and my 7th graders, panicked at the thought of dancing in front of the older kids, were nervously eying the exit. I went up to the group of kids who from the orphanage who were moderating/leading the party and said that we should play a game first. We had already set up chairs for “musical chairs”, Cambodian-style, which means you dance around the chairs instead of just walking, but nobody had sat down yet. The “moderators” said that the 7th graders didn't want to play. I said that they had to, marched over to them and with all of my remaining authority as a teacher said “SIT DOWN!”. It was beautiful, they all went to the chairs and sat down, and of course they were all really into the game as soon as it started.
We also played a dancing game where you dance while the music is on and when it's turned off you have freeze in whatever position you were in. The moderators of the game then walk around and try to get the “dancers” to smile or laugh, the longer the game goes the more...ummmm...inventive they get in trying to achieve that, I was one of the last 5 .
Later on, while I was walking around outside a bit since I was feel a bit nauseous, one of my 10th graders came running out saying that my 7th graders (many of which live quite far away) had to head home before it got any darker. I went inside and the moderators had put some really soppy sad music on and one of my 10th graders had the microphone and was saying “Sarah, this is the last time you will ever see your class”, I was like “geez, thanks for reminding me”. They had already given me two present boxes with some candy, hair things, and two stuffed animals (one of them looked like it had belonged to one of the kids). We took last pictures together and they left. After they had gone the 10th graders hung around a little more fulfilling their dreams of singing on a stage and then at around 6 o'clock, 4 hours after the official start, the party was over. Here are some pictures of it:
We also played a dancing game where you dance while the music is on and when it's turned off you have freeze in whatever position you were in. The moderators of the game then walk around and try to get the “dancers” to smile or laugh, the longer the game goes the more...ummmm...inventive they get in trying to achieve that, I was one of the last 5 .
Later on, while I was walking around outside a bit since I was feel a bit nauseous, one of my 10th graders came running out saying that my 7th graders (many of which live quite far away) had to head home before it got any darker. I went inside and the moderators had put some really soppy sad music on and one of my 10th graders had the microphone and was saying “Sarah, this is the last time you will ever see your class”, I was like “geez, thanks for reminding me”. They had already given me two present boxes with some candy, hair things, and two stuffed animals (one of them looked like it had belonged to one of the kids). We took last pictures together and they left. After they had gone the 10th graders hung around a little more fulfilling their dreams of singing on a stage and then at around 6 o'clock, 4 hours after the official start, the party was over. Here are some pictures of it:
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| Pich, Seng Hua and Sieng Hai, three of my 10th graders |
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| Me with Pich in the background |
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| Me and Kunthea with yet again Pich in the background |
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| Sieng Hai and Vuthny (and could that be Pich in the background?) |
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| Vuthny and Sokmai (aaannd Pich in the background) |
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| Limai and Vuthny (and...do I even need to say anything anymore?) |
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| answering the Sarah-quiz (am I or am I not going back to get married???) |
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| playing musical chairs |
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| and the circle gets smaller |
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| playing the dancing game |
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| fufilling their dreams of being a Khmer popstar |
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| me, rather sweaty and greasy, but very happy at the end of the party (with the cool scarf my 10th grade gave me) |
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| some of my wonderful helpers |
While I was standing in front of the church saying goodbye I saw two of the boys whispering to each other and then one of them came up, took my hand (very forward for Cambodian culture), and said “Goodbye, teacher, I love you forever” the other boy yelled “I do too!” and they scurried off giggling.
And so ended the most challenging and rewarding jobs of my life (up to date): Teaching English at a Cambodian high school.
And so ended the most challenging and rewarding jobs of my life (up to date): Teaching English at a Cambodian high school.
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| my 10th graders |
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| my 7th graders (and yes I do know that my hair looks weird) |
Love and Peace
Sarah
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