I-to-I day twenty-one: Possibly my last blog

Friday 11^th March 2011

MP3 track of the day: Time to say goodbye – Sarah Brightman and Andrea Bocelli

Weather: Hot

I hurriedly headed downstairs, arms full of shopping bags. After my usual 'pancakes with sugar and lime' breakfast I boarded, for the last time, my tuk-tuk bound for 'Library two'. Sandy was finishing her book and so I took the opportunity to study the surroundings, and the crazy morning driving, one final time. Once at 'Library two' I took my party stuff straight into my classroom. You see, there are three classes within the school, and I didn't have enough stuff for all students. My students wished me a good morning and I did the same. They were giggling more than usual. Before the party could commence I had to do a 'health and sanitation' lesson which went very, very quickly. In fact it went something like the below...

Teacher – What am I doing?

Student – Washing your hair?

Teacher - Why?

Student – To keep it clean.

Teacher – what am I washing it with?

Student – Shampoo

Teacher – Great now let's move onto the party.

As I began to hand out cups (full of Pepsi), biscuits, cakes and sweets (which, each time I gave them a new food item, they thanked me) my students kept on laughing and looking towards the roof of the classroom. I followed their eyes but they then shouted “... don't look! don't look!...”

I looked.

Within the classroom decorations my students had hidden paper necklaces, flowers, drawings and small parcels (basically paper stapled together). Having noticed that I had seen the objects my students then pulled said gifts down and handed them to me in a flurry of activity. Within ten minutes I had six paper necklaces around my neck, four parcels, three drawings and a flower. Other students came in from other classes to give me more gifts; I felt a little guilty as I didn't have anything for them. All-in-all I had accumulated one big bag full of colourful paper decorations and gifts. I said thank you and I then got on with the party.

It was quite weird to see my students not eating the food in front of them. I tried many times saying 'you can eat, you can eat' but they just didn't get it. I think that, due to not having much at home, they have been taught to save what they have. However I still had loads left within my 'bag of goodies'. I put two tables together and laid out flash cards face down. My students started to play 'Cambodian pairs'. I put all the remaining sweets into a bowl and put them within the middle of the 'pairs' table. I had to activity demonstrate (by eating a sweet) to show that my students could help themselves. Eventually they all seemed to relax, get into the flow of the game, and freely eat whatever was in front of them.

After the break we moved onto songs. We first sang 'Old Macdonald' exchanging 'cow' for 'sheep', 'dog' and 'pig'. Once many verses had been sung, at a deafening level, we moved onto 'twinkle twinkle little star'. As all my students knew this song backwards I spiced it up a little. I would call out either 'loudly', 'quietly', 'quickly' or 'slowly' and they would sing the song either 'loudly', 'quietly', 'quickly' or 'slowly'. Much fun was had. After all my students were exhausted we went through three word searches, on the whiteboard, before finishing off with a little 'beat the clock' (I lost 3-0). I handed each student (and the two Cambodian teachers) a copy of the class photo I took on Monday, before announcing break. The morning had sprinted along and I said farewell to my morning class for the last time.

During my lunch break Sandy and I walked – due to the tuk-tuk driver having to perform another job – to the new 'Library two' for our weekly check on the construction. More work to the roof had been completed. More wooden roof beams had been erected to form a 'grid' above each classroom. These new wooden beams were just as thin as the others, however at least there were more of them. I was a little more happy that the proposed roof would now hold, however I was still concerned about Kim-Lee's plan of adding another floor.

Once back at school I ate the left overs from the mornings party and played patience. A few students, who had turned up early, paid patience with me. Some were very good and I awarded them sweets for helping me out with my game. My afternoon class filed in and we went through the same lesson plan as the morning class. Well almost. As there were only five students in the afternoon we substituted 'Cambodian Pairs' for 'Snakes and Ladders'. The students wanted me to join in too, and so I accepted. Snakes and Ladders is quite confusing, for young non-English speakers, due to the way the numbers snake back and forth across the board. Quite a few times a student was actually moving their piece backwards. I ended up coming second in the first game and forth in the second game.

After break I received further gifts; the class and I set to devouring what was left of the Pepsi, cakes, biscuits and sweets. The time went so quickly that 3pm was soon upon me. For the first time all my students left the class very quickly after I had called 'time'. This was quite odd, however all became clear when I had picked up my stuff, and gifts, and headed towards my tuk-tuk. Outside the whole school, plus teachers, were there to wave me off. I got quite a few hugs and it was a very special moment ... I did manage to hold back the tears. As we pulled off I waved through the back window until I couldn't see anymore students. I sat back down a little gutted.

Traffic was terrible. At one set of lights we witnessed them change four times before getting through. To add more time to the journey Sandy wanted the tuk-tuk to stop, and wait, as she went into a local gym to inquire about costs. She said that she would only be five minutes. Twenty minutes later Sandy came out to announce that she was staying to attend a fitness class. As the tuk-tuk driver and I pulled off I wasn't annoyed, Sandy had come with me to the post office yesterday so all was fair.

Once back at my guesthouse I plonked all my stuff within my room and surfed the internet. I then re-packed my bag for crossing the Cambodian – Vietnamese border before heading out to 'The pumpkin' for my weekly treat. I would have loved to have kept all the gifts the children had given me, however it just wasn't feasible. I took a large proportion of them and prepared them for postage when I arrive in Ho Chi Minh City. The rest, unfortunately, got binned. Finally I finished the day off by getting an evening meal of noodles and chicken.

So here I am and I can't believe my three weeks of teaching are over. I have thoroughly enjoyed my voluntary work and I hope my class has enjoyed it too. The children have been amazing, totally amazing and I shall miss them all. They have been as good as gold, always smiling and ready to have a go at anything I asked from them. All the children are so appreciative of the foreign assistance and they truly understand the importance of education. I would recommend to anyone who either enjoys teaching, or wants to help, to do some voluntary work within a developing country. It's very tiring work but it's extremely rewarding. However, apart from probably your first voluntary experience, I wouldn't recommend I-to-I.

