Author: k1sim

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Liger Literacy Leadership Team

This year in my English literacy it’s unique than other classes and it’s called the Liger Literacy Leadership Team. We are becoming a leader and independence learner. So for this round, we are focusing on Literature is Everywhere, which we can use children book to learn about literary devices, different culture, and new vocab. Our teacher was inspired by the book called The Rent Collector so she decided to have the Liger Literacy Leadership Team and let us read the book. Moreover, we did a group discussion, create poems and interview the author of the rent collector. This is one of my poem inspired by Sang Ly determination to find Sopeap which is her teacher. 

Title: Dedication to my beloved teacher

I’ve been solving puzzles, running into people  and here I am…beside her.

She once told me that this house is her favorite place.

I don’t want to say goodbye to this person….

The person who has been helping everyone and disguising her own identity.

Just like a turtle hiding under its shell.

Instead of talking, we both tilted  our heads,

looking at the shadow of the rain in silence and took a deep breath of fresh air.

At that moment I can feel the tension and pain between us.

But we can’t have any rainbow without any rain.

The rain is both a fading memory and a distant promise.

Goodbye goodbye my beloved teacher.

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Frisbee League – Trip to Kamong Spue

One of my long-term explorations is called Frisbee League in Cambodia. In this exploration, we are creating the first Cambodian Women Frisbee League to empower women in sport for rural kampong speu girls and then if this project work we would open up to all girls in Cambodia. As one of kampong speu girls, I am so excited and proud to be in this group and I can’t imagine when I’m teaching them to play frisbee. Moreover, We have a lot of things that needed to be done before our Pchum Ben break, so after the break, we will go and appraise the government about our project. This project really needs the government helps because in order this to be done we need their permission to work with those high school girls. Since I know a lot about Kampong Speu, I did some research and ask my relatives, do they know any high school around Chan Thnal high school. Chan Thnal high school is one the main school that we wanted to collaborate with. Then I lead a team to Kampong speu and visits the five school that are on my list. I need to track down the distance and time it took to arrive at each school. We even go and talk to the principles of our project and they really excited to work with us but they need the permission from the government. Nevertheless, our exploration already prepares all of those so that when the students come back from their big break we are able to talk to them and before that, we convince the government to help with our project.

Transportation management

  • Leave at 7:10 am from Liger
  • Cha Bok high school   1 hour, 43 minutes    60.7 km
  • Kampong Speu high school    6 mins    3.1 km
  • Soukhaphaly high school    10 mins    3.8 km
  • Chay Chob High School    4 mins    700 m
  • Chanthnal High school    25 mins    15.1 km

Information

  • Cha Bok High School
    • Wise principal Chorn Chan Loun
    • Every grade in the school have 4 classes
    • 2 men for sport coach   
    • Sport filed
    • It’s very big, 2 team can play at the same time and there are too many plants (កន្ត្រើយ) and tall grass.
  • Kampong Speu High School
    • The field is big and there are a lot of grass
    • His feeling
      • Need the government to agree
      • Student and their family should agree
      • They don’t want to force any girl to play if they don’t want
  • Soukhaphaly High School
    • The sports field is not too big nor too small, it’s in between
    • The principle wasn’t in the school so we asked people around there for his phone number
  • Chay Chob High School
    • The field has no grass and it’s a bit muddy
    • Sports hours in a week they have 2 hours
    • 2 men sport coach
  • Chan Thnal High School
    • 2 men sport coach
    • Sports hours in a week for 1 hour each class
    • Grade 9 and grade 12 doesn’t have any sports hours due to exam
    • A big football field with no grass in the middle and it’s so dry
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Math round 1 of 2018-2019

For this round we were working on SAT prep. So basically, we continued focus on SAT but this time in class we wrote down what we haven’t learn and within this year our teacher will teach us a few of those topic. This round we learn about imaginary number, complex number, functions and quadratic. For function and quadratic we learn and practice in Khan Academy algebra 1.

