August 8th, 2022
First day of school! Aug 8, 2022
I survived the first day of school! I have to say I didn’t know exactly what to expect today, but I was prepared to meet the kids, have fun and just make sure that the first day back to school for my class of second graders was the best it could possibly be. Schooling here has been inconsistent at best since February 2020. (Just as everywhere else in the world) The students and the teachers need to get back in the swing of things. I’m especially needing some time to adjust given that I primarily took the entire last year off to travel around the states.
My class roster has 15 students. We had a random student show up that we did not see on the roster but just went ahead and added her to my class. I did have four students absent today and one went home at first recess with a fever. So the bulk of the day was 11 students. I’m looking forward to meeting the rest but not gonna lie, that wasn’t a terrible way to baby step my way into my new role. I absolutely love my Khmer teaching partner Makara! Our styles complement each other and I love having another teacher in the classroom, it’s a lot like my teaching experience in the states when I had a team in my room. Makara is absolutely brilliant at moving fluently between Khmer and English so the students are very lucky. Most of my students are fully fluent in English and come AND Khmer. I think many of them primarily speak English in the home. I believe I have two students that are learning Khmer as a third language. The ability of children to learn multiple languages is truly amazing. I wish I had that skill. We will see how much Khmer I pick up bring here!!
I will update more soon. I just wanted everyone to know that all is well….