I-to-I are great for first time volunteers who are a little worried about organizing it themselves. However, with a three week course costing over £700.00, its very expensive, especially when meals, or transport, aren't included. On top of that only 5% of your money goes to the project itself. That's right, only £35.00, out of £700.00, goes to the project. The only other costs I-to-I have to cover for me, was my accommodation (£90.00 in total), my teaching English course (maximum of £150) and insurance (which I didn't need however I suppose it would have cost around £40). This leaves over 50% for profit and to pay for I-to-I's UK call center. I wouldn't have minded paying £700.00 if more money went to the project; however, knowing what I know now, next time I'll just 'Google' voluntary teaching English + my destination and try to organize it myself.

However, there is a problem with giving more money to projects and that's how they use it. Firstly the resources for teachers, at our accommodation, are none existent. A bookshelf with textbooks, paper, computers, printers and a photocopier would be very handy indeed. The resources at each actual project were unbalanced. At 'library two' we have hundreds of books, pads of paper and pens but little in the way of paints, printer cartridges and games. I must point out that most of the resources at 'library two' are donated and not purchased. I think most of the money, at the moment, has gone on the new school.

To round-up I would recommend anyone wanting to volunteer to teach English (A minimum stint of three weeks is preferred so you can build a relationship with your students) in a developing country should do so. The benefits for you, and your students, are great. However I would recommend doing it on your own and then using the money saved to get resources that the project actually needs. Also try not to get bogged down with any miss-management you witness. Within three weeks you can't change this and it will only get you upset. Concentrate on your teaching and you will have a rewarding experience.

Now why is this post called 'possibly my last blog'. It isn't because I'm fed up of talking to you lot. It is because I'm heading into Vietnam. Vietnam, being a sort of communist country, has blocked certain websites. I know that Facebook is blocked and I hope 'blogger' isn't blocked too. I won't find out until I cross the border however, if it is blocked, then I'm sure China would have followed suit. Don't worry though, I'll try my best to keep my blog going. I have a piece of untested software that hides your computers IP address (basically it tricks the internet to think that you are in a different country) and if that fails then I'm sure I'll find a way around. Just keep your eyes peeled on the screen; this otter is still around the world, somewhere. For now I have to get ready for my coach tomorrow to Ho Chi Minh City.

Toodle Pip!

I-to-I day twenty: Final English lesson

Thursday 10^th March 2011

MP3 track of the day: Schools out for summer – Alice Cooper

Weather: Very hot and humid. It's been much more humid today than it has been over the past few days.

For some reason I couldn't get to sleep last night. It wasn't any hotter than usual, I hadn't drunk copious amounts of caffeine and it wasn't that early. In fact I eventually got to sleep at midnight giving me six hours of sleep before I had to get up. In The morning Kim-Lee came to me holding a yellow piece of paper. Finally my parcel (which was sent to Columbia instead of Cambodia) had arrived. Looking at the yellow sheet in more detail I had to pick up my parcel from the main depot, I also had to pay 2,500 riel (around 40p) for the privilege. Kim-lee talked to my tuk-tuk driver and persuaded him to take me to the post office after work. For now I ate my breakfast and boarded my tuk-tuk.

As my tuk-tuk trips are getting fewer and fewer, each one is becoming a little more sad. Sure I won't miss the hour long commute, the 'off-roading' and the manic traffic but I will miss what that tuk-tuk ride symbolizes; going to teach my class. I thought more about the manic, mental and suicidal traffic that seems to buzz in all directions on, and off, the road. To my surprise I haven't seen any accidents within Cambodia. I've come to the conclusion that, every tuk-tuk ride may seem like death, but this chaotic system does actually to work.

Sandy and I got to 'library 2' on time and we were, again, waved in by many happy smiling student faces. I went to my classroom to find my students waiting for me. As some had expressed that the text book was a little difficult I went over 'across' and 'next to' using yesterday's example. I first of all played a game called 'Where is teacher?'. My students had five guesses to work out what room, within the school, teacher was in by putting their hand up and saying 'Is teacher across from the library?' or 'is teacher next to the music room?'. The game went well and I lost 5-1.

Next I got my students to draw themselves within one of the schools rooms; once this was achieved I asked each student, in turn, where they were and what were they doing. They would reply, something like, 'I'm in the gym and I'm playing football'. This went on until I went through all of my students. Next I got a student to take my place, and chose a classmate to interrogate, with the above questions. Again, once all students had been given ago at playing 'teacher', I then split them up into the rooms they had chosen (for example if two students had drawn themselves within the gym, then they would sit together). I then changed 'he's / she's' to 'they are'. So the questions now read:

Teacher – 'Where are (student name) and (student name).'

Students – 'They are in the gym.'

Teacher – 'What are they doing?'

Students – 'They are playing football.'

We continued, with the above conversation, until all the schools rooms had been drilled. The final drilling activity happened after 'break'. I got my students back to their original seats and I shouted out sentences like 'Which students are next to the office?'. The students who had drawn themselves in a room, next to the office, would stand up. We went through quite a few rounds of this and the students enjoyed themselves immensely. With the final ten minutes I played 'beat the clock' with my students, focusing on words that some of them had trouble pronouncing. Final score for 'beat the clock' 'Class 8 – Teacher 2'. There was much rejoicing on the students part.

Surprisingly, considering my rubbish nights sleep, I was feeling rather awake as I went into the lunch break. I filled out the class books and read a few 'Cambodian childrens storybooks' located on the book shelves, within 'Class C', on the left-hand wall. I have to say that these stories were abit odd. One story was about a beautiful woman (all women within these stories are beautiful) who was about to commit suicide because her husband was thick and ugly. The only thing that stopped her was talking to another man, within her village, and finding out that he was even thicker than her husband. That made her feel better. I finished lunch by playing a few games of 'patience' before heading into my classroom.

