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September 2007 New ESL MaterialsPraise God that I've been able to find some new and exciting Bible based ESL materials to use at the Bible college. It's been my desire to not just teach English, but to teach English using Bible based texts. I was able to develop one based on the Good News Bible, which I like very much, but felt we needed more variety that reached to all levels of English. I'm excited to report that I now have books that can be used for such purposes. We do, however, need consistent people to teach. New possible classes in English are:
May 2007 A Tasty TreatToday was my last English class. I gave my students a choice of having an exam or going out to lunch. To my surprise they chose going out to lunch. Not. I took them to a new cafe that serves special coffee drinks, smoothies and some simple food dishes. It was interesting to watch them because none of them had ever been to a place like this before. It's not a fancy place, but it's newly arrived from another nearby country and many Khmer frequent it, but these students are way too poor to ever eat somewhere like this. They were shy at first and unsure of what to order. It was very enjoyable for me to give them an opportunity to experience a tiny bit of something modern coming to Cambodia. March 2007 English CurriculumI got an interesting email the other day from my friends at the Good News Bible organization in England about them having a desire to fund the publication of the English books and CDs I made for the Phnom Penh Bible College. I have two levels, each with accompanying audio CDs. There are also Khmer language helps in the form of instructions, texts and vocabulary lists. It starts from absolute beginner and goes up to high beginner. If you're interested it's all available on the Good News English website (www.gnews-english.org). It was originally designed as a self-paced Internet study. I adapted it for use in a classroom without a computer. I've always felt that these materials would be a great tool for spreading the gospel all over Cambodia, but have not felt it was the right time to pursue this route. The main reason is that I've wanted to teach through the course in a live context to see how it well it worked. I have to say that after teaching it for most of the school year that I'm quite pleased with it all. However, there are a number of typos that need to be fixed before mass copying can take place. Obviously, if this should happen I wouldn't be able to make it happen until after home assignment. I'll keep you posted. February 2007 The Winds Of Change Blow Through The English Dept.Big changes are afoot at the Phnom Penh Bible College. Beginning next school year, the college will move to a semester system from a quarter system. They will introduce majors for the first time. And as they get closer to accreditation, new classes will be added, times will change and there will be some general upheaval. The English Dept. may be facing the biggest changes of all. Many of the school board members wanted to ax the program altogether, but equally as many others wanted to expand it. The biggest challenges English has faced over the years have been: lack of teachers, only meeting once per week and that most students were not interested in learning English. The result was a compromise with big changes.
I'm also excited that my current group of teachers is willing to be available next school year for some kind of teaching. December 2006 No Teacher CameIn response to the fact that I was unable to get a teacher to substitute for the two months while one of our teachers was off getting married in Australia, I thought it best to split her class in two and divide it among two other classes. So instead of three level one classes, there are now two. The teacher will come back for February classes, but I'm not sure now if re-separating the classes is a good idea. Please pray that I'll have wisdom about whether to finish the year with the two classes or to re-juggle things to make a third class. Even though all the classes study the same material, it gets complicated because they go at different speeds. I'm also getting some preliminary news from the Bible College about their desire to expand the English program in the future, starting next year. This creates a challenge for me as director of the English Dept. For one, I won't be here for much of next year. Secondly, an expanded program will require more teachers and more (new) curriculum. The upside to this is that I'll be able to search for new curriculum to use while in the USA. Please pray that God will provide the teachers we need. October 2006 Graduation 2006I still haven't figured out why the Bible College has students return in October for graduation, but it was a great celebration nonetheless. This was the first ceremony held in the almost completed, new worship hall. I was very pleased that several of my former students were graduating. It's a nice feeling that you played a part in their education. May God bless them and use them in a mighty way here in Cambodia. Upon arrival I was drafted as an official photographer. That's always fun. I love to take pictures. I soon realized that the new worship hall is a cool looking building (see pictures), but it's not picture friendly. There's a lot of harsh lighting. I put together a picture CD for the students to look at on the library computer. Most students here don't have cameras or computers. It was the only way I could think of to let all the students have a chance to see them or copy them if they want to. I also had the privilege of reading the scripture before the sermon. It was a great honor to be invited to take part in the ceremony. September 2006 Bible College BriefingClasses are starting up at the Bible College and the campus that had been quiet the past couple of months is a bee hive of activity once again. As for myself, this week has been pretty frantic with giving students a placement test, marking them and breaking them up into classes of like ability. The placement test got off to a very rocky start, as it was the first time I had used it. In the end, it turned out to be very helpful. The test used portions of the new curriculum I put together. I still have very high hopes for how the new curriculum will meet the needs of the students and help inexperienced teachers. One huge blessing is that I have one more teacher than I had expected. One fellow finally decided to give it a try. I think he'll do quite well. Another advantage is that classes can be much smaller with an extra teacher. In addition to myself, I've got two women from Denmark and Australia, and a man from the USA. One challenge coming up is that for personal reasons, the woman from Australia is going to miss 3 months of classes. I'm trusting that somehow God will provide a substitute. On the construction front – most of the new buildings are completed and functioning, except the new worship center. The architecture is a bit unusual and the building will have a lot of style. They've been working on it for at least a year now. I would guess it will be at least another 6 months before it's done. In all, this past year has seen a new dining hall, 3rd floor addition to the classroom building, 2 dormitory additions and a partially completed worship center. And everything has a nice new coat of yellow paint to freshen things up. I'll try to add a picture sometime soon. July 2006 Breakthrough in New English CurriculumI'm nearing completion of an exciting new English curriculum to use at the Bible College. I've really struggled the past two years with lack of availability of good materials. However, a few months ago I stumbled upon an Online English course produced by the Good News Bible people. It's extremely well done and Bible based. (www.gnews-english.org) I've spent considerable time adapting the materials for use in a classroom sans computer, but the finished materials are extremely promising. The course contains two levels ranging from absolute beginner to elementary, which should address the needs of 90% or more of our students. Each level has several modules that cover a variety of English uses.
The modules are:
Khmer / English Instructions & Vocabulary Lists
Word Building / Phonics
Khmer / English Bible Story Reader
English Workbook (teachers workbook even has answers)
Simple Praise Songs w/ Vocabulary
All are accompanied by a 6 CD audio set that makes it easy for teachers to stay on track and for students to hear the correct sounds as often as they like. The CDs will be kept in the school library for easy access outside of class.
It would be great to somehow make the materials available to other groups around the country, but seems like a complicated venture at this point.
Next steps are to create a good placement test for students and consider other materials to use for the very few intermediate level students.
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