“I’m Mr. Lin #1, he’s Mr. Lin #2.”

That was the answer I gave to a student’s question when I visited my brother’s 2^nd grade class a couple of years back. What was the student’s question? “If you’re Mr. Lin, and he’s Mr. Lin (pointing to Kert), then what does your mom call you?”

My brother’s a great teacher and I got to see him in action that day. My first week out here in Cambodia has given me the opportunity to use some of the techniques I saw him use in his class (and if we're going with teaching skill, Kert is most definitely Mr. Lin #1).

Like I mentioned before, my work out here will be a little fluid at first until I get settled in a bit. My original responsibility of working with prostitutes to provide them first aid training hasn’t started yet, so luckily I’ve been given the opportunity to help out as an English teacher in a ministry called Shelter of Hope that provides free English classes. I originally was going to stay in a different apartment, but was invited to stay at Shelter of Hope, which put me squarely in the middle of a lot of teenage students. I’ve worked with middle school, high school, and college-aged students for most of my adult life, so I was ecstatic to get the opportunity to do so here as well.

Before coming out here, I’d read some books and articles about Cambodia, especially about the educational programs available out here. Things are improving drastically (they just implemented a standard test required to go to university AND reduced cheating by a fair amount), but there is still a big divide between the quality of education between state and privately funded schools. Some state teachers even require bribes to accept students, and many students don’t have a lot of money so there are a lot of barriers to navigate in order to get a proper education out here.

Many, if not all, of the students that come to Shelter of Hope are there because 1) they have a deep desire to learn English because they know how important it is for their future, and 2) it’s free.

Because one of the regular English teachers got in a small moto accident, I was asked to sub in, which saw me teaching once in the morning for more beginner speakers, and once at night for more advanced speakers. The advanced evening class is less about learning grammar and more about practicing conversation and hearing a native speaker pronounce certain words, which gives me a little more flexibility in how I teach. So what I wanted to do with them was for them to explain what their future goals were (either big or small), and what they felt like they needed to do in order to achieve that goal. Part of this lesson was selfish since I wanted to know more about their lives. But the non-selfish part was that I wanted them to think hard about what they wanted to accomplish and to be realistic and visualize the steps they needed to take.

It was so great to hear what these kids (most of them were in high school) had in store for their lives, especially given that existing educational systems aren’t built that well to support them, but also really tough to hear some of the barriers they faced. Here’s a bit of what they shared with me:

“What is your goal for your future and how will you accomplish that goal?”

Kong:

“My initial goal is to study hard and pass my English certification so that I can get a good job anywhere in the world (Preferably England – he’s a huge Man U fan!). I don’t know what exact job I want yet, but having my English certificate will allow me many opportunities to choose from, similar to my sister.”

Pov:

“I originally wanted to dance for a living because I love music and I feel like helps people enjoy life. I wanted to be a part of something that helped people enjoy life a little more since most people connect well with music, but I learned that I wouldn’t be able to make much of a living dancing, so I recently decided to switch to architecture. I’ll study hard so that I can get into university so that I can pursue my architecture degree.”

Yanit:

“I want to become a doctor because I want to help people that need medical treatment. I also want to make a good living, so that I can help support my family back home. I will have to study very hard and earn money so that I can get into university and pay for it to accomplish my goal.”

Sambath:

“I want to be a tour guide in Korea so that I can make a good living to support my family and myself. I will have to study Korean so that I can become a tour guide. I will also have to earn some money, so that I can afford to attend university, which is expensive.”

Pheaktra:

“I want to be a lawyer because there is a lot of corruption in Cambodia with the law and I want to help people who need someone to represent them against this corruption. It’s also a good job, so that I can make money and send it back to my parents to thank them for raising me.”

Sina:

“I don’t know what job I want yet, but I know my first goal is to get as good as I can with speaking English. I believe that will give me many opportunities to try different things. One thing I feel like will help me practice English and also give back is to be a mentor to someone that needs help. I feel like I can help give some guidance to people who need it because I received helpful guidance that helped me before.”

Phally:

“I want to become a nurse because there isn’t very good healthcare in Cambodia. Also the people who live in the country don’t know very much about taking care of themselves and there are very few doctors available for them. Even the ones that are available take bribes so people without money cannot get good healthcare. The accomplish this goal, I have to study very hard so that I can pass the exam to get into nursing school. I also have to work hard to earn money so that I can afford to go to nursing school. Right now I am working two jobs and it’s hard to study enough for my test, so I will need to work on my time management.”

Cheng:

“I want to work in accounting because it is a good job and I can earn a good living (This is will Phally also mentioned that the company Cheng works for will probably have most of the money, not Cheng J). I will need to pass a test to get into university for accounting, which I have already failed once. I’ll need to study harder to pass it the second time so I can get into university.”

“What can Teacher Pert help you with in the next 6 months to help you accomplish your goal?

• “Have English competitions and riddles with prizes so it forces us to work even harder!”
• “Speak more English with us so we can hear how to say words correctly.”
• “Help me with time management, so that I can balance school and work to pass my tests as well as make enough money for college.”
• “Help us prepare for interviews and applications.”
• “Help us understand what are some different views between Cambodia and the USA.”
•  “Maybe you can be my mentor if I have questions about English or my future goals.”

Notes from my advanced evening class

Learning new vocabulary with my morning class