Like always the afternoon class followed the same structure as the morning one. However, it appeared that my afternoon last got 'across' and 'next to' a lot quicker than my morning students. Looking at my watch I still had fifteen minutes of my lesson. To make matters worse my lack of sleep was starting to kick in and I struggled to invent something fun, educational and new. I didn't want to start another unit so I just drilled the students and went through more pronunciation. It wasn't interesting but it was better than nothing.

My class ended and off Sandy and I went. Sandy was great; even though the post office meant another thirty minutes onto our journey she came with me. Once at the main post office depot I went to the 'international mail' counter and handed over my yellow sheet of paper, plus my passport as proof. The gentleman, behind the counter, walked off and it took him quite a while to reappear again. When he did he was holding a medium sized jiffy bag. He told me that the parcel had already been open in Japan (Japan and Columbia, well-done Royal Mail) and that I should check the contents:

• 1x pad lock

• 4x water-proof sealed food bags

• more business cards

• and a big pile of CHOCOLATE

I hadn't asked for the chocolate, however that's what made me smile the most. In fact, at that moment in time, all the other stuff could have been stolen for all I cared. Chocolate was all that I wanted. Sandy and I got back to our guesthouse around 4:30pm. Sandy went inside whereas I still had one further job to do. As tomorrow was the last time I will see my class I had decided to have a party. To have a party I needed cake, coke, sweets and other yummy stuff. I went off, party food hunting, which first of all started within a huge market only five minutes away from my guesthouse.

Odyssey market was it's name and it was basically a concrete car park turned into a indoor market. This is the first time I had been in this market and I soon wanted to get out. First of all there was no order; you had mobile phone stores next to rice stores, next to jewelry shops, next to toy stores, next to another phone store. Secondly the pedestrian paths, between said stores, were very thin making me a little worried about the safety of my wallet. Finally a lot of stores were packing up. I soon made the judgement call to leave the market and head to a local supermarket, about a ten minute walk to the south. Sure it would be more expensive however the products would be ordered and the building air conditioned.

Within fifteen minutes, within the supermarket, I had two bottles of Pepsi (no roller cola here), three packs of Oreo's, two large packets of sweets and twenty-four strawberry cakes. Total amount … $15.00 (£10.00). Okay so it cost quite a bit. However as I was walking back to my guesthouse, hands full of shopping, I decided that my students were worth the money ... their smiles alone would be worth it.

With all my shopping I struggled to open my bedroom door; once inside I sorted my party shopping into two bags. One bag for the morning class and one for the afternoon class. I then went through my parcel and sorted out where my lock, business cards, water proof bags were to go. Sorting out where the chocolate was going was simple … that was coming downstairs with me. As I surfed the internet I eat my first Cadbury's chocolate bars, from the UK, since August 2010. It had been a while but my taste buds soon remembered the beautiful, thick, chocolate taste. As you can imagine some of the chocolate was quite melted however I managed. I didn't spare a single crumb and only left one galaxy bar for tonight. Speaking of tonight I'm going to go and find something to eat before taking my galaxy chocolate bar upstairs, to eat, whilst watching a film.

However an early night is needed tonight. I'm pretty tired from last night and I'm going to need all my strength for a fun, but emotional, final farewell tomorrow.

Toodle Pip!

I-to-I day 19: International Men's Day

Wednesday 9^th March 2011

MP3 track of the day: Men in tights – Robin Hood (Men in tights)

Weather: Hot and very humid

I was pretty pleased with myself. Last night I had successfully managed to evict Albert from my room. It had only taken me seventeen days but it was done. Albert may have won many battles but I had won the war!

*****

As yesterday was 'international women's day' my fellow male Cambodian teacher, and I, decided that today, Wednesday the 9^th March, would be 'international men's day'. This would be the day that us men acted like men and did … errr … men things. As I got ready for the day I wasn't sure what things I would be doing differently for 'international men's day'. In fact I decided that I would continue to work without stopping because that's what us men do.

The above may sound a little bitter towards 'international women's day' and you would be right. As I boarded my tuk-tuk I decided that I wasn't against 'international women's day' in the slightest, however I thought the whole point was to achieve equal rights, and opportunities, for both sexes. So if there's an 'international women's day' then why not an 'international men's day'? It's not all chocolate cake being a man you know; for example the child custody laws within the UK are bent towards the female. At clubs and bar's it's always 'ladies night' or 'girls night' where the women get the free drinks. To add insult to injury if a bloke ever tries to pull a bird he's supposed to buy her a drink. Sure women at work aren't well represented in high powered jobs, and that's just wrong, but let's make sure that we get a balance and not tip the see-saw the other way. I sometimes think that being a 'white male' gives me less rights, and opportunities, than all other groups.

As you many have noticed, from the long rant above, that I didn't have much to do on my tuk-tuk ride. I had finished my book yesterday and Sandy was still reading hers. I decided to look out into the view, which had good and bad points. On the good side I was seeing more of 'everyday' life within Cambodia's capital. I also got to see some very strange vehicles and some bizarre driving. The bad side was that the 'bizarre' driving almost got me killed three times and I wondered if reading a book was the way to go. I held onto the handrail.

We made it down the bumpy road to the school. Most of the students were out at break and so they wished Sandy and I a good morning. We both wished the students the same. Once in my classroom I got down to business. I revised yesterdays lesson by drawing the school and asking students 'where was teacher?'. They were getting quite good at guessing which room I was in and I thought that there was no problems there.

After a short while I moved onto today's lesson. Today we were going to concentrate on 'where is ____?' and '(He is / She is) in the _______'. I drew one of my pupils within each of the eight rooms and I then asked the class where one of them was, they would all reply the answer (for example: '...Where is Narok?..' the reply '… He is in the music room...'). I would then drill individually to make sure that they all got it before adding another line to the sentence. Next I drew an activity within each room (for example: washing his hands in the Boy's room). I drilled the activity before asking, for example,: “... When is Sery Phea?..”

