Day 5: First Day of School

I said goodbye to Nat and Korwin very early Monday morning, walking back to Seven Candles by myself. My hostel was just a few easy blocks away, but it was still very dark with little activity on the streets. Even though I felt fairly comfortable with Siem Reap after being there for 3-4 days, knowing that I was actually alone definitely heightened my awareness of the surroundings. Aka I was a bit scared, hahaha. I also freaked out when the hostel's gates were completely closed and I was locked outside, but a bit of frantic dialing did the trick. Good, I have self-preservation skills. I'm not a dodo bird! 

Remember how I was saying one of the purposes of this Cambodia trip was to try to experience what it was like being alone? Well, now I know that in the beginning it felt like someone suddenly took off my training wheels, and I was both free to fall and free to navigate my surroundings without constraints. Do you think that being alone is freeing? 

But I wasn't really alone the rest of the trip, because Monday was my first day of school. :) 

Like I mentioned before, PLF volunteers basically create their own curriculum with minimal direction from the school and foundation. There aren't many constraints for art classes because it's not like you're going to be teaching them nude charcoal sketches. The teachers should just use their best judgment on what's suitable for the children, and try to make their class as thoughtful and meaningful as possible!

Basically, the guidance I received was:

Teach two art classes each day.

Each class is one hour long, and has approximately 20 students.

The students are 4th and 5th graders.

You can use whatever materials are available in the supply room. Or buy your own in town.

Most of the things you teach may take a few classes, so you probably only need to prepare a few projects.

Have fun, bye! :D

P.S. Your tuk-tuk driver is your translator. And maybe the librarian if he is present. 

[Eek...... okay......]

I really really really wanted to do a good job. No, not just good... I wanted teach a supercalafragilisticexpialidocious class where the kids really came away with something special. A few Christmases ago, I took an element that I learned from elementary school and implemented it in part of my handcrafted cards. THAT sort of everlasting memory was the impression that I wanted to make. So I thought about what I wanted achieve for the children, and broke it down to the following criteria:

• Something completely novel. I want to add value by widening their understanding of the world.
• Something educational. I want to add value by opening up their mind and making them think.
• Something fun and interactive. I want to add value by adding color and excitement to their lives.
• Something they can be proud of. I want to add value by establishing self-confidence.

That's a lot of checkboxes to tick off.

Class #1: Pinwheels

I prepared a finished prototype of what we're making before each art class to help the students understand the project better. It took a lot of time to think about the best explanation, work through the appropriate steps, and organize all the materials every day.

For the first class, I decided to teach the children how to make pinwheels. Why pinwheels? Well, pinwheels are fun toys that give children immediate and tangible satisfaction from the fruits of their labor. They get to have some self-expression by drawing on the pieces of paper, and then learn a bit of mechanics too (the propellers capturing the wind, rotating around the pin). It's a easy lesson that will hopefully help Teacher Miffy earn some brownie points so they're extra good the rest of the week. :) 

I was also told that I had the option of providing food for the children before each class, a meal of bread and milk. Well, I decided to up that by adding fruit to their diet, so I requested my driver Pesete to pass by the market every morning and grab enough bananas for all the kids. Potassium is important!

On the way to school, with art supplies all loaded up in the boxes!

There is a lot of scooter traffic around the market area.

Here is Pesete with our treasure.
Bananas, baguettes, and condensed milk. I think it cost around $20 USD to provide lunch to 40 children each day.

Oh boy, what was I getting myself into? The drive took one hour, and by the time we puttered into the school's dusty driveway I had become genuinely nervous. There were children just hanging out in the schoolyard, and some of them smiled and waved to say "hello!" as we pulled up to the classroom. That made me smile... and you know what? I smiled a lot that day, and a lot more the rest of the week. :)

When the clock struck 11, the kids literally BOUNDED their way into the classroom. They were laughing, smiling, teasing each other, and staring at me unabashedly... who is this new teacher? PLF has sent many a foreigner to Knar Primary School, so these children were probably used to the rotating United Nations at their doorstep. But what would THIS one bring? Well students, I am Ms. Frizzle!

