Teachers’ extra earnings

Duncan · Post by **Duncan** » Mon Sep 23, 2019 3:09 pm

Freightdog wrote: ↑Mon Sep 23, 2019 2:22 pm I’ve just got back to Cambodia after far too many weeks away in Europe, and am immediately faced with the same problems as before, along with some new stuff. A proper ‘fuck me’ moment.

Name and Shame, time. Sovanaphumi school.

When I interviewed the school and staff to get an idea of their capabilities, I was at least confident that the teachers would be capable of teaching English.
A Khmer teacher, who is married to an expat (Brit or yank, I don’t recall)
An Argentinian. A Spanish accent, but no issues at all with their English.

From week one, the school day that was supposedly from 7:30am until 4pm was actually misquoted, and should have read 7:00 until 10:30, unless you want to pay twice.
The teachers were reassigned, and in their place two characters with a very different capability.
One barely speaks English, as I found today. A simple question received three completely different answers.
The other has such an attitude about her that required a meeting with the head teacher to at least get her to address the lad by his name- either his full name, or family colloquial/short name. In her arrogance, she had elected to creat a very different name, and then complained that he never responded in class.

Lessons with errors. A few examples...
1. Letter changes.
A fairly complicated (for basic kindergarden level kids) lesson- change one letter in a three letter word to get a completely new word, helped by pictures. The lesson failed half way through by changing the wrong letter in the sequence. Thus reinforcing an error

2. Learning the basic senses.
They are-
Taste, smell, hear, see, touch and tap, apparently.
Aided by pictures

Taste=tongue
Smell= nose
Touch/tap = picture of a water tap. (Faucet for those of a colonial background)

3. Learning the word flower.
Picture of a rose, title of the lesson/task FLAWER

Curriculum
This month, we are learning about body parts. 1st item, FLAWER, misspelled

It’s no surprise that the main expectation of 8years at school will be that they might leave able to read and write, possibly count.

It comes as no surprise that the shortfall is patched up with extra curricular teaching.

But what about really really hard words like

jd1965 · Post by **jd1965** » Mon Sep 23, 2019 4:21 pm

Mishmash wrote: ↑Mon Sep 23, 2019 12:35 pm I too have a kid in school. (I have seven in total ranging from 35 years old to just 3)

About schools here, they all lack discipline regarding the hours.

Many parents bring their kids late and so the classroom environment is extremely disruptive and tough on the teachers.

In addition - long holidays, hammocks and mango time - the list goes on.

The lost hours can only be covered by extra tuition, and sure it is the school's fault. They have to adapt to paying parents who fund the school, so they are understandably nervous about giving people grief over 'time' - it's just not done.

For your situation you can only imbue your step-daughter with a love of learning over and above her social life, creating a home environment where learning is encouraged and rewarded (can be difficult if you are busy or cannot read khmer) - daughter bribes in short.

And of course a private tutor with a good reputation is essential.

I'm happy to hear you have the same problems as me in Cambodia.

7? Blimey...busy boy.

jd1965 · Post by **jd1965** » Mon Sep 23, 2019 4:22 pm

No telly at home then?

taabarang · Post by **taabarang** » Mon Sep 23, 2019 4:45 pm

I have said elsewhere that my biggest regret was falling in love with the right girl in the wrong country. But actually my biggest concern now is having two kids that have been subjected to what passes for education here. There is much memorisation, but no or only accidental critical thinking. I question if the country will ever go forward and if the powers that be, want it to. It is as if there is a cultural inclination for ignorance.

Mishmash · Post by **Mishmash** » Mon Sep 23, 2019 10:40 pm

memorisation vs learning and true knowlege

Richard Feynman had the same comments about Brazil if you have time to read his memoirs

I am in the same boat for sure.

for the short term i am happy my son learns to socialize at school

The rest is google.

back to the OP - is a tough nut to crack - making daughters happy is easier - give in - hahahaha

Post by **Freightdog** » Tue Sep 24, 2019 1:12 am

Adding to Taabarangs sentiment; I’m determined that my lad is not going to be subjected to the indifference shown so far in education. It’s a shame that the two (step) older kids are casualties of this system.

It’s funny-ironic-without-laughter that probably the biggest tragedy to befall this country in recent memory is the pol pot/Khmer rouge regime, but some 40years later, indifference and corruption is in danger of producing such a society as that organisation wished to nurture.
At least in part.

Anchor Moy · Post by **Anchor Moy** » Tue Sep 24, 2019 1:43 am

I am really big on trying to get kids to read for pleasure. It's not easy, but I do think that reading for yourself is important for development (as opposed to just memorising text books for school).
In Cambodia, there is very little pleasure in learning unfortunately and the goal is considered more important than the adventure. For a lot of Cambodians, the most important thing seems to be the degree or the exam piece of paper, and the learning process itself is unimportant.

However, there are exceptions to the rule, when the parents step up and engage with the kids to make learning fun with songs, learning games and books.

Jcml19 · Post by **Jcml19** » Tue Sep 24, 2019 1:56 am

I think we have to consider that even english is memorialization but we just don't notice it because it's imbeeded into our brain through repition... E.g. year pre school to now and we use it every day of our life....

Part of the challenge in schooling a child overseas is that yes english is taught but alot of the other subjects are not so your kid will be more dependent on the local language... There interaction is aslo done in khmer...

Be patient with your kid and try your best to review the non english material with them... Kids gonna have a rough childhood bc they will be doing alot of schooling (two languages) so good luck..

canucklhead · Post by **canucklhead** » Tue Sep 24, 2019 9:31 am

I too have to continually correct the english homework of my kids. I mean the homework examples the teachers give them. All the schools here are shite! You have to do a certain amount of home schooling as well.
As far as paying extra for tutoring a second or third rated student in the class? Forget it. Cash grab.

taabarang · Post by **taabarang** » Tue Sep 24, 2019 11:15 am

"I think we have to consider that even english is memorialization but we just don't notice it because it's imbeeded into our brain through repition... E.g. year pre school to now and we use it every day of our life...."

OK, true enough to a certain point; there probably isn't any subject taught that doesn't require memorization. But the salient point is that we memorize to gain sufficient proficiency to use them as tools to solve tasks. We don't memorize for it's own sake e.g. to pass a test.

As for fraternization, my kids had a tough time. But why? They were subjected to racism because their father was a barang so they weren't "pure Cambodian" but merely "koan kaet" or half breeds. The fact that they excelled over their peers only alliented further. And like all kids they wanted to belong and all the hard work my wife and I spent home schooling them disappeared as soon as they went to high school in Kampong Cham.

I realize that the Khmer are generally friendly but they are 1) definitely racist and find little or no value in "book learning.". This especially applies to rural Cambodians who are highly uneducated and hence see no value in it for their kids. Better they work in the fields or babysit the young'uns. And of course if the children don't attend school, there is no truant officer knocking on the door.

There is no music, dance, art or sports taught. During break time I've seen the boys playing a pickup game of football on a hillside nonetheless. With no supervision it more resembled a mass Kung Fu match. Add to all this class sizes of 40-60 students and you have a great formula for substandard education. I could add more but frankly I can't change that which defies modification.

Teachers’ extra earnings

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