Imaginary number ⇒ i

i = √-1

i^2= -1  

i^3= -i

i^4= 1

Complex number ⇒ a +bi

a = real number

bi = real number times by imaginary number

Example: 5+2i

* imaginary function

a/bi⇒ a/bi*bi/bi⇒ ai/bi²⇒ -ai/b

Example: 5/3i  ⇒ 5/3i  * 3i/3i ⇒ = – 15i/9

*multiplying by the conjugation “a doesn’t have to be the same”

a/(b + i )⇒ (a/(b + i)) × ((b – i) ÷ (b – i)) ⇒ (a – bi) ÷ (a – bi²) ⇒ (± a – bi) ÷ (b)

Example:

4 ÷ (9 + i) ⇒ (4 ÷ (9 + i)) × ((9 – i) ÷ (9 – i))  ⇒ ((36 – 7i) ÷ (81 – i²)) ⇒ ((36 – 7i) / 82)

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Density of the coin

Last year in science class we learned about physic and this year we are learning about chemistry. I don’t like the chemistry but now I feel it’s just like physic so I can relate too a lot. First off we need to draw the classroom in order for us to be safety and know where everything is place. In Order to be safety, when we are doing a lab we need to have safety glasses, lab coat and sneaker to cover up your feet. After learning for a week start with a lap which is about the density of the coin. It was a pretty good experiment because we get to do it individually and there are variety of coins that we can choice from. For our lab notebook in there we need to write our own hypothesis, procedure, data, analysis and conclusion.

  

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Liger Traveling Theater

On the 21st of August, we went to the Cambodian National Museum to see the Stage Reading by Cambodian Living Arts and Khmer writers. For one of my exploration project call Liger Traveling Theater. In the stage reading there are Fortune Teller, Alone, and Chapei. It was the best experience because I get to see more of Cambodian who get involved in this writing skills. 

Fortune Teller was written by Lim Phanna and it’s about Davy ‒wife‒ feel like the husband is trying to hide something from her, so she decided to ask help from the fortune teller.

Alone was written by Chhon Sina and it’s about a family, who sopeap is a pregnant woman and about to give birth to a child. And also her struggle with her husband seeing someone else.

Chapei was written by Suon Sothera and it’s about How Theara keeps his promise to his grandfather for maintaining Chapei ‒Khmer traditional instrument ‒ for nowadays society? This is my favorite stage reading so far because I got to listen to songs playing by Chapei. Even Though there are not a lot of people who wanted to preserve the culture but for me, he is doing the best thing that no one can ever do.

 

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SAT Bootcamp

At the Beginning of this school year, the 6th of August, we had an SAT Bootcamp. Most SAT Bootcamp would last about two months nevertheless we had tights schedule so we did it for two weeks. There are two mentors Kim, a recent Princeton grad in Computer Science and Amada, an ESL teacher from an all-girls school in New Jersey.

So during the day, we would have 2 hours of each class math, literacy and study hall time. In math class, we learn how to pick and use an equation efficiently. On the other hand, in literacy class, we work on reading and Writing and look through what type of questions are there. As usual every day we would get 10 to 5 pairs of mostly confused words and as homework, we need to write sentences that related to us individually.

Moreover, during the Bootcamp, we would get a lot of practice. Furthermore, we in the Bootcamp we took a test on khanacademy SAT at the beginning middle and end to see how much we grow and does all of the strategies that the mentor teach us helpful. The mentor doesn’t expect that use everything we learn for the khanacademy SAT test because there are too many rules to follow just step by step first. At the beginning of the test, I get the score of 930 then 940 and lastly 980. I feel like I didn’t improve much in these past two weeks but still, I have learned a lot from them. By joining this SAT Bootcamp it really helps me to become a better learner and uses resources all around me.

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Helping others by building communities

I have two identical hands! “As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands. One for helping yourself, the other for helping others” said Audrey Hepburn. I know right, millions and millions of people are trying to make this world a better place day by day. In reality, they are getting themselves at a higher stage and not knowing that people develop by helping others. You might think you would never get rewards after helping others. Actually, what you’ll get back is happiness, you feel happy after knowing that you have made a difference in someone’s life. This 2017 – 2018 school years might be the best school year so far since I’ve learned the lesson of life. Viktor Frankl once said, “I find the meaning of my life in helping others to see the meaning of theirs.”

Now let’s take a look at Cambodian, Roughly around 70% of Cambodians get access to education and there are still 30% left of Cambodian who are now living in poverty. Even though they get access to the education that was provided by the government schools, still, there weren’t much of handful activities to understand more about the topic. I was once a government school student before then I got an opportunity to attend this incredible school —Liger Leadership Academy— which changes my life.

Cambodian Children’s Charity (CamKids) is a school down in Kampong Speu province and it’s about 15 km from my home. During last Summer holiday, most of the students who live near Phnom Penh and were interested in STEM Camp, they get a chance to joined the Camp at the schools including three mentors from Princeton University. We learn about Solar energy and then we started to build about 2 solar panels in just 1 week. Afterward, we go down to Camkids and installed the solar panel, it looks brighter in the classroom since there was no lamps nor electricity.

