zondag 17 november 2013
woensdag 13 november 2013
Never ending story?
After three months of being home from Cambodia I realise that I never wrote a ‘last blog message’. I think I have some reasons for that. I also have some video material that I still want to do something with. I promise that will happen but not sure when. You can watch already some interviews and lessons from one of my Cambodian students who I was teaching in 2012 and is now a teacher herself.
Before I left to Cambodia for the second
time I decided to start my Masters in Educational Science. As I left in January
I just did one semester. So when I got back home I had to start studying for
some exams that I had to retake because I was at the other side of the world
already. Since October I’m a fulltime student again. So that’s why I didn’t
find time to ‘finish’ my blog.
But does my blog have to end? Maybe there
is another adventure, experience, job, ... waiting for me! I’m sure that I’ll
keep you all posted!
Video:
Sophyroth invited me to visit her in her
hometown. I could stay for two days at her house where she lives with her
parents. We went together with her family on a trip to visit some other family
members and to go for dinner. It was a lovely day! The day after I went to the secondary
school where Sophyroth is teaching Biology and Earth Science.
dinsdag 21 mei 2013
Arriving, adapting, growing, changing … leaving …
October
2012, Ghent:
At the end
of April it was time for the students to go for the last time to their Regional
Teacher Trainer Center. Both groups of students organised a special activity at
the Regional Teacher Trainer Center. In Regional Teacher Trainer Center Kampong
Cham they organised a science fair. All the science teacher students had to
prepare, invent a new experiment and show their experiment in front of a jury
of teacher trainers and Nathan and Marieke. Nathan and Marieke were very
impressed about all the experiments that they saw during the science fair. So
their special day was a great success. In Regional Teacher Trainer Center
Battambang they chose for typical Belgian dance, film and games. The Khmer students
thought them how to dance some typical Khmer dances and vice versa. The Khmer students
also got introduced to some Belgian funny movies and games. That was a lot of
fun!
Sitting in
a café with four unknown students from Arteveldehogeschool who will go to
Cambodia in January 2013. Answering the most strange and funny questions about
live, work, teach ... in Cambodia. (“How much underwear should I bring?”)
They will
do their internship at VVOB while I’m working as a volunteer for VVOB. One of
my tasks will be to follow them up, supervise and guide them during their
internship.
They all
look very friendly, I can feel that they are a bit nervous to go on that big
adventure, which is very normal I think. I’m wondering how it will go ...
January 2013, Bangkok:
Four
smiling faces are waiting for me at the airport in Bangkok. It’s nice to see
them, they arrived well and figured out our trip to Phnom Penh for the day
after. After a trip of more than 15 hours (luckily I had nice company and it
was a good start to get to know each other), we finally arrived in Phnom Penh.
The next morning we went to see the VVOB staff. It was amazing for me to see
everyone back! And the students can finally place a face on the names that they
heard a lot about, emailing with ... the last few months. They were all very
positive about the VVOB staff.
February
2013, Phnom Penh:
After two
days in Phnom Penh it was time to “drop” the students in the city where they
will be working for the next 3 months. Nathan and Marieke went to Kampong Cham
and Michiel and Simon went to Battambang. We had a good feeling when we left
Simon and Michiel “behind” in Battambang. They will stand their ground!
A few weeks
later I visited Marieke and Nathan in Kampong Cham. They found a big and nice
house to live in already, they discovered the city, visited tourist
attractions, taught their first lessons at the RTTC ... They tried their best to install and feel
themselves at home in Kampong Cham.
March
2013, Battambang - Kampong Cham:
Enthusiastic,
motivated and well dressed ;) One by one, they were teaching very good lessons.
Each in their own way. It was amazing to see them growing, to hear them
reflecting about their own lessons, to see how they deal with feedback, how
they adjust their lessons to the comments and tips they got, ... I think (I
hope) that they learned a lot, but I have to admit that I learned a lot too! I would
never have thought that giving feedback, being a supervisor, ... could be so
difficult sometimes.
April
2013, Phnom Penh – Battambang – Kampong Cham:
Experiment
boxes, experiment boxes and again experiment boxes. I almost couldn’t hear the
word anymore...
Marieke,
Nathan, Simon, Michiel and I got the task to develop experiment boxes for four
science subjects: Biology, Chemistry, Earth Science and Physics. (As you can
read in my blog message from April). Without the organisation skills, critical
thinking, discussing, bargaining skills and a lot more other useful skills ...
from the students, we would never have been able to provide such a nice product!
Even though I say it myself, we can be proud of our work.
At the end
of April it was time for the students to go for the last time to their Regional
Teacher Trainer Center. Both groups of students organised a special activity at
the Regional Teacher Trainer Center. In Regional Teacher Trainer Center Kampong
Cham they organised a science fair. All the science teacher students had to
prepare, invent a new experiment and show their experiment in front of a jury
of teacher trainers and Nathan and Marieke. Nathan and Marieke were very
impressed about all the experiments that they saw during the science fair. So
their special day was a great success. In Regional Teacher Trainer Center
Battambang they chose for typical Belgian dance, film and games. The Khmer students
thought them how to dance some typical Khmer dances and vice versa. The Khmer students
also got introduced to some Belgian funny movies and games. That was a lot of
fun!
