Rodwell’s Blog

Not to say that I don’t have a life, but I am definitely ready to go back to school.  I am very much looking forward to meeting all students this year.  Very excited I am!

Seim Reap

It is always a great pleasure to visit Seim Reap.  It is a sentiment to be at the ancient capital of the Khmer Empire, Angkor.  Seim Reap has changed tremendously since the last time I was here in 2005.  Many tourist places, restaurants, and hotel have sprouted out almost every corner in town.  Because of the high price in oil, almost every thing here has doubled in price since the last time especially with food.  There are now many buses running from different cities into Siem Reap and 4 and 5 stars hotels are every where.  Of course, I can’t effort any thing close to a 3 star, so I stay in a 2 star hotel for $15 a night.  It has AC and a bathroom, that’s all I really need.

I’ve been to Seim Reap enough times, so this time I only went to Angkor Wat, Ta Prum, and Bayon.  Those three temples always awed me each time I go and I always find things I didn’t see before.  Moreover, this time I have my Nikon D50 with me, so it was a great opportunity to dust off my camera and put it to use.  

Everything went extremely well with the workshop; I couldn’t really ask for better participants.  Everyone was very energetic and enthusiastic to learn and accept new ideas regardless of the difficulty and limitation that they are facing in their current classrooms for implementing any of these methods.  They seemed very optimistic and because the majority of the participants were in-service teachers, I have so much hope for the education system in Cambodia. I saw in their eyes the main reasons why they and I chose to become teachers; not really to make money and be rich, but to enjoy the art and passion of teaching.

I constantly acknowledge that they have many more constrains than I do in creating an effective classroom.  Some of them share with me that they have over 100 students in one classroom and ask how can they implement effective groupwork.  I am nowhere close to being an expert to answer this question.  All I can say is keep trying, and I believe that all of them are trying.  I admire them and applaud their determination and commitment in doing so even though their salary is less than $20 a month. 

Before I came to Cambodia, I didn’t know what to expect   I was very nervous actually.  I kept thinking I would have a hard time getting people to listen to me because I am so young and I might be perceived as ignorant trying to teach them different pedagogies.  I was soooooo wrong in fact.

Even though I had over 50 teachers in my workshop, most of them showed up almost everyday for the last two weeks.  They actually wanted to know what I had to say.  They valued my experience and respect me as a person.  They address me as “teacher” or “professor” regardless of my age.  I later found out that they were so respectful because I respect and value them.  And I do.  I wasn’t afraid to let them know that.  Looking back, I came to Cambodia to teach, but I leave Cambodia as a student.  I learned so much about my culture, my people, and the hunger for knowledge. 

The last day of the workshop, they gave me a scarf and two Apsara as souvenirs.  One teacher asked me “are you going to miss us when you go back to America?” I said, “ I already miss everyone and I haven’t left yet.” Everyone burst out into laughing.  It was a good two weeks.  I am glad I got to come and I hope to be able to return yearly for this wonderful opportunity to be a part of the education reform here in Cambodia.