A Treatise on our "Job"

Now that we’re official volunteers, it’s high time to discuss just what our actual job descriptions are for the next twenty-four months.

First, we’re volunteers. Simple, eh?

We take that to mean our biggest priority is to learn as much as possible about our community and do our damndest to leave it better off, fulfilling their needs and wants.

Technically speaking though, Chris and I both came in as ETTT (English Teaching and Teacher Training) trainees, which is a part of the larger TEFL program in Peace Corps. 

We now both embody one half of this acronym, respectively. Chris is an English teacher at the local high school, and I am assigned to a Regional Teacher Training center. There are six total RTTCs in Cambodia.  PC Cambodia is piloting a Teacher Training program this year, but I’m not a part of the direct pilot.  (In the new system, there are two volunteers at one training center, and while one stays and does typical duties- teaching classes, working with trainees- the other travels to nearby provinces and sets up workshops and trainings for current English teachers and likely their Peace Corps counterparts (volunteers.)  Many of the other volunteers that are at RTTCs have some experience either teaching in Cambodia or working with children, and we have a great group.) My job is to train the soon-to-be English teachers at my Training Center in methodology and general English skills. 

Beyond that, it’s up to us.  We could volunteer with nearby NGOs (and there are a hearty few in our provincial town), try to work with other branches of the government wanting assistance, or simply spend all of our time with our students and fellow teachers, meeting their needs.

Hell, we could pretty much do anything besides open our own tuk-tuk business (because, you know, we can’t drive motorcycles here) as long as it’s benefitting the community and our majority of time is spent at our schools.

Hokay, so. You’ve now been briefed on our highly detailed and strictly defined job descriptions. Just how is it panning out, thus far?

Oh, panning out and how!

We just spent our first full week at site, and it was at times incredibly stimulating and exciting, and at others…freeing.

On Monday, we both showed up, at seven a.m., ready to meet our potential counterparts (the host country nationals we can collaborate, teach and generally work with at our schools) and see what life is like in classrooms in our respective schools.  While Chris dove right into observing the myriad of English teachers at his school- exactly as Peace Corps recommends- I discovered that the day was a pajoom day- or a day full of meetings. 

So, I attended one three-hour meeting in the morning and one two-hour meeting in the afternoon.  I was incredibly excited because I also met three of the five English trainers at my RTTC, and all are genuinely nice guys.  All of the teachers were given their schedule this day, but it wasn’t until Tuesday that I was able to successfully track down the majority of classes and times.

On Tuesday, I met a fourth English teacher, and he invited me to teach his two-hour afternoon class.  I politely said I’d love to come and watch and meet the trainees, but later on he texted me that he wouldn’t be needing my help teaching that day…

However, I was also able to speak with a counterpart I am incredibly excited to work with, and invite him to attend a week-long conference about a new TEFL curriculum/ system here that is happening in just a few weeks.  I also snagged the teaching times for this trainer and another trainer, and was able to let them know that I’d love to start teaching with them.

And then I was informed that classes wouldn’t actually begin until next week, because of a big test that happened Saturday.  So I spent the remaining days of the week showing up for an hour or so just to “angoi laing” (“sit play”), which simply means hanging out with other trainers and administrators at my school.  I think I’m slowly beginning to understand more of the jokes being made around me…except when they’re about me?!

On an even more successful note, Chris and I ventured to the market a number of times, and even spent some time getting to know the people at the post office on Thursday as we mailed some post cards for a fellow Volunteer in our province.  It was one of the best experiences thus far- we simply sat and chatted in Khmer for thirty minutes, and about all of the topics I know!  For example, we discussed our ages, marital status, that we don’t have kids, that we are volunteers, teachers, where we teach, that we like Khmer food and cook it for ourselves, and all about the members of our family- both in Cambodia AND in America.  It was truly perfect- all the things we had learned for seven weeks in PST really paid off!  Thanks PC Cambodia!

The flip side of this though is all of the down time.  We spent a portion of our days simply sitting in our new home, either making food, or organizing the information we had received that morning about schedules, or composing life-altering blog posts like this one.  At times, I’ve had to fight the feeling that I’m doing something wrong by having down time and remind myself it’s not supposed to be crazy hectic yet- IT’S THE FIRST WEEK!

And so, that is our current life in a nutshell.  As you read this, I’m likely teaching soon-to-be teachers or something like it for the first time in this country and I may be rewarding myself with a Coca Cola afterward for doing so with a smile on my face.

Cheers, and go grab yourself a little sweet reward- it’s Monday, after all.