Mei
2013, Phnom Penh:
Two more
weeks and “my kids” are going back to Belgium. I know now already that I’m
going to miss them. These ‘two more weeks’ were very busy for me. I had to make
sure that all their evaluation forms, lesson observation forms and other
Artevelde forms were completed and that is not something you do in a blink of
the eye. It took more time than I
expected but again I learned a lot from it.
At the 9th
of May, we organised a small farewell drink for the students. They deserved it!
They fulfilled a very good internship at VVOB. It was a pleasure and very
instructive for me to see them growing, changing and getting to know themselves
better. I think I’m a very lucky person, to get the opportunity to supervise
these four students!
Meanwhile
they arrived well in Belgium. I wish them the best of luck in everything they
will do. Nathan, Simon, Marieke and Michiel thanks a lot for all the good
lessons, hard work, funny moments and the good team spirit!
zaterdag 13 april 2013
Crazy week!
Some background you need to know: VVOB Cambodia has several programmes. One of the programmes is the SEAL programme ( Improvement of Science and Life skills Education at Teacher Training Centres). For the SEAL programme, we work together with 6 Regional Teacher Trainer Centers (RTTC's). These RTTC's have around 6 or 7 secondary schools were they work together with. In these secondary schools the student teachers from the RTTC's doing there practice = internship.
We want to distribute experiment boxes to these secundary schools. This is one of the many things that the SEAL programme is working on.
My mission together with the 4 Artevelde students: Making experiment boxes for the science subjects (Earth Science, Physics, Chemistry and Biology), for the 40 secondary schools.
What can the teachers at the secondary school do with these boxes?
When they are teaching and they want to use experiment from the manuals that we will spread. They will be able to find all the materials that they need for these experiments in the box. Every school gets two boxes. One box for Physics and Earth Science and one box for Chemistry and Biology.
Enough background I think ...
This week was mental!
First of all we had to try and find all the materials in the markets. Luckely we had two teachers who were helping us with that. But we still had to haggle to get a fixed price because we didn't need just one knife or one kilogram of sugar .... We needed at least 40 or 80 or even 160 times as many!!!
After two day's of crazy shopping we started to divide everyting in the boxes. We also had to make 5 diffrent models for biology (= 40 x 5= 200 models in total)!!
On Wednesday and Thursday we had some help from 10 students from the RTTC in Kandal. They did a very nice job.
While Sokha and I were finishing the shopping in Phnom Penh. The 4 belgian students took the lead in RTTC Kandal. Show the Khmer students what they can do, where they can help with, ... And of course they have also worked a lot!! Marieke, Michiel, Nathan and Simon are a very good team! Thanks a lot! I also want to thank Sokha and Chanly (VVOB's accountants staff) without their help we would never have been able to buy all the material and they are the best at bargaining! ;)
During this crazy week we also had a lovely Khmer New Year party at the office. And on Thursday the 11th of April I had a wonderful birthday party! :) Thanks to everyone for that!
After all, I survived the 'crazy' week and now it's time for Khmer New Year holiday!
Happy Khmer New Year!
We want to distribute experiment boxes to these secundary schools. This is one of the many things that the SEAL programme is working on.
My mission together with the 4 Artevelde students: Making experiment boxes for the science subjects (Earth Science, Physics, Chemistry and Biology), for the 40 secondary schools.
What can the teachers at the secondary school do with these boxes?
When they are teaching and they want to use experiment from the manuals that we will spread. They will be able to find all the materials that they need for these experiments in the box. Every school gets two boxes. One box for Physics and Earth Science and one box for Chemistry and Biology.
Enough background I think ...
This week was mental!
First of all we had to try and find all the materials in the markets. Luckely we had two teachers who were helping us with that. But we still had to haggle to get a fixed price because we didn't need just one knife or one kilogram of sugar .... We needed at least 40 or 80 or even 160 times as many!!!
After two day's of crazy shopping we started to divide everyting in the boxes. We also had to make 5 diffrent models for biology (= 40 x 5= 200 models in total)!!
On Wednesday and Thursday we had some help from 10 students from the RTTC in Kandal. They did a very nice job.
While Sokha and I were finishing the shopping in Phnom Penh. The 4 belgian students took the lead in RTTC Kandal. Show the Khmer students what they can do, where they can help with, ... And of course they have also worked a lot!! Marieke, Michiel, Nathan and Simon are a very good team! Thanks a lot! I also want to thank Sokha and Chanly (VVOB's accountants staff) without their help we would never have been able to buy all the material and they are the best at bargaining! ;)
During this crazy week we also had a lovely Khmer New Year party at the office. And on Thursday the 11th of April I had a wonderful birthday party! :) Thanks to everyone for that!
After all, I survived the 'crazy' week and now it's time for Khmer New Year holiday!
Happy Khmer New Year!
vrijdag 29 maart 2013
Update from Cambodia!
After
another 5 weeks in the Kingdom of Wonder, I need to update my blog.
As I’m
getting used to the travelling between Phnom Penh, Battambang and Kampong Cham.
Why not leaving again to Kampong Cham after 3 days being back from Battambang J
But the
last two weeks were my last weeks of travelling. I’ll be in Phnom Penh now for
a while. I like the travelling, because Battambang and Kampong Cham are really
nice cities and it’s nice to follow up the Belgian students, but it will be
lovely to be in one place for a while!
 |
| Sokhany during the preparation inset training in Kampong Cham |
In the
beginning of March we had a good “preparation inset training” workshop in
Kampong Cham. I also observed and evaluated some interesting lessons from the
Belgian students (Nathan and Marieke). On Monday evening the 4the of March, we
were invited by Sokhany’s family to have dinner. I never had such good food!
There was an amazingly good fish curry and a very good chicken curry! I’m still
salivating if I think about it.
 |
| Nathan doing the experiment |
 |
| Waiting to see a 'spectacular experiment' from Nathan... |
 |
| Chanly, the best in buying refreshments for the workshop :) |
 |
| Thanks for your hospitality Sokhany and .... |
 |
| .... for the delicious food! |
International
Woman’s day! I’m in the right country because that’s a holiday over here J I Had a very lazy day of tanning
and reading at the pool. In the weekend I went cycling with some friends. We
took the ferry to the other side of the Mekong (Areyksat). There we had an easy
cycle trip in the country side with some nice views. So different from Phnom
Penh, but still so close!
 |
| Cycling trip to Areyksat |
The week of
the 11the of March almost all my colleagues went to Belgium for the seminar
from VVOB. I have to admit.... I was jealous! It would be nice to be in Belgium
for a week, see my family and friends! But ... we also enjoyed the quiet time
in the office, and we had our own “Belgian party” ;)
 |
| Belgian party at the office ;) |
 |
The weekend when
my colleagues came back was fantastic; they brought a big package from my
family for me. The box was filled with delicacies from Belgium (Lots of
chocolat, cheese, honey, ... ) and
lovely letters and cards! Thank you so much!
 |
| Côte d'Or :) |
In between
working, travelling, evaluating, ... I
also had some lovely nights out with my friends here in Phnom Penh.
See you
next time!
You can see
more pictures on my facebook album: Sab bay nas
PS: Happy
Easter on Sunday!
vrijdag 22 februari 2013
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
And luckily there were some English songs too.
See you soon!
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.
Last night of the Biology/ Earth Science workshop: Time for some karaoke!
See you soon!
woensdag 6 februari 2013
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 …
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.
You can see some pictures in this album: https://picasaweb.google.com/117599487615681139672/FirstWeekInternshipArteveldestudents#
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.
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.
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!
vrijdag 11 januari 2013
New experience
Hello!
It's been a while... But here I am again.
In exactly 2 weeks and 7 hourse I'm on a plane to Cambodia!
After my amazing internship, I'm going back to work as a volunteer for VVOB (Flemish Association for Development Cooperation and Technical Assistance).
I'll be working for VVOB from the end of january 2013 till the beginning of june 2013.
After my work I'm planning to travel around a bit in South- East Asia, till the 10the of july, coz my parents and my sister are coming to visit Cambodia for two weeks!! Normally I'm going back home with them at the end of july.
I'll try to keep you posted of all my experiences and adventures through my blog.
I also want to thank the people who came to the "Benefiet Cambodja". Through you I was able to collect a lot of money with whish I can buy useful materials, for one of more development organisations in Cambodia. If I find an organisation I'll put it on my blog, so you can see and read what I'll do with the money.
I hope you will enjoy my blog!
Love,
Griet
It's been a while... But here I am again.
In exactly 2 weeks and 7 hourse I'm on a plane to Cambodia!
After my amazing internship, I'm going back to work as a volunteer for VVOB (Flemish Association for Development Cooperation and Technical Assistance).
I'll be working for VVOB from the end of january 2013 till the beginning of june 2013.
After my work I'm planning to travel around a bit in South- East Asia, till the 10the of july, coz my parents and my sister are coming to visit Cambodia for two weeks!! Normally I'm going back home with them at the end of july.
I'll try to keep you posted of all my experiences and adventures through my blog.
I also want to thank the people who came to the "Benefiet Cambodja". Through you I was able to collect a lot of money with whish I can buy useful materials, for one of more development organisations in Cambodia. If I find an organisation I'll put it on my blog, so you can see and read what I'll do with the money.
I hope you will enjoy my blog!
Love,
Griet
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