Chenda – English Teacher, Chey Learning Center
“I have been working for PLF since 2019. I love working with the kids. I like to share my English knowledge, especially since I was studying at JPA Academy when I was young, which is an American school. I was in Grade 5 and they chose the top 5 students from my area. It was very hard because I went to both government school and JPA so I had a lot of study. And at times I wanted to quit but my mum said “no you cannot do it, English is really good to learn – do you want to work hard as me, do the farm as me?” So I continued to study because I didn’t want to work as a farmer. I wanted to learn and continue on. It was the first time that I had met foreigners and it was a bit scary but now I am very proud of my English, and happy I can share it with my students.
I went there almost 10 years and because it was an international school I learned a lot about different countries. I also had a study trip to Europe for 9 months. But after Grade 12 I didn’t go to university because my family was poor so I went to work and support my family and siblings. It was my decision because I wanted to go out in to the world of work. So for around 4 years I worked in tourism – for a tour company, and also a hotel – and those were good experiences because learned a lot of skills and met a lot of different travelers.
Then I heard from my sister in law who works at Chey school that they try to find a new English teacher, so I applied here. I met Christin and we do the interview and I was nervous and excited and then she said she wanted me to teach and demonstrate the class for her to observe. I was so nervous because I had never taught before. She gave me a page of the English book to prepare and I did a small lesson plan, and I teach for them and always speak in English and I was remembering some of my classes from JPA and the style of teaching, so I could bring some of these skills here too. It went well and I was very happy to get the job. It was my dream as well because my grandfather was a teacher so from small I wanted to become a teacher.
Then when I got the job I received training from teacher Sothy and observed his lessons, his teaching style and also assistance from volunteer teachers who help show us how to manage the classroom. I also watched teacher Srey Leak as well. At the beginning I had a lot of questions but actually the PLF teaching style is similar to JPA. We also have regular teacher exchanges to learn new things and get new ideas. Now I feel more confident about standing in front of the class and teaching more freely.
Education is the part of our life that is really important, because we get to know more than what we see. So it is really important to get educated and to open our minds. I am really thankful that there is PLF because the students who are in need the most get a lot of support to study, and get scholarships to go to university. It’s really good and I am very proud to work here.”
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