Teaching in Andong

You know you are in for an interesting time teaching students when one of their English teachers calls the toilet a “piss building”. Initially I had no idea what to actually teach the students. I knew they needed help with pronunciation, but I didn't really know how to go about teaching such a thing. Because I was the 'foreign teacher', and considered the expert, I basically had to decide myself what sort of program I would do. This was both daunting and freeing. I was afraid I would have to teach some lamo English text from Oxford with nice little dialogues and grammar notes at the end. This would have bored me to tears. Of course it would have been helpful for the students, but they already do this sort of thing everyday. So I found this story. A story about Tom Sawyer. Little did I know that I would hear this text repeated so many times that it would nearly drive me insane. After working out a lesson plan with one of the English teachers I was ready for my firs class. I was quite nervous. Understandably, I would dare say. I have never lead a class before. With my Khmer teaching vocab merely containing the phrases 'repeat after me' (tadam knyom) and 'say again' (mudong deeut), I started my first lesson. In a previous lesson, where I had only helped out with pronunciation, I had gotten the 'say again' phrase terribly wrong. I said 'deeut mudong' which, instead of getting the students to repeat the phrase again, got me 10 seconds of blank stares followed by an eruption of laughter. This time I made sure I would not make a fool of myself and repeated 'modong deeut' to myself about 6 times before entering the class. I was teaching the elementary class. The class is what you would call a 'mixed ability' class. On the lower end you have students needing a simple phrase repeated 4 or 5 times and the higher end ones speaking better English than the teacher. The teacher sometimes gets one to do translating for him.
I played the student a recording of Chapter 1 and asked how many understood. No hands came up at first and I was starting to stress a little. After playing the chapter 4 times the look of comprehension started to appear on the faces of some. It took a few lessons until the students could understand the sentences and say the words correctly...well, almost. Khmer people find it impossible to say 'th'. Maybe some of the Wellspringlings can remember how Abe said 'fai' instead of 'faith', conveniently cutting off the 'th' sound at the end of it. However, some in the class have mastered it – albeit with much mouth wrenching and flying spittle.
Recently I have only helped out, within the curriculum, with the pronunciation of new words. I have the students split the words they find difficult to say into manageable chunks. I had much fun with the word 'Arsenal'.
So that is it I think. Still haven't been on my second trip to Oddar Meachey province because Abe's 4WD is getting a new engine. He said maybe tomorrow we'll go. Like yesterday and everyday for the last 2 weeks :P. The poor guy is actually getting quite upset about it. He seems a little worn out. Please pray for him!
So...I'm proud to say that in at least one village in Cambodia there won't be American pronunciation.
It is a very rewarding experience to have someone comprehend something you teach them. Even when it is something simple. Try it sometime.