The class replied: “She is in the classroom watching TV”

Once this was done I then split the sentences up into student (1) and student (2). I choose who was student (1) and who was student (2) and I nominated a student in question, a room and an activity. Off we went again. Once all the students had been given a go I got a student to play teacher. That student would decided who was student (1), who as student (2), the student in question, the room and the activity (sounds a bit like cludeo). This meant that my students had drilled the above sentences three times, however each time it had been a little different.

As you can appreciate this had taken quite a bit of the class time, much more than I was expecting. I then gave my students adequate time to write the information, on the board, into their books. At this point the female Cambodian teacher came into my classroom; she chatted to me as my students wrote. She said that some students had told her that 'let's go – book three' was very difficult. I agreed that it was a big step up, however I still felt that it was manageable. Its a difficult situation; like I said before the academic levels, between my students, is quite broad. Most of the class can deal with the work, however some will struggle. Do I hold back for the ones that will struggle? I think not. Instead I'll spend more of my time with the strugglers and make sure that they get the chance to answer questions.

The morning class was over; I got my food out and began to eat my 'international men's day' snacks. I then filled out my class report books. Sandy had purchased three puzzles for the children; I hadn't completed a puzzle in ages and so I decided to give one a whirl. I completed the first one in half an hour and so I had time to complete one more before the afternoon lesson started.

The afternoon lessons began and I followed the same format as the morning. The female Cambodian teacher came into my lesson again; I think she was checking the level of content. After a shaky start my students, I think, came through. They were guessing 'where's teacher' pretty quickly and I was pleased with their ability. The teacher left the room but didn't comment; not sure if that was a good sign or not.

The afternoon class covered as much ground as the morning and soon it was time for me to go. I boarded my tuk-tuk in a 'manley' way (as it was 'international men's day') and I sat down to enjoy the ride … well try to enjoy it. Due to road works we got diverted; we drove down a street which had the most beautiful houses, within Phnom Penh, on the left-handside,. It also had shacks on the right-handside. Sandy and I both agreed that, the left hand-side at least, was probably the richest area within Phnom Penh. These houses were bigger than North American ones! Once back at my guesthouse I went straight out to purchase my snacks for tomorrow and to withdraw money.

With only three days left within Cambodia I looked into my wallet to see $29.00. Considering that my bus to Ho Chi Minh City will cost me $10.00 (and realistically I needed another $10.00 to cover any border issues) I only had $9.00 left. I had to withdraw money which was extremely annoying. I went to the local bank and withdrew $50.00 which should easily see me through the next three days. To withdraw that $50.00 (£31.00) it cost me £2.50 from the ATM and probably another £1 from my own bank. I could have withdrawn more money however, once in Vietnam, I would have to exchange any dollars I have for 'dong' … therefore I would loose some money within the transaction. Either way I looked at it I was going to loose money and so I decided to carry as less money as possible.

Once back at the guesthouse I as pretty hot and sweaty. I sat down under a sealing fan and began to surf the world-wide-web before lesson planning (my final lesson plan). I decided to visit KFC for tea. To eat KFC chicken you have to use your hands; what could be more 'manley' than tearing meat from bones with your own bare hands.

Happy 'international men's day!'

Toodle Pip!

I-to-I day eighteen – No we want to study!

Tuesday 8^th March 2011

MP3 track of the day: Twenty four hours - Athlete

Weather: It rained today ... for ten seconds. It cleared the air for a little while however it soon became hot and humid again.

Ofcourse, this being pancake day, I ordered my usual 'three pancakes with lime and sugar' to celebrate this historic, and British, event. Sandy, the American girl, had some pancakes too however she wasn't impressed. The reason is that the North American pancake is a lot thicker than the ones from 'across the pond'. I had a couple of pancakes in Canada and, whilst they were delicious and very filling, for me were too heavy for breakfast. Our British pancakes are best.

Sandy and I had just boarded our tuk-tuk when the heavens opened. I couldn't believe it was raining, I hadn't seen rain since before Christmas and I was very happy. That was until, ten seconds later, the rain stopped. I sunk back into my seat, and folded my arms in disgust. Fortunately the quick burst of wet weather had clearer the air within Phnom Penh, our tuk-tuk ride became one of freshness I've ever had. The road bumps where still there though.

I finally finished reading my book within the tuk-tuk. My book on the Cambodian genocide had been interesting and informative, however it wasn't half long. It was also written like an academic textbook which covered every little detail, making it quite dull ... sometimes. One thing was for sure; compared to the Holocaust, or the Rwanda tribal genocide, I feel that this genocide was more terrifying for the whole population. The Nazi's had a clear group for their genocidal acts, Rwanda was the extermination of a tribe, however in Cambodia anyone was a potential target. You could be everything the Khmer Rouge regime wanted (a peasant planting rice and eating communally) and yet still you could be killed just because a family relative, a friend or someone from the same village was thought to be involved with the old regime, the Vietnamese, practicing religion, the Thai's basically anything the center didn't like. What's more, the center was using so much rice to purchase Chinese military weapons that all Cambodians were dying of starvation. No one was safe, no one could trust anyone else and above all, nobody knew when they might be taken to be killed, or tortured, or probably both. Everybody was waiting to die.

As I mentioned, within my other blog, today was 'Women's rights day'. This meant that we would only play games, all day, and that we would have both morning, and afternoon, classes for the full day. I went into my class to see my students decorating the classroom … again. They quickly tidied up, went to their seats, and wished me a good morning. I looked at the paper birds hanging from the sealing; I noticed that there were quite a few paper birds not in flight, still lying on the unused back right-hand desk. I asked the students if they wanted to continue their art work and finish decorating the classroom. Or I said that we could play a game. All my students frowned, and it one voice said the words I never thought, as a teacher, I would hear:

“...No teacher, we want to study...”

