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!
