By Sal Chamroeun

In addition to teaching Microsoft Office at Chey School, I also am a student in the PLF Media class. I study media with nine other students from nearby villages.  It isn’t easy for us to study about the internet system and many electronic services, but these lessons are very interesting for us.

Media students

Media students brainstorming ideas for their project.

We prefer and like this digital media education so much because we learn about the many different technologies that we can use to know about the world and be able to communicate with all of the people in the world.

When I began to study media in February of 2013, it was very difficult because we had never used the electronics such as a camera, a computer, Flash software, Photoshop, and WordPress. But during the classes, we have learned from our teacher Diana, Sokha and the foreign volunteers Rodrigo, Jon, and Ben. Now, it is easy for us to use and control all of technology of media.

We have learned a lot, though:  how to take photos in Media I, how to write blogs in Media II and now how to make videos in Media III. Beside that we also have taken trips to some places that can give experience for us. It was very wonderful and exciting because we could see new things like a photo exhibition, many people come to see films at a festival, and we have met foreigners. By seeing these new places, we have had contact with the world. We also contact with the world through the internet by blog posts and many things more than this.

Students working

Students working with an Ipad in the field.

Right now I am a student in Media III class. It is still difficult for us because we have higher and higher lessons and they are more and more difficult. A big project for us is making a video. We have just started to make videos with our ideas.

Our teachers said, “We have studied for a long time. Now we need to start to practice them and show everything that we have learned to people so that they can see us.” So we have to show the people about our lives through the videos we make. We feel it is difficult to make a video. We are scared to make it because we do not know if we will be successful and if people will like it, but we still make them.

The first leap we took, we used our brains to find a subject for the video. This is called Brainstorming. We have talked about what are our problems? And what are some resolutions to the problems? And what do we want to show the people in the world so that they know us? These questions are very miserable to think about and create answers. We still work hard with our teachers although these projects are very difficult, but important, for us.

We are thinking, when we finish our videos, how will we show it to the people of the world? Where? When? These last

Picture of Villagers

Student photo of rice farmers.

questions are for us to do for our videos. We are needing help from our teachers. At the end of the projects we have completed, we have been the proudest, happiest, and most excited. So, I think we will feel the same way when we finish the video.

In Media classes, we have received a lot of communication experiences. We have seen the big world. We now know many places. We travel a lot from our village. We have received a lot from our teachers, Global Citizen Media, the PLF and many foreigners. These things we can’t forget and we remember them all the time in our brains. With Media our lives will be better because we will know the world better. And we will know more about what we can do.

Click here to read more about PLF’s technology programs.

Chamroeon graduated from Bantay Srey High School in Siem Reap Province. Now he is a student at USEA (The University of South East Asia) and a training teacher of the Pohneary Ly Foundation in a computer class. He teaches computers from grade 7 to 9. But he still continues to study computer technology through the Ponheary Ly Foundation. If he could go anywhere in the world for a visit, he would go to anywhere that he could see the mountain ice.