We first spent around 10-15 minutes distributing the food, and waiting them to eat and calm down a bit. They were extremely well-behaved, putting their hands together (as is Cambodian custom) looking you in the eyes while saying "thank you" (in English!!!) as you handed them lunch. Some children even remembered my name after I had introduced myself in the beginning, and said "thank you [Miffy]". Such angels. After finishing their meal, the students got up automatically to throw away their garbage and swept the floor of crumbs. I was very impressed, and this motivated me to do my best. They deserve it.

I explained to them the day's project in English just like how I would teach a classroom full of American students. It was surprisingly easy for them to quickly get the concept with body language and gestures, even if my tuk-tuk driver Pesete didn't manage to translate everything successfully. Smart kids... the only thing holding them back is their lack of exposure and resources.

Coloring their pinwheels.

Helping them staple the propellers securely and pin the stick in.

This sweet girl put quite a few decorative touches on her pinwheel.

It was pure joy watching the students run around playing with their new pinwheels! :)

Ta-da!

I can't tell you HOW relieved I was when we were done for the day -- I can teach! :) Whew.

We ended class at 1pm and headed back to town for lunch. Pesete took me to this food stall on the way back to Siem Reap, which sold fish paste coconut curry noodles. It was delicious!!! And only 5,000 riels (appoximately $1.25 USD).

Doesn't look like much, but this is good stuff.

Cambodian curry is not spicy at all. You can add this mouthwatering chili garlic sauce that really hits the spot.

You would think that the day is over and now I have lots of free time to do vacationy stuff, but nope -- tomorrow is another class day and I have to think of another awesome project for the kids! Now this second class was giving me a bit of a headache since it was going to be Christmas Day. I wanted to take advantage of this holiday and teach them something related to Christmas, but what could we do? Korwin had suggested cutting out snowflakes, but I vetoed it because 1) would they know about snow, and 2) surely they've never examined a snowflake under a microscope, so how would they know that the unique patterns they were cutting out was supposed to be snow? See... it's not easy to come up with a good curriculum! After lots of brainstorming, I came up with a better idea... a fantastic one, if I may say myself. SNOW GLOBES. 

Why snow globes? These children have never seen snow in their life, so I'm going to bring "snow" straight to them! But, how was I going to find the material to make snow globes? o_o My friends at Seven Candles pointed me towards the Old Market. Pesete... helpppppp meeeeeeeee....

Markets are pretty much the same all around the world. Just mounds and mounts of STUFF.

I was able to source everything I needed to make 40 snow globes at the Old Market. Plastic jars, Santa ornaments, green tinsel, and glitter (at the beauty store pictured above). I used a guilt-trip bargaining method with the vendors, "It's for the children!!! DO IT FOR THE KIDS!!!"

After purchasing all the supplies, I had to now make the first prototype. This all made sense in my head, but it is very important to give it a whirl yourself because you'll end up discovering a lot of problems that would have been pretty awkward had you not troubleshooted it first. Like how "Santa" actually floats so you have to glue him to the lid sideways. I had poked lots of holes into this one Santa ornament to let the air out (unsuccessfully). When that didn't work, I squeezed his body like one of those bath toys. Santa ended up looking like was gunned down by a AK-47 and then run over by a dump truck, hahahaha. :p

Glub, glub, glub?
Prepping for the snow globes took A LOT of time. I had to prepare all the Santas so they didn't look like floating dead bodies, cut all the tinsels to the right length, make the snow globe prototype. Basically working right through dinnertime.

All right, dinner! Where to go, where to go... surely I'll find sustenance near Pub Street! So off I went armed with my trusty map, and found myself a Vietnamese restaurant where I ordered a hearty pho and delicious avocado shake. I went back again for that avocado shake a few days later.

Siem Reap's Pub Street.

It's pretty much the same deal in every South East Asian city.

Cambodian shadow puppet show.

I passed a free shadow puppet show while walking back home. It was very entertaining, and the perfect day to end a very long and eventful day.