Teaching the teachers

The main point of going to Sisophon this week was to lead a training session for teachers and social workers on "Writing Through", to help them support the workshop in the future. While they may be 30 or 40 years old with university degrees, the techniques of interactive learning, thinking creatively and simply answering back to a teacher were as foreign to them as they will be to the kids. 

Being instructed to write and perform poetry would make a lot of British adults' blood run cold, but for these Khmer teachers it's an extra mental leap. Not only because their English is good but, even for the high school English teachers, far from fluent, but because Khmer poetry is such a technical challenge. Khmer poetry is governed by a strict set of rules that dictate meter and verse. A special vocabulary is even necessary. It's a practiced art, and certainly not friendly to the half hour bursts of imagination we allowed in this case.

Also essential to Khmer poetry and stories is a firm moral lesson. All around the Enfants du Mekong centre in Sisophon you can read Khmer to English translations of "NO PAIN NO GAIN" and "ESY WAY NOT RIGT WAY" which the teachers cover their classrooms with. The teachers' first efforts were full of these mantras, sometimes just a long list of morality catchphrases. Sue needed to explain that by making by "showing not telling" a poem's message, this moral lesson could be conveyed in a more entertaining and memorable way. 

And who better really convey this than Miley Cyrus. 

In "Writing Through", we get the children thinking about the theme by showing them a series of prompts. All of Sue's prompts are pictures - somebody leaping over a cavenous space (physical risk) a young woman crying on another's shoulder (emotional risk). I thought it would be nice to have a musical prompt too. At first I was set on "Climb Every Mountain", the ultimate song about taking worthwhile risks, and one of my all time faves. Of course I had visions of this song becoming a beloved classic for my students, me leading troops of adorable marching Cambodian children - springing down the pagoda, getting jollily soaked in the Mekong river, etc. Then of course I realised it's not Julie who sings that song at all, but the head nun. I've heard Cambodian teenagers are polite and enjoy sentimental music, but still, even I got a bit embarrassed listened to her warbly, closed-throated rendition.  

So I've decided to be more down with the kids and go with Miley Cyrus, in her golden, pre-twerk Hannah Montana era. Here it is. If you can't bear to watch it once, think of me, who will be playing it twice a day for the next three months. Or think of the Cambodian children, who until now have been blissfully unaware of Miley Cyrus. 

Of course I have a secret love for this song. It features on my "HMR" (Hear Me Roar) Spotify playlist. I remember listening to it on a night bus between Tooting and Wimbledon last month and feeling empowered and inspired about going to Cambodia. Anyway, the intense personal connection aside, the lyrics are pretty appropriate to the theme, and sticks to the "Taking Risks is Good" motto that I aim to wholeheartedly brainwash/inspire children with. (As all music aficionados will be wondering, I did consider going with Joe McElderey's cover. I might mix it up a bit. Goodness knows he needs the exposure.)  

During a lunch break Sue and I were very kindly invited to the house of one of the teachers, a 27-year-old woman who lives with her husband in a room behind their stationary shop, just across from the centre. We ate delicious food, prepared by her mother who had come especially from her village to cook lunch, and stayed in the kitchen as we ate. (Model mothers, these Cambodians). After lunch, they brought out their wedding album for us to admire. Most of the huge album was devoted to bride and groom posing in a succession of different outfits (they change up to 20 times over a two day wedding!) against different studio-generated technicoloured backgrounds of jungle and forest scenes which Sue was astonished to learn were not real. It was great. 

Traditional Khmer wedding photography

As you can tell from these photos Khmer bride makeup is not understated. It's hard to be completely sure that you're speaking to the same woman before you compliment her on how beautiful she looks.

Dina and her husband posing with albums

Anyway, the workshop was a success. In the last session, the teachers had to write individual stories and there was an air of complete concentration as they scribbled. Some really interesting and arresting stories came out of it. It was interesting to note that, rather than bungee jumping or swimming with sharks, most dealt with the "risk" of studying rather than working when you're from a poor family. 

One of the students/teachers, interrupted mid creative flow. 

                                  

Afterwards all the teachers wanted photographs of the group, and a group of students gathered nearby were recruited for the task. Cute.

Hopefully next time they feature I will know their names, as I will be returning to Sisophon to lead a workshop for children, all by myself, on 23rd March.