Wingapo friends!
Much earlier in the race, I wrote a blog about evangelism in Cambodia. It was certainly a big part of our time in Cambodia, but working with Apple School was equally important to us (the Wildflowers).
When we were told we would be teaching English, it was the scariest thing we could have been told. It was a comedy routine to watch us all sit around a table and panic over lesson plans. Despite our apprehension, we showed up to Apple School.
The teachers and students both welcomed us. We taught anything from the alphabet to irregular plurals and nationality. It did not take too long to realize that while we were only moderately effective in the classroom (weird but loving the students does not teach them English), we could be effective at teaching the teachers.
Much of the English learned in Cambodia is incredible grammatically, but due to the lack of native English speakers and differences in sounds used in Khmer vs English, there is difficulty with English pronunciation. With the help of the teachers at Apple School telling us what would help them, we put on a workshop on how to use the phonetic alphabet.
What was cool about this, was we got so much time with the teachers. By this point we had already started to make friends during breaks and while teaching, but this workshop gave us a block of time with just the teachers. Together, we were silly; we practiced tongue twisters; we laughed as silly sounds; we made ridiculous faces, and we all learned the phonetic alphabet.
Many of my favorite memories of Cambodia were laughing, eating, learning, and spending time with these teachers. To the teachers (and students) of Apple School: thank you and we miss you!
