Battambang (BB) January 7-18 2008

We arrived in Phnom Penh between 3rd and 5th January and travelled to Battambang on Sunday 6th.

Our time in Phnom Penh was spent purchasing stationery and teaching materials for the workshop programs, doing some sight seeing and enjoying the wonderful Khmer food.

On arrival in Battambang the team settled into The Star hotel and spent the next two days getting organised for the teaching program, meeting the translators and generally getting their bearings in a wonderful Cambodian city.

The workshop program commenced on Wednesday 9th after a banquet the night before with the Minister of Education His Excellency Kol Pheng.

His Excellency performed the official opening at 7.30am and the workshops commenced with 180 participants, 16 presenters and 7 translators. 11 presenters came from Australia. 4 from the US and one from Wales - a truly international team this year. Obviously we are pleased that our work, in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, is receiving such recognition from the highest levels of government. There is no doubt about the impact we are having on teacher training in Cambodia.

The workshops programs were held in the areas of Leadership and Administration, ESL, Early years literacy, Middle Years Maths, World History, Humanities, Learning Styles and Inquiry learning. The eight days of workshops saw amazing teaching and learning taking place. The reaction of the participants highlighted their deep gratitude for the program. The difficulties experienced in the Cambodian education system should not be underestimated - low pay, lack of teaching resources, large classes (60-120) and very poor facilities. Many schools do not have water, electricity and sanitation.

The resilience of the teachers is amazing under such circumstances.

All the presenters were completely captured by the eagerness, the yearning for knowledge and the commitment to learning of the workshop participants.

The dates for January 2009 have been organised and the program will run from January 6th - 17th with the workshops commencing on 8th January.

Discussions are under way to also commence a program in Laos in January 2009. I will have more information on this in the next two weeks.

Expressions of interest in being part of the January 2009 program/s and the programs in June/July in Phnom Penh and Seam Reap to should be emailed to me ASAP but no later than May 2008. The June July programs are timed to suit the USA summer so do not necessarily coincide with Australian school mid year breaks. We have discovered that it is difficult to flights out of Australia and into Asia for our January program dates after June. Every airline seat is booked months in advance. This is not the case for presenters coming from other countries.

I want to pass on my thanks to the presenters; Marg Allen, Sue and Ken Slater, Narelle Wood, Jenny and Geoff Osler, Maureen Marsiglio, Bernadette Mercieca, Suzanne and David Thwaites (Australia), Kate Moran, Louise Forsyth, Tom and Sue Mounkhall, (USA) and Neal Evans (Wales). They were a fantastic team and worked very hard.

Brian Allen
Executive Director
Teachers Across Borders