Whilst travelling through Cambodia, by chance I came across a smiling man that went by the name of Rocky. Rocky helped my travelling buddies and I organise a tour day around the sites of Phnom Phen and as a result, we spent a day together, getting to know each other and building an early relationship. This day of activity and touring led to me asking if it was possible to get closer to the real Cambodia before we moved onto Thailand and Rocky was happy to help. We all really wanted to see where and how Khmer people lived; how school, work and family life differed to that of ours in Western society. The next day, I was lucky enough to visit Rocky’s daughters’ school, donating books, pens, crayons, and meeting some of the teaching staff, head teacher and the students.
I learnt that these students could attend school for four hours a day only; this was due to the volume of children in the surrounding areas compared to the size of the school. The only way that all children could be accommodated was to split the day and have half the volume of children present in the morning and half in the afternoon.
Rocky, Ella’s Father, talked to me about how he had a dream for Ella to speak and write English fluently, as this would support her later life choices. Phnom Phen is a commercial city, thriving on tourism, if you speak English well, your choices are far greater in terms of employment, thus leading to greater potential outcomes as Ella as she grows up. Ella also has an equal ambition to learn to speak and write English well and up to my meeting her, had already taken it upon herself to learn English to a point where we could at least have a conversation, even if slow and slightly broken.
I am someone who understands and promotes the understanding of Equity and Inclusion. Equity is different to equality. Equity is about having an understanding that each of us globally is dealt a lottery ticket at birth, we have no say on where we are born, what colour our skin is, if we are born into wealth or poverty. Ella is a beautiful young girl, who has done her best to learn to speak English, but she goes to a school where the maximum education she will have access to each day is four hours. Her school doesn’t teach English as a subject, she would need to go to a private English school to fulfil the dreams, hopes and ambitions held by both her and her father.
Now as we look ahead, Ella and I will work together in support of achieving her goals. We will do this through TEFL teaching and by understanding the UK English Schools Curriculum as a guide.
