Strengthening workshop in Battambang (18/19 and 21/22 Feb 2013)

Live from Battambang:

Strengthening workshop in RTTC Battambang.

Last Monday and Thuesday there was the Biology and Earth Science workshop.
During these two days there were 4 lesson try-outs for Biology and 4 for Earth Science.
Some lessons were better than others, but it was a very good moment for the teacher trainers to give feedback on each others lessons.
I saw some nice experiments and a lot of Student Centered Approach (SCA).

Thuesday evening was the last evening for the Biology and Earth Science teacher trainers, and I didn't know that before, but that group of teacher trainers is a "party group" ;)
We went to a karaoke and it was real fun, a lot of Khmer dancing and singing!
Luckely Wednesday there was no workshop, so we could work in the hotel, with a bit less stress.

Yesterday and today there was the Physics and Chemistry workshop.
It was nice to see some teacher trainers that I recognised from last year.
I learned a lot during the Chemistry lessons, it was an opportunity to refresh my Chemistry knowledge.
Concept cartoons, traffic cards, concept cards, 3-2-1 methode, ... it was nice to see that the teacher trainers tried to use all these methodes.

https://picasaweb.google.com/105102279593966504533/StrengtheningWorkshopBTB1819And2122Feb2013?authkey=Gv1sRgCJqOnqfZgtPFQw#

I think we can close this workshop with a good feeling. The teacher trainers got the opportunity to give the try out lessons and give feedback to each other. They can go home with some good tips for improvement. Hopefully they will apply the tips in there lessons.

On to the next RTTC: RTTC Kampong Cham.

After the strengthening workshops we have the preparation of the inset training on SCA and on experiments for Biology/ Earth Science / Physics and Chemistry.

                                          The SCA manuals

 

Last night of the Biology/ Earth Science workshop: Time for some karaoke!

 

And luckily there were some English songs too.

 

See you soon!

Cambodia the sequel...

Here I am, back in Cambodia. I’ll start my first blog message from the beginning: The trip from Brussels to Phnom Penh …

Brussels → Abu Dhabi → Bangkok → Aranyprathet border crossing (Thailand- Cambodia) → Poipet → Battambang → Finally Phnom Penh

The first part of my trip was luckily with the plane. But from Bangkok to Phnom Penh everything was by bus.

So on Friday the 25the of January I left Brussels two hours late to Abu Dhabi. There I had a perfect connection to Bangkok. The students from Arteveldehogeschool were waiting for me in Bangkok. Meanwhile it was already Saturday evening. We spent the night in a hotel in Bangkok and on Sunday morning at 7am we had a ‘bus’ to Phnom Penh…. What an adventure….

After an hour of driving around in a minivan, we finally left Bangkok. Around lunch time we had a break for 40 minutes where we had to fill in the visa forms. Around 1pm we arrived in Aranyprathet where we slowly ;) crossed the border of Thailand with Cambodia. Around 3:30pm we were dropped in some sort of bus station in Poipet (Cambodia). There we had to wait for 2 hours before we had a bus to Phnom Penh. So at 5:30 pm we had a bus to Phnom Penh (who was stopping everywhere) and we finally arrived in our guest house at 3 o’clock in the morning….!! WHAT A TRIP.

 

Luckily on Monday we could sleep long, Stefaan rescheduled the program for us. In the afternoon we went to RTTC Kandal. It was so good to see the VVOB team back! Unfortunately some lovely colleagues are not working there anymore.

 

Tuesday was the second introduction day. I have the feeling that the students from Arteveldehogeschool are having a good time and they are very enthusiastic about their internship at VVOB.

On Wednesday they had to say goodbye to each other. Simon and Michiel are going to Battambang and Marieke and Nathan to Kampong Cham. Sokhany and I went together with Simon and Michiel to Battambang.

Thursday we had a meeting with the very friendly director of the RTTC in Battambang. Michiel and Simon were introduced to the teacher trainers and to their group of students that they have to follow up during the practicum.

In our free time we visited some nice places in Battambang, we saw millions of bats coming out of a cave, we went on the bambootrain, ... we were real tourists :)

After the meeting with the students, discovering the city, ... Simon and Michiel were even more enthusiastic to start their internship! So Sokhany and I could go back to Phnom Penh on Friday morning with a good feeling.  

You can see some pictures in this album: https://picasaweb.google.com/117599487615681139672/FirstWeekInternshipArteveldestudents# 

Weekend time!

My lovely friends from last year arranged a weekend to the seaside of Cambodia.

Friday evening I arrived in Kep where I met my friends. For dinner we had the amazingly good grilled crab with kampot pepper! On Saturday we went with the motorbikes to Otris beach. Oh and before that I was ‘acting’ for the TV show Loy9! In March I’ll be on Khmer television, Yay! That was a really nice and funny experience, thanks to Julian for that!

 

After a safe motorbike trip (to bad we had a flat tire, but that was fixed fast) we arrived at the wonderful Otris beach. We had a swim in the sea, watched the stars, had some fish BBQ, … LOVELY!

Sunday was a lazy but beautiful beach day.

After a nice morning swim in the sea on Monday, we were fully equipped for the motorbike trip back to Phnom Penh. 

 

My first week back in Phnom Penh was very busy and with a lot of traveling but it is fantastic to be back! And I think I’m very lucky to have a first weekend like this in the Kingdom of Wonder!

 

Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152017324282080.507182.778757079&type=1