Effective Teaching and Learning

Phnom Srok’s first VSO sponsored event took place over 6 days in the form of ETL training. The training was produced by UNICEF and the Ministry of Education (MoEYS) as part of the government’s aim (in line with the millennium goal) to provide all children with an inclusive quality basic education. It really is very valuable training, explaining child-centred, effective teaching methodology through a participatory approach, including sessions on ‘how children learn’, ‘ learning games’ and ‘creating a rich learning environment’. The training even uses Bloom’s taxonomy of questioning simplified into 3 main types of question that teachers should ask, memory, understanding and critical thinking, which is a far cry from the ‘chalk n talk’, ‘I say, you do’ mentality. The training has been conducted in Khmer by Khmer trainers in a classroom in Phnom Srok High School which we have shared with 2 families of nesting sparrows. We had just over 30 participants, a mix of teachers, school directors and cluster heads. My involvement was minimal really – logistics and finance (in other words I confirmed the dates with the trainers and held the purse strings!) although I did have to give another speech at the opening ceremony.

What I have found fascinating is that the government cannot afford to provide this basic training for its own teachers in the provinces. However they seem to be able to afford to send all school teachers to Sihanoukville for a holiday just before the elections! Hmmmm – interesting priorities!

Anyway, the training was not without interruption; some welcome and some not! And I have experienced a plethora of emotions over the last 8 days or so!

Interruption 1: One school director asked me at the beginning of the training if he could bring 2 more participants from his school that were really keen to learn from the training. He assured me that they would not expect to be paid (participants receive money for their transport costs and food when they attend training outside their normal work) but he put me in a very difficult position! I tried to explain, with lots of smiling, that every teacher in the district wanted to attend the training and that to say yes to him would be unfair on all the rest. He seemed to understand, but brought 1 extra participant anyway! It was quite annoying but actually became the least of my worries!

Interruption 2: The prime minister himself, Mr Hun Sen, decided to officially open the new university in Banteay Meanchey on day 4 of the training which meant a 2 day delay in the middle of the originally planned 6 days as every education staff member in the province was invited to attend. There doesn’t seem to be any concept of forward planning!

Interruption No.3: Two of the four trainers from the Provincial Office of Education were summoned to attend some other training in Phnom Penh in the middle of ETL. And why does no-one forward plan in this country?!?! Oh, the air was certainly blue that day! Thankfully we managed to find two more trainers who could take over otherwise half the ETL training would’ve been postponed until goodness knows when! (or never!). Infuriating!! What was so frustrating was that I seemed to be the only person bothered by this catastrophic turn of events. However, with hindsight I know the trainers were also really disappointed not to be able to finish the training but Khmers are much better at hiding their feelings. While I stomped my feet (well, as much as I could in flip flops!), muttered swear words and moaned and whinged about MoEYS (while instructing Soroth not to translate!) and despaired down the phone to the Provincial Facilitator, the Khmer trainers remained perfectly calm with no more than a slightly furrowed brow betraying their true feelings!

Interruption No. 4: A welcome interruption! A phone call from my big brother all the way in UK and the extra special treat of speaking to my nieces! Aaaahhhhh! I’ve been spoilt a few times this week with phone calls from home!! Thanks everyone!!

Interruption No. 5: Another unexpected but welcome one, breakfast with a ‘real’ barang! Enfant du Mekong is another NGO working in the province and one of their volunteers was passing through Phnom Srok and happened to have my phone number! I escaped the training for an hour for a quick breakfast meeting and he ended up staying for a party in the evening where he completely upstaged me on the dance floor (but I’m the only barang in the village!), absolutely shamed my Khmer with his fluent language ability and instantly won over my colleagues and friends! Soroth thought he had found his kindred spirit and did not stop going on about how great he was! (Humph! Note to self: must dust off my Khmer books and get studying!)

Interruption No. 6: I have been looking forward to this interruption since I got here in September... On Tuesday afternoon (during the last day of ETL) I will travel to Sisaphon and sit at the bus station with my tail wagging, waiting for my sister to arrive!! I can’t wait!!