Before I left for SEA, my mom put me in contact with someone from her church, who helped fund a school in Kampot Province in Cambodia - the Doris Dillon school.
I arranged in advance the purchase of school supplies and books to give to the 182 students. We passed around the books then I went to each classroom to meet the kids.
I have not stood in front of a kid's classroom since I've been in grade school. What do you say, especially to kids who speak very little English and are super shy? I thought of how my friend Jocelyn would have been able to connect with the kids regardless of the language barrier. I had nothing. I looked to the papers on the walls for inspiration and saw the word birthday. My question, "Who has a birthday in May?" was a flop. "What do you do after school?" went over better, especially when I asked the kid who was going home to see his cow what the name of his cow was. I mean, i would name my cow if I had one. The most successful question was asking a kid to say something in English. At first he said a few words in English, then he was on a roll and started listing out a string of words: control, organize, apologize. Regardless of having no semblance of meaning, it was pretty cool to see this kid's confidence grow from shyly standing next to his desk to shouting out big syllable words without a break. Overall, the kids were super cute and stoked to have a visitor.
DONATE to Doris Dillon school through World Assistance of Cambodia if you want to help the school build their computer technology, library and more.
NEXT STOP: 2 days of relaxation in Kampot
I arranged in advance the purchase of school supplies and books to give to the 182 students. We passed around the books then I went to each classroom to meet the kids.
I have not stood in front of a kid's classroom since I've been in grade school. What do you say, especially to kids who speak very little English and are super shy? I thought of how my friend Jocelyn would have been able to connect with the kids regardless of the language barrier. I had nothing. I looked to the papers on the walls for inspiration and saw the word birthday. My question, "Who has a birthday in May?" was a flop. "What do you do after school?" went over better, especially when I asked the kid who was going home to see his cow what the name of his cow was. I mean, i would name my cow if I had one. The most successful question was asking a kid to say something in English. At first he said a few words in English, then he was on a roll and started listing out a string of words: control, organize, apologize. Regardless of having no semblance of meaning, it was pretty cool to see this kid's confidence grow from shyly standing next to his desk to shouting out big syllable words without a break. Overall, the kids were super cute and stoked to have a visitor.
DONATE to Doris Dillon school through World Assistance of Cambodia if you want to help the school build their computer technology, library and more.
NEXT STOP: 2 days of relaxation in Kampot
"I mean, i would name my cow if I had one. "....jajajaja
ReplyDeleteReally? Name a cow? You do NOT name a cow there. Jeanne, did we have the talk before you went for this vacation?
ReplyDelete