Now, all my teacher friends reading this blog. Hands up who has gone into their class, said to the children that they can play games or do whatever they want, and got the above response? I thought so, not that many of you. I did what any good teacher would do, I said 'okay' and asked my students to open their textbooks. All my students smiled.

The good news was that I had already lesson planned for Wednesday, and so I would use that as a guide. The bad news was that I had both of my classes, together, for four hours (and not the usual two classes for two hours). My lesson plan wouldn't cover four hours and so I had to break up the work with a game or two. Today we were learning the difference between 'next to' and 'across from' … which is quite difficult if you think about it. I drew the example, from the textbook, on the whiteboard. It was a school with eight rooms divided into two rows of four rooms:

• Lunchroom

• Gym

• Library

• Office

• Boy's room

• Classroom

• Music Room

• Girl's room

I then started to drill sentences like 'the office is opposite the library' and 'the music room is next to the classroom'. I spent a lot of time drilling; finally I asked my students concept questions like 'what's next to the boy's room?'. It all went very well. Break brought a well earned rest of me and an opportunity to print off my lesson plan. After break I played 'bingo' with my Students. We only played two games, and that took the whole lesson. I almost emptied the bag of numbers on one round.

For the first time lunch as pretty dull. I ate my food and prepared for the afternoon. I only had two more students for my afternoon class. I quickly revised the morning lesson before telling my students that I had drawn myself in one of the rooms within the school (on a sheet of paper that they couldn't see). My students had to guess which room. Each student put their hand up to ask questions like 'Is teacher in the room opposite the library?'. This went on until the students found teacher; much screaming of joy erupted when they found teacher. I then put my students into two teams and asked each student to draw themselves in one of the rooms, but keep their drawing secret. Much cheating took place, however I used myself as a 'buffer' to try to prevent team members spying on other team members. Break was called and I was told, by my students, to stay within the classroom to make sure the state of play was still fair.

After break I let the competition commence. I nominated one student from one team to come up to the board; the other team had seven guesses to find out where this student was within the school. There was a lot of screaming of joy, shouting of cheating and laughter. It took the entire afternoon and the score ended 5-4. The loosing team where disappointed, however I distracted everyone from the result by playing 'beat the clock' for the last five minutes. Teacher lost 5-0 to the class; that put a smile on all their faces.

It was time to go. We boarded the tuk-tuk and, with no book to read, I looked at the surroundings. Once back in Phnom Penh I headed straight to the photo shop to get enough class photos printed so that each student could have one. I wrote on the back 'Thank you, teacher Matt'. I'm going to miss those children. I sighed, surfed the internet and lesson planned before having tea and a quite night in.

Only three more days to go :(

Toodle Pip!

I-to-I day seventeen: New text book

Monday 7^th March 2011

MP3 track of the day: Just the way I'm feeling - Feeder

Weather: Hot and very humid

I had slept so much over the weekend that I was up much earlier than I needed to be. This was actually a good thing; with another twenty volunteers, within the guesthouse, I had to get downstairs early to make sure that I had breakfast. I had yet another cold shower and hurried along, getting my breakfast with no problems what so ever. It was a little weird to find that none of the new volunteers where heading to 'library two' with Sandy and I. I didn't mind as, I didn't want anyone cramping my style, but we did have a class without an English teacher. Sandy and I boarded are tuk-tuk and I continued to read.

Once I had arrived at 'library two' I was introduced to my next text book, 'lets go – book three'. I was glad that all my students had a copy however, after flicking through 'unit one', it became apparent that it was quite a step up. For example my students have only done one line conversations:

• Where is Kate?

• She's at the park

Now the book was asking for multiple conversational lines. The work we had to cover today was the below conversation:

• Student One: Excuse me. Where's the lunchroom?

• Student Two: It's across from the gym. Come with me.

• Student One: O.K.

• Student Two: My name is Amy. What's your name?

• Student One: I'm David.

• Student Two: These are my friends, Ben and Wendy. This is David.

• Student Three: Hi David.

However, before trying to attempt to teacher the above conversation, I got all my students outside for a class photo. The students knew what was coming; when I asked them if I could take their photos they were ecstatic. Once outside I set-up my tri-pod so that I could be in the photos. I also got the Cambodian teachers to join in. One command, which didn't translate very well, was when I asked all the children to pull a 'funny face'. I set my timer, ran to the back of the class and got into character. When I looked at my photos I noticed that I was the only arse pulling a stupid face.

It only took fifteen minutes for the photo session to be completed. We filed back into class and on with the lesson highlighted above. I drilled two lines at a time, getting the children to collectively, and individually say each line. I changed 'lunchroom' and 'gym' to something more appropriate. Finally I got them to write down the two lines before we moved onto the next two lines and the whole process happened again.

Once all lines had been drilled we went through a bit of role play with one student playing 'number one', one student playing 'number two' and two students playing 'number three'. The students had a list of locations so that they could personalise their sentences. Once this was completed I got each student to come out to the board, in turn, to play teacher. They would nominate which students would play which roles and what locations would be used. They enjoyed that. I finished off the lesson with 'beat the clock' focusing on words my students had trouble pronouncing.

The morning class was over, and I was so tired. I got out some snacks for lunch, ate and drank, before reading a little more of my book. The afternoon class came in and I repeated the above lesson, with similar success. Once the afternoon was completed I got on the tuk-tuk. I shimmed through my new text book; yes its harder than 'let's go – book two' however I think it's do able. It will certainly challenge my students, which is what I want. I am however worried that certain students will get left further behind.

Back at the guesthouse I was so tired that I purchased some snacks for tomorrow, surfed the internet, lesson planned and crashed. I also went through the photos that I had taken today. My plan was to create a kind of 'business card' for each student; their class photo will be on one side and my thanks, plus signature, on the other. I got these ready to print tomorrow and to give them out on my final day.

My lesson plan was for Wednesday and not for Tuesday. Tomorrow is 'Women's rights day' (along with Shove Tuesday. I shall have pancakes tomorrow … again) which is actually a national Cambodian holiday. The public school is closed, however we aren't and so we will be getting double the amount of children. We cannot work on 'Women's rights day' and so games will be played. Women's rights day; I'm all for women's rights. I believe that they have the right to choose what to cook in the kitchen.

Toodle Pip!

I-to-I day 16: Reading

Sunday 6^th March 2011

MP3 track of the day: Paperback Writer – Beatles

Weather: Hot and sweaty

I slept in until 9am. I had yet another cold shower before heading out into the city of Phnom Penh. Today was 'booking reading day' and so I went to the east side of the city to visit my favorite restaurant for lunch. However, as the time was only 10:30am, I stopped off at another restaurant for 'elevenses'. My 'Death by chocolate cake' wasn't that great yesterday and so I made up for it with a chocolate cream cake, a hot chocolate and an orange juice. While I ate and drank I read more about the Pol Pot regime. I'm coming towards the end of the book now; I'm reading about the crumbling of the Democratic Kampuchea (Pol Pot's party name) and, like Hitler, it seems that Pol Pot and the party lost all sense of reality (which you could argue started at the beginning of the regime).

Once I thought that I had outstayed my welcome I moved onto my favorite restaurant for a club sandwich and probably my last vanilla shake. I read more of my book, occasionally looking at the premiership football on TV, before heading back to my guesthouse at 2:30pm.

When I arrived Kim-Lee had all the new volunteers within the restaurant, going through their orientation exercise. As I looked around there were loads of them, around twenty. My group only consisted of eight and I wondered where all these volunteers were going to be situated. I went upstairs, had a shower, before coming back downstairs to find a quite spot within the restaurant to continue reading my book and to lesson plan. As I had no idea what my new text book would cover I decided to produce a 'back up' lesson plan. As a class we hadn't really covered where the accents, on each sentence, should be; the children usually just shout out each sentence with no high, or low, accents. I decided that I would work on this if my new text book didn't arrive. I also wanted to take some class photos; no real education reason, purely a selfish one. I did think however, once I had the photos I would get some printed here in Phnom Penh and hand them out to the children on my last day.

I finished reading, and lesson planning, around 7pm. With not much of the day left I had tea before heading for an early night. I can't believe that I'm starting my last week of teaching!

Toodle Pip!

I-to-I day fifteen: The forgotten genocide

Saturday 5^th March 2011 (I've now been traveling for 6 months)

MP3 track of the day: Tania – Enemy of the Gates

Weather: Hot, need I say more?

Last night Albert, for the third time, had reared his ugly head. I was too tired to catch him and I wished he, and his family (actually I hoped he was single) would just head off for a weeks holiday somewhere … anywhere. I fell to sleep watching the news.

*****

I was downstairs, on time, awaiting the arrival of Sandy, and the Australian girl, for our visit to the Killing fields. Actually that wasn't true, I was early. I checked my emails before awaiting the girls arrival. Just like women all over the world they were late. We were suppose to meet at 8:30am and Sandy appeared at 9:00am. Guess what, this week the Australian girl was ill. She had swollen glands and hadn't slept that well the previous night. She didn't have to go to hospital and just wanted to sleep it off, therefore Sandy and I went to the killing fields. We found a tuk-tuk driver, bartered him down to $4 each, and off we went.

Choeung Ek, the name of the killing field, was 12km (just over seven miles) to the south-west of Phnom Penh. Due to horrendous traffic it took us quite a while to get to the killing field. Our driver, Nark, dropped us off at this huge gate and said that he would pick us up from there once we were done. We went through the gate and paid our $2.00 entrance fee. It was now 10am and it was getting hot. Fortunately there was quite a bit of shade within the field, due to the fact that it used to be an orchard. We walked towards this tall, white, building called the 'stupa' which, on closer inspection, housed thousands and thousands of bones. 8,985 people in total are thought to have died at this killing field and not all have been found. We decided to investigate the 'stupa' at the end of our trip; we turned right and followed the marked path.

We first came across five signs, written in English, telling us where the trucks full of victims would pull up, where the killing weapons were kept and where the poisonous liquids were stored (which were used to try to destroy the bodies to leave no evidence). We then walked around the field identifying pits where hundreds of people were massacred. There were glass boxes of clothes, glass boxes of bones, and trees (one of which was used to kill children buy bashing their heads against it and another was used to hang speakers to hide the sounds of the victims screaming) located around the field; all the time the 'stupa' was in full view.

As I walked around the field the impact of it, plus my reading on the subject, did make me angry. The 1975-1979 Cambodian genocide has really been forgotten by the international community. No scratch that, I wouldn't say forgotten but swept under the carpet. For example lets compare the persecution of Jews within WW2 and the Khmer Rouge regime. How many programmes are on TV about the Nazi holocaust, even now? The holocaust is forever pushed into the public eye through TV history programmes, never to be forgotten. And neither should it. However how many programmes are there on the Khmer Rouge regime? How many programmes on the 1.7 / 2 million Cambodians killed within a four year period? Not that many. What's more it has taken the international community thirty-two years to produce a criminal court to prosecute the main members of the Khmer Rouge, most of which have already died. If we apply the same length of time to the Nazi's, their trials wouldn't have happened until 1977. Now you may say that more people were killed within the holocaust than within the Khmer Rouge regime, and in one sense you have a point. However Pol Pot was responsible for killing 1.7 / 2 million Cambodians out of a population of just under 8 million, over an area of 181,000 sq km … that's around 25% (one in four) of the population. I wonder if the Nazi's killed that percentage of civilians living within occupied Europe. Now I'm not saying that the holocaust shouldn't be taught and shown on TV, what I'm saying is that there needs to be a balance with other atrocities within the world (including the tribal massacre within Rwanda).

