6.20.2005

So this is my second term teaching at the second biggest (and oldest) English language school in Cambodia.

Most of the advice I've gleaned from experienced teachers leans heavily towards a teacher-as-dictator methodology.
In my first term, I was the nice guy, and I paid the price for it with students who 1) speak a lot of Khmer in class and 2) are difficult to control. In my second term, I've decided to be nothing short of Himmler.

Day One:

I set down the rules upon entering the class.

I greet the students ana then write RULES on the board.
RULES
1. No Khmer
If you speak Khmer, you get homework.

Note: I actually had to give out homework to two students in a very low level class. They disobeyed me and I set down the law.

2. On time
Khmer students are notoriously late. This term I'm going to use the culture of saving face against them and be sure to embarrass everyone that is late. Many students came to talk with me after class and told me they will be late because they are coming from their university class or from work. Every one of them I told the same thing. Leave that class/work early to get here on time. I'm trying to instill the basic fact that English class is their number one priority. Many Khmer students go to Universities and study management/IT/accounting or other speciously pleasing subjects. They generally study hard and take it very seriously. That energy should be directed towards English class because those subjects are irrelevant if you can't comprehend high-level written English. There simply aren't any good textbooks in Khmer. Most of the classes are taught by a Khmer teacher out of a textbook that he wrote and is half in English/half Khmer. These students need to realize that the entire academic canon of accounting/IT/management is written in English. Anyways I'm just venting. This is something that is too blunt and complex to explain to my students.

3. Cell phones off.
If your phone rings in class. *I* answer it. This happened in my 11.30 class. I answered the phone and told the caller, who was speaking a barrage of Khmer, not to call between 11.30 and 12.30.

4. Don't talk when someone else is talking.


For the first week I'm gonna be a Nazi. Then I'll ease up. No one says it explicitly, but what students and parents in this country really want in a teacher is a dictator (that is also fun loving).

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