Elien in Ta Khmau, Kandal province

Chum reap sour!

On Monday 7th February, I had a meeting with my three Cambodian colleagues ; Mr. Ros Sopheak, Ms. Sean Sreynoch and Mr. Ben Mono. We met each other in the biology class of the Teacher Trainer School in Ta Khmau. After a little talk, we prepared our first lesson plan about the internal organs of the human body.

As time passes by, we finished this lesson plan. Then we saw it was already time to lunch. We decided to meet each other again at one o’ clock for testing an experiment…

After my lunch, I did some research where I could buy my material. At the office they heard about my experiment en they wanted to help me. Chanly (of the VVOB) knew where she could find it and she was so generous to buy my material.

One o’ clock: experimental experiment! To visualize the lesson we wanted to do a dissection of an animal. But in Cambodia it is kind of difficult to find the perfect animal. I couldn’t find a rabbit, neither a pig and because a cow was to big I choose a chicken. My Cambodian colleagues were, just like me, very excited and enthusiastic about this experiment. This because it was for them and also for me the first time we saw an did a dissection on a chicken.

During this dissection we understood that this was not such a good idea. The dissection didn’t work out, because there were too many differences. After all, a chicken is a bird and not a mammal. We should have known that, but it was worth to try it!

First visit at my practice school

On Tuesday 8th February, I visited one of the many high schools of Ta Khmau. The name of my practice school is Hun Sen Sereipheap which means ‘freedom’ in English. (what a nice name for a school )

My practice school is situated in the Kandal province. I go the school with my motorbike. From our home in Phnom Penh, it takes about 15 or 20 minutes. It depends of how busy or chaotic the traffic is. J

In this school I will have to teach some topics related to biology and earth science in cooperation with my 3 Cambodian colleagues. During this month my Cambodian colleagues have to teach biology. In March they will teach earth science.

During this day I observed Sopheak, Sreynoch and Mono for eight hours. When the observation sessions were over I had the chance to meet the director of the Seriepheap high school . I was very pleased to meet him.

He only speaks French and Khmer. Because my French isn’t that very well, and my Khmer is still limited we did our conversation with an interpreter. Sopheak speaks English very fluently and of course also Khmer, so he translated every word. I had I nice chat with the director. He’s a very warm and friendly man.

Choub knea pel krory!