Survey Exploration, they did a survey of the three communities around Camkids. In Order for the group to provide pieces of information for the founder of Camkids about their financial support. Each survey took approximately 30 minutes long, and it was a small team there, so they decided to seek for help. Then I volunteered to help them interview the villagers there since I know those villages for the whole Sunday. After helping this exploration I felt like their lifestyle was kind of different and they didn’t earn much money for their family, so that’s why Camkids was created there for kids to learn and get a good education and there even a nurse there where they can also check their health.

When I heard about Khmer Sight Foundation going down to Camkids at Kampong Speu I wanted to join and help them translate and also learn from the doctors. We arrive at Camkids we register all of the elders who came and check their eyes. During that, I also learn how to measure their eyes sight by testing each side of the eyes one by one using the eyesight testing chart and if they can’t get it correctly first we will use our hand than move forward until they can see. Then I would ask the guest what problem do they have with their eyes than tell the doctor and after that, I’ll translate to the elders what the doctor had said.

By helping this community, I gained skills & experience to speak more fluency in Khmer, get to know about their lifestyle and also feeling happy after knowing I have helps them in some sort of ways.

As the exploration go on and I was one of the members in the HIV exploration, we learn about HIV/AIDs and our mission was to create workshops for the world renew to use and teaches others student throughout Cambodia. We even help others by raising awareness & acknowledging, understanding People Living with HIV are just like me. Then my group started to create a presentation and we want it to simple but also full of information to normalize the conversation and also the stigmatization among them. We went to a school called New Hope for Cambodian Children, it is an orphanage school with kids who have HIV. Moreover, I have overcome my fear of not wanted to talk or even eat the same meal with people living with HIV. We got to know each other, after that trip I realize that they were all just like me, playing having any part of their life was that they need to take medicine. You can’t define if a person is having HIV or not. So let’s all go against those stigmas among them.

Empathy is an ability that everyone should have, in order to understand the different perception of life. People aren’t really different and I’m as a change agent will continue to grow and help others. In the future, I will continue to help more communities to empower their needs and find solutions. These actions are only the start of my missions.

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Khmer Class overview

For this whole year, in Khmer class, we are researching on a topic to write a book in Khmer. There would be a team of three to four students who will work on it and also decided on a topic themselves. I was on a team four and our topic was on Refugees. Since our country has a lot of refugees during and after the Khmer Rouge regime. We want to write the story of their life for the world to know and also to understand more what had really happened during those horrible time for Cambodians.

Our team did an interview on skype with Chhay Lem Lim, Chhay Lin Lim and Sophy Pal (one of our team relative). We also research about Loung Ung and Arn Chorn Pond because they are Cambodian – American and also there were books written about their stories. We have five people to write about in our book and Chhay lem Lim and Chhay lin lim are brothers so we gave each one of our teammate a person to write for. I am writing for Arn Chorn Pond since I meet him once at Kampot Reader Writer festival.

After we gather all the information, we started to translate it into Khmer. The following step for us right now is to write it into the stories and making it interesting for others to read. Which is the hardest part for us to start writing the book, We also need to write an introduction for the book which will talk about the overview of refugees in Cambodia.

So far I have written about 1/3 a story of Arn Chorn Pond, I didn’t talk about the stories of him at America and how it changes his life yet and so what did he helps Cambodians and when we come back. Maybe the start of next year we will need our friends help to edit than our team is all finish. I so excited to print the book and share it to all Cambodians.

 

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ILO exploration

I was in the ILO exploration for round five, which is the last exploration of the year. The ILO stands for International Labour Organization. They are a United Nations agency created as an organization to help all three parties the government, employers, and employees with the goals to improve labor conditions and promote decent work for all women and men. Our school was asked to help pilot a project by implementing soft skills training with colleges students in Cambodia and also if it possible for the garment to put it on their website for students to assess it. We are not teachers for this project since the module was made to be a self-taught program; we were only there to facilitate and guild them.

Our exploration started to revise the module and then let the ILO checked, after that, we then implement it to Universities and high schools. The ILO was impressed with the amount of work that was done by us. Moreover, we even translate the whole module into Khmer for the high school students. We had worked with Cambodian International Academy (CIA), Toutes L’école Happy Chandara, Kampong Thom High school, Royal University of Law and Economics, Little heart and Paññāsāstra University of Cambodia to implement our training there.

In class time we would work on putting all the survey in, putting the name in the certificate, making a video to advertise about Soft skills, Preparing for the next training, budget and last but not least make a report for the ILO. Even Though, sometimes we would give up on one of the Saturday just to do this training with those schools.

Most of the result were positive since we used the right module and it really helps them to think more about their visions. They really enjoy making their visