As a volunteer teaching English in Cambodia you will encourage students to develop a skill that will help them achieve their future goals. Conversing with fluent, native English speakers greatly improves their language skills, essential for future employment. This project, therefore, provides the perfect opportunity for a volunteer teaching English in Cambodia to put their leadership skills into practice and make a profound impact in a teaching position.
BACKGROUND TO THE TEACHING PROGRAM
The reign of the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s devastated the education system in Cambodia. Since then, the Cambodian government has invested a lot of time and money into rebuilding its education system. However, change is slow and Cambodia still has one of the poorest literacy rates in Asia, especially among women. High dropout rates, lack of qualified teachers and classroom overcrowding are all significant factors that negatively impact the country's education system.
Cambodia’s economy is shifting from that of traditional sustenance farming to an economy driven by industry and service. This economic change has further enhanced social inequality within the country. This follows the drive of less educated and economically poorer members of society into lower-paid jobs, that rarely offer career development. The demand for skilled labour calls for a greater need for children to develop English language proficiency. This is particularly true within the service sector, to keep up with Cambodia’s growing tourism industry.
For many children living in rural villages, learning English is seen as the only way to progress in life. This is because it helps individuals achieve better jobs in Cambodia. Individuals often desire to source jobs in accounting and hotel work, to bring an overall higher standard of living for themselves. As a volunteer teaching English in Cambodia, you will help to provide free English lessons to children from low-income families in the region. The children will still attend public school in the mornings. However, in the afternoon, they continue their education at our English education program. Our team’s project provides a key focus on English language development. During your time as a volunteer teaching English in Cambodia, it is important to maintain energy, enthusiasm and creativity. Many of the students will benefit from having someone fluent in the English language teaching them in Cambodia.
TEACHING VOLUNTEER PLACEMENT EXAMPLE
Hope School - As a volunteer teaching English in Cambodia, you will be based at a community education program, established by our local team in 2010. The school aims to provide accessible English classes to children in underprivileged villages. The opportunity to learn and develop English is so low in this rural area that children are prepared to travel 7km each way for a 1 hour lesson each day. The school usually has over 150 children attending each day.
Volunteers teaching English in Cambodia are required to prepare, deliver and lead lessons and learning activities for the children. Classes are divided based on ability and age range and the size can vary from 5-30 children. The children’s ages range from 7-18 years. Younger children tend to come at the start of the afternoon and the older children come late afternoon.
As a volunteer teaching English abroad in Cambodia, you will teach a variety of different classes throughout the day. When each class finishes, the children from that lesson will return to their nearby village. Your next class with different students will then begin. Typically, volunteer work in Cambodia involves leading four classes per day.
Teaching the same classes daily within the same time slots allows you to ingrain structure and build rapport with the children. Furthermore, this enables you to witness the development of the children, from the start of your program to its end. Even after the lessons, you will find a lot of the students stay at the school, to socialise and play games. Some pupils will undertake one-to-one tuition with volunteers.
As a volunteer teaching English in Cambodia, you are encouraged to make your lessons fun and engaging. This may include storytelling, singing songs and arts and crafts activities. There is plenty of outdoor space at the project. Here, volunteers can take the class out to enjoy some playtime at the end of a lesson. If you have a specific skill as a volunteer teaching English in Cambodia, you are welcome to teach this to students too. There is an office of resources and textbooks that you can use to assist you. A volunteer with children in Cambodia is encouraged to introduce creative and engaging ways to manage the class.
To successfully teach as a volunteer teaching in English in Cambodia, you should spend time planning for each day. This will allow you to get the most out of the project time and will provide better learning activities for the children. Ultimately, the more time spent planning, the easier classes will be to run. You can use the mornings before the project or your afternoon break as preparation time.
OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER TEACHING IN CAMBODIA
Return Airport Transfer - Your return airport transfer is not included in your Program Fee. Our local team can help arrange onward transfers to the airport or an alternative destination from the volunteer accommodation. Making specific arrangements once in Cambodia provides more flexibility as plans can often change and participants may be on similar flight plans. The costs depend on your method of transport and your final destination. This can often be split across multiple participants if you are travelling with someone else on the program.
Experience - For the English Teaching program, teaching experience is not essential as the mere presence of a native English speaker is invaluable. As long as you are creative, determined and resourceful you can have a constructive impact on the development of the children’s education.
TEFL Course - We encourage volunteers to prepare as much as possible for their teaching program overseas. You can make the most out of your time by completing our convenient, inexpensive and international accredited 60 hour Online TEFL Course. The cost of this course is only 150 USD.
Accommodation Setup - Our Cambodia volunteer programs are based in a rural setting in Takeo Province, approximately two hours south of Phnom Penh. The accommodation is very basic, based in a remote location and a dormitory-like form. There is a sense of community in the program, with volunteers responsible for the cleaning and upkeep of the living area. This includes completing morning chores. This can involve tasks such as gardening, cleaning and renovation work. Together, this contribution from volunteers helps to maintain a happy and clean living environment for everyone.
High Impact Volunteer Location - Due to the more rural nature of this program we find the Cambodia volunteer programs to provide a more authentic and impactful experience. In general, volunteers feel they have a clearer role on how they can contribute to the local community and in turn feel more motivated to get involved everyday. This program is perfect for people looking to maximise their volunteer experience away from some of the more touristy distractions present in other destinations.
Most volunteers lead their classes. However, if requested, our team can buddy you up with a more experienced volunteer to start with. Note, however, that this will be dependent on volunteer numbers at the time.
Weekends - Your project work in Cambodia runs from Monday-Friday and weekends are free. You are welcome to relax and hang out at the volunteer accommodation but most participants will use this time to travel and explore the country. As a result, you can check out our Cambodia Weekend Travel Guide for top tips on how to spend your weekend.
