My Students

Khang

First let me say that I have a bias when it comes to the students in my class, I have always thought that they either were pretty smart (or have the potential to be) and that they were good looking as well.  What does Garrison Keeler say about people in Lake Wobegon?   "all the women are good looking and the men above average".  I remember many times standing outside of my classroom watching other classes being dismissed and thinking where did they come from?  I say this all because my description of my students this year at EWIS might sound a bit over the top, but that would be true, to a certain extent, about any class I have had.

Por making up a quiz at my desk

The boys, not enough room to say who is who

      Fair to say that my default setting is that like my students but getting to know them  has not been all peaches and cream.  The hardest part has been their names.  Just a sample:  Tithpich Panhehapor, Kheny Keomony, Sann Puthdeborah, Mok Mengsrent.  How about easier ones: Ye Shin, Youbin, Ye Jin, Subin, Yun Jin and Jin Hee, oh, I forgot Hyang Yu and Ju Eun.  Back to the hard ones: Dolin Phennyreach, Thun Molika, Chea Sapanharith, Chum Magiret, Brun Rizponhakol, hardest of all Kwanhanok Suwandey (who thankfully calls herself May).  Some, like Eang Muyly, I am afraid to call on again in class because the first time I did I butchered her (yes she is a girl) name so badly that all the students laughed.  The other thing about their names is that it is hard to know what is their first name and their last name.  You would think that Lee In Kyu was related to Choung Min Kyu, but not so, In Kyu is his first name(s) and so is Min Kyu.  In Kyu's brother is in a different grade and his name is Lee Song Kyu.  My favorite, I kid you not, is Yes Bright Winner, and he is all three.  Ok Mom and Dad (I am sure you are reading this Dad) in the next life name me Rich Handsome Guy.  One more name, Ly Kimny, she is Vietmanese and a 9th grader (goes by Ny).  I bring her up because she has one of the most powerful personalities in a student that I have ever met.  She is very nice, funny, smart, speaks Vietnamese, Khmer, English, Mandarin and is a natural born leader.  I mention her because when she takes over the world I like you remember that you heard it here first.

Por, Por's older sister, and Muyly

     My classes are not all peaches and cream either, I would like you to know that I work hard and earn my 480,000 riel a month.  I get into school every morning at 7am, check my email (how come you never write, I wonder), make coffee and then try to find something to eat. The school starts at 7:40 but my classes never start until 8:30 or, on Thursdays and Fridays, 9:20.  I am trying to follow the established curriculum but really don't like it and have talked with Sandra about it and she has given me free reign to change and develop whatever I want providing that I join in on these curriculum meetings on Wednesday morning at 7am (rats).  Ok, I said but only if there is coffee.  I digress.  The classes have become more and more fun for me.  The kids like their teachers and listen, well, most of the time.  Let's just establish some base lines, no one has told me to f'off but there are times that my almost poetic description of filtration of the blood at the nephron's capsule is not greeted with the enthusiasm I expected.  My students are nice kids but kids are kids.  Brilliant, good looking, distracted and knuckle-headed too.  Language and culture and ethnicity are barriers. Some of my standard jokes have actually fallen flat "What is the difference between ignorance and apathy?" (punch line below).   Of course the Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a mountain range in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and no you can't see it; let's turn our attention now to the continental shelf (for Eddie and Danielle).  What is sunburn?  Oh, I guess you wouldn't know, that's what happens when ill adapted northern Europeans-Americans turn red because they are not this beautiful copper color.  Ok class, what happens in genetics when you cross a blond straight haired male with a red curly haired female, or a blue eyed female with a green eyed male?  I look around and everyone except me has black straight hair and brown eyes.  Yes class, baldness exists and is inherited and, by the way, I think I look like Sean Connery.     
     Teachers put a lot of time and energy into there class because they want to share what they love, its not about he money.  They want to change the world one student at a time.  I have this opportunity this year and I want to  bring all these things that I know and love to them.  Our school's mission is pretty incredible and I want to be part of it, to say I influenced the future of  Cambodia is worth more then my 5,760,000 yearly salary.

A Grandmaster in the making

     Lastly we are required to run an activity after school two out of four quarters.  I have a group of 14 chess players this quarter.  Most of the kids who signed up are from the lower school and it has given me a chance to get to know them. First of all they love playing chess.  I don't know if this applies across Cambodia, but these kids really play.  I used to play and have enjoyed getting back to it but I am really not very good and some of these kids are and surprisingly they are trash-talkers.  No apologizing for winning, little respect for elders. Its kind of ha-ha in your face chess. I try to set a good example when I lose but on more than one occasion I found myself saying to a 8 year old "I don't like you anymore".   Next quarter I am doing volley ball.
    I don't know and I don't care