Teaching English

Teaching English

When we first interviewed with Mennonite Central Committee and they suggested I teach English, both Roseann and I laughed. Being a native speaker of English does not mean one can pass on much if any of what is used. When you take your first foreign language you realize how little you know about language in general. My first foreign language was Koine Greek, a dead or unspoken language. It is a very sophisticated language, but thankfully unspoken. Read, write, translate, were the tasks of the class.

Fast-forward to Cambodia. Now I need only to listen and speak, no reading or writing. Speaking a foreign language is a whole different task. Thankfully I was doing this before I started teaching English. I now share a common frustration with my students, to hear a foreign language and speak it. I never realized how fast native speakers talk.

Teaching began long before I was ready or even understood the enormity of the task before me. So what do you do when you know nothing? Get to know your students and let them get to know you. I was given two partnership assignments. One was with the Council on Agriculture and Rural Development. The other was with the Evangelical Fellowship of Cambodia's drop in center called Bright Spark in Toul Kork. My work at EFC is more regular and in a setting I am familiar with, youth outreach. It is probably most telling of the state of things in Cambodia.

Public school students in Cambodia attend classes for only half a day, for all grades. I think this is mostly due to lack of funds being used for Education. In parts of the rural provinces there are no High Schools so students who want to continue most move to a city to finish their education. When I went to work at the drop in center I assumed I would be teaching neighborhood kids. With a lack of schools the neighborhoods this drop in center services is all Cambodia. We did introductions and most students were from provinces I had not heard of. I also thought my students would be high school age. Most if not all attend a University or Technical school. They have come to Phnom Penh to get a good education and find a good job.

Most families understand the importance of education in securing a good job. The majority of Cambodia is still rural and agricultural. So, while international trade is not a huge sector of Cambodia's economy, many businesses want employees who are fluent in English, the language of international trade.

The Evangelical Fellowship of Cambodia seeks to have an outreach with youth who are working to improve their lives. Most of the students in my class want to work in business and are working hard on learning English. One student wants to be a doctor and I can tell by his fluency he has spent much time studying already. Another student would like to be a translator. She will have many years of study yet to take. One student told me he would like to teach English and laughed. I suggested he teach Khmer to English speakers.

I have between twenty-five and thirty students in my class each day. They come with good attitudes but are very hesitant to speak English in front of their peers. Making mistakes in class is not what they are comfortable with. This greatly inhibits the amount of learning that can take place. To master the lesson one needs to practice verbally. While I point this out every time I ask for volunteers, they all seem happy just to listen.

My class is very popular for a couple of reasons. One is that it is taught by a native English speaker. I know correct pronunciation and intonation. Where their Khmer teachers can explain meanings better because they know Khmer. I speak clear, correct English, at least to their ears. They have begun to pick up that I am not good at spelling. The other big draw is that the class is free. Classes at the University or technical school are expensive and large. Through a grant from Global Family we are able to provide text books as well.

One program sponsored by MCC called IVEP brings Cambodian youth to the USA to learn English by immersion. In such an environment they have to use the language daily. I mentioned this program to my class and they were all interested. Such opportunities for them are extremely rare.

Our textbooks are British and I don't know how they were chosen. Sometimes it takes me several readings to understand the instructions, and I am a native speaker. I teach parts of speech through actual settings students might encounter. This allows for lots of pictures and forming a context for when such language will be used.

By design I speak only English in class. This forces students to realize that to truly understand the language, they have to use it. They have to ask their questions for me in English. This is probably the main reason my class is so quiet. They don't yet have the words to ask the the questions they have. If my Khmer teacher used only Khmer I would have been extremely frustrated, but I started my Khmer class with no language study. My students have all had previous language study. For them to understand me I often write what I am saying on the board. This forces me to slow down and helps the students see the correlation between what they heard and what it looks like in writing. Class goes very slow and we cover very little in one class period but without comprehension nothing is really learned.

After a couple months teaching we are using every seat in the classroom. While this should be encouraging, it makes class more difficult. I have far less time to interact with students one to one. Practice is the foundation of learning. My next task is to equip the classroom. I plan to visit some other english teaching schools to see what is available.