We finished our walk and went up to the 'stupa' to have a closer look at the bones, clothes and skulls on display. Should they be on display? A difficult question to answer. After a quick look we headed over to the 'Killing Fields' museum which consisted of three rooms. The first room held the history of Pol Pot's regime and the parties structure. It also held weapons, clothes, photos and peoples remains from the site. The second room showed a film which was very thought provoking and well done. The final room concentrated on the present court case and artwork of the period. The museum was probably the best museum that I've visited within South East Asia; the content was just enough not to get bored and there was a good mix between photos, written and physical artifacts. Sandy finished viewing the museum well before me (I am a slow reader) and she waited for me. As I left the museum I apologized to her however Sandy said that was fine. As we walked back to our tuk-tuk I thought about all I had read, and seen, and I was content that the information supported the information present within the book that I was reading.

On the way back to Phnom Penh our tuk-tuk went a very strange way. When we pulled up we weren't outside our guesthouse. Nak turned around to us, a big grin on his face, and said if we minded waiting fifteen minutes for his dad to arrive to give Nak something. Sure we said, as we didn't have anything else planned for the day and honesty, I couldn't see that we had a choice. Nak's dad didn't take that long. Afterwards Nak said, as we had waited for him, that if we wanted to go to the riverfront … no extra charge. At first Sandy and I decided on the riverfront (to the 'Blue Pumpkin') however Sandy wanted to check on the Australian girl, as she had looked after Sandy last week. We told Nak to take us back to our guesthouse.

Once back I dropped off my bag and headed out to get lunch plus my treat. At the 'Blue Pumpkin' I decided to try the 'Death by Chocolate cake' again (as you can never truly judge the quality of a chocolate cake after only devouring one piece) and I was still disappointed. After lunch I headed back to my guesthouse to relax, read more of my book and chat to more volunteers who had just arrived today. I also booked my coach to Ho Chi Minh City for next week plus accommodation. I ate and just chilled for the rest of the evening.

Tomorrow the plan is to get up early and head to my favorite restaurant for lunch. I need to blitz my book and try to get most of it read. I'm still on target for getting it completed before leaving Cambodia.

Toodle Pip!

I-to-I day fourteen: Another week completed

Friday 4^th March 2010

MP3 track of the day: Stand up as people – Lee Ryan

Weather: It's become hot again.

The day started it's usual way with the usual pancakes and the usual tuk-tuk ride. Sandy and I had to deliver a 'Sanitation and Healthy Eating' lesson today; we decided to follow the same format from last week and get all classes together in 'Class A', the biggest of the three classrooms. Our lesson was all about fruit and vegetables; it consisted of us holding up six fruit, and six vegetable, flash cards and asking the students to name each picture on each card. We then asked the students whether the picture we were holding was either a fruit or a vegetable. Using blue-tack we stuck the pictures to the whiteboard in their particular groups. We then gave each student a piece of paper to draw their favorite fruit and favorite vegetable. This took most of the lesson however, to spice things up a little, Sandy and I both drew our favorites (mine was watermelon and sweetcorn) to show the class. My drawing of a watermelon surprised me, it was rather good. My sweetcorn, on the other hand, was rubbish!

It was then time for break. After break the students broke back into their three individual classes and I went into see 'Class A'. Before the 'Sanitation and Healthy Eating' lesson 'Class A' had been busy being creative with coloured paper, scissors and staples. With the Cambodian teachers help they were decorating our classroom, and it was looking pretty good though not finished. I had organized a few games for today and, seeing as they were enjoying themselves decorating, I decided not to intervene. I sat down and let the Cambodian teacher lead, only offering assistance where needed. It took the whole lesson to complete the two rows of paper lanterns for the classroom. After this was done they left for lunch.

Unlike my normal lunches this one was packed with activities. First of all Sandy and I jumped on our tuk-tuk to have a quick look at the building work for 'library two'. It had been a week since we had last visited and limited work had been achieved. The only difference was that wooden support beams had been erected on the top of the building. Well, when I say 'wooden support beams', on closer inspection I hoped they weren't. Firstly they were quite thin and there weren't that many of them. Secondly, and a lot more alarming, was that the beam itself wasn't one whole piece of timber. Instead the beams were two pieces of wood nailed in the middle. This roof is supposed to support a further floor and I was extremely worried that it wouldn't support the concrete roof proposed, let alone another floor. Overall I wasn't impressed with the workmanship.

We made it back to the rented 'library two' for a quick lunch before the lady Cambodian teacher showed us around the villages within the area. There were two villages within walking distanced (unimaginatively named village four and village five) and so we went to have a look around. The weather was so hot that neither Sandy or I wanted to explore for long. We spent a little time within village four before coming to village five. There we stopped at a house while the Cambodian teacher talked to the owners. Five minutes later out popped a girl with a huge smile on her face; it was my star student (the one who had, yesterday, completed my test within fifteen minutes). She asked us into her home and, slightly reluctantly, I accepted. It was heartbreaking; the outer shell of the building was made of part brick and part wood, neither part was constructed very well. Their main room had no floor. It consisted of dirt, dust, rubbish and broken pottery. There was a badly constructed wooden ladder leading upstairs, a wooden trailer for sitting on and another wooden trailer with six piglets in, only born thirty minutes ago. The mummy pig was taking a well earned rest within the kitchen. It was lucky that I had kept wearing my sunglasses as the look of sheer horror, at my star pupils living accommodation, would have been apparent for all to see. And yet, throughout our visit, my pupil had the biggest smile on her face. Like I said earlier, it was totally heartbreaking. We continued through the village stopping shortly at two other houses before seeing the Cambodian teachers house. Her house was a lot nicer; all made of brick, the walls plastered and the floor tiled. She lived with her mother, farther, sister and niece. We chatted for a short while before returning to 'library two', aware that time was passing on and that it was getting hotter and hotter outside.

Once back at 'library two' I had a long, cool, drink of water before Sandy and I repeated the 'Sanitation and Healthy eating' lesson we did this morning. We had more students this afternoon, however we still managed to fit them into 'Class C'. The lesson went with the same success as the morning and it was soon time for break. After break we split the classes back up; as 'Class A' had now been decorated I played games with my afternoon pupils. I got them to sit around one desk and we played pairs. The Cambodian rules seem to differ to the British ones. Basically when one child turns over two tiles, that aren't matching, the tiles are jumbled up again. This action does not allow any student to remember what each tile is. This to me defeats the object, however the students were enjoying themselves. We had three of the longest 'pairs' games I've ever witnessed, two word searches and then it was time to go. The students said thank you and see you next week. I said the same.

Heading back to the guesthouse I didn't read my book, I was to exhausted. I was still pretty gutted about what I had seen this lunch time; I wondered how I could alter the situation. My star pupil told me that she wanted to be a language translator. She was certainly showing signs that she would be good enough, however I worried that money may stop her progressing as much as she needs. I really do hope not.

Once back at the guesthouse I just crashed for a while before heading for something to eat. I arranged to meet Sandy, and an Australian girl, to go and see the killing fields tomorrow. Once that was done I would get myself sorted for arriving in Ho Chi Minh city next week (coach tickets and accommodation). On Sunday I shall try to read more of my book and at some point over the weekend I shall visit the 'Blue Pumpkin' for my treat. As my classes new text book wasn't arriving until Monday I couldn't lesson plan this weekend either. Therefore its not a manic weekend, a nice and chilled one which is what I need. I can't believe that I'm down to my last week of teaching.

Toodle Pip!

I-to-I day thirteen: Test day

Thursday 3^rd February 2011

MP3 track of the day: Nimrod - Elgar

Weather: Hotter than the previous two days, yet the cloud cover has remained the same.

I decided to opt for my usual pancakes this morning; yesterday's bread roll with jam wasn't that nice and, looking at my watch, I thought that I had plenty of time. Last night I had watched the film 'Taken', starring Liam Neelson, on 'StarMovies' (no adverts, which was a relief). I thought about this film as I ate. It was okay; a watchable, if predictable film, however it's the first time that I've seen Liam Neelson play a hard man ... he was extremely good at it.

The tuk-tuk ride was the normal bumpy, noisy and smelly affair that it always is. I got a few more pages of my book read. Once at school I got into my classroom and took out the test papers from my bag. I placed them face down on the counter and went to get some paper, and colouring pens, for students who finished early. My students came in, sat down, and were ecstatic that, after a day of removing teeth, they were now having a test. As I went through each explanation I wasn't sure who was more nervous; my students for having to complete the test or me for hoping that it wasn't too difficult. I took the register and then used the names given to fill out the 'name' box on the test. I placed each test paper face down, however that didn't stop the students turning them over and having a look through.

I went through each example, for each section, of the test. I had a couple of blank faces but generally my students seemed clued up. On page five was a word search which made it very difficult for my students to concentrate on any other part of the test. I asked the students to put their books away and allowed them to proceed. I gave assistance where needed (remember I'm supposed to be teaching pronunciation, so if the students had any spelling questions I would try to help without giving the answer). Break time came however none of my students wanted to leave the room, fixated on finishing their test.

The first students finished just before the hour mark and most others finished within another ten minutes. The students had helped each other, which was a little annoying, however I didn't stop them. I then let them have a late fifteen minute break where they mainly decided to read. I marked the papers and was very surprised to see that most of my students got what was asked. There was very little mistakes (only when the picture printed wasn't clear) and overall I breathed a sign of relief; not only was I right in thinking my students were ready for 'Unit 8's' test but they all past with flying colours. I handed back each students test and gave them all a pencil with the British Flag on (a prized possession for any person) as a 'well-done'. For the rest of class we sang songs. The children wanted to do 'twinkle, twinkle', 'baa, baa black sheep' and 'heads, shoulders, knees and toes'. There wasn't much of the lesson left and so we managed a verse of each before they had to go for lunch.

I was certainly ready for something to eat; I had worried about the content of my test so much that I was shattered. I ate, wrote a log of the classes activities today (for the next volunteer to read) and read my book. The afternoon class came in and I repeated the same format as the morning. My star pupil finished my test within fifteen minutes. Even for her I was astounded as I wouldn't have expected a native born English speaker, at that level, to finish my test within fifteen minutes. I gave her some colouring to do as I went and helped the rest of the class. At the other end of the spectrum I had a girl who I had to, almost physically, spoon feed the answers. This again just highlighted to me the academic gap within my class. Should I say anything? Should I recommend that this other girl gets moved down? The problem is that this girl is obviously one of the oldest students within the school and so, to move her down to the middle class, might dent her confidence. However when 'Let's go book three' comes next week she is going to get left even further behind. Just like the first class I gave all of my students pencils for doing well. We also finished off with songs.

On the way back to our guesthouse our tuk-tuk driver veered off the normal route to find one less bumpy. He succeeded however the dust clouds increased. We were back at the guesthouse and I paid our tuk-tuk driver the standard $3.00 for the days work. I then got myself a snack, from the local shop, for tomorrow before checking what was happening within the world. I had tea early before heading to sleep, totally tired out.

As my students have finished their text book (the new one doesn't come until Monday), had teeth pulled out this week and have participated in a test, tomorrow will be a games day. At 'library two' we have the 'pairs' and 'snakes and ladders' games. We also have bingo plus I can knock up a word search or two and a few round of 'beat the clock', if there's anytime left. However, first of all, is our weekly 'being healthy' lesson. Sandy and I have decided to put all the classes together again and go through different vegetables and fruits. We shall split the board and ask the students to put each flash card of a fruit, or vegetable, on the correct side of the board. Then we shall get them to do a bit of colouring, choosing fruits or vegetables as the subject. At lunch the Cambodian teacher, Sandy and I are going to go back to the new 'Library two' building (to see if there has been any improvement) before the Cambodian teacher takes us around her village.

However, for now, it's sleep … which is long over due.

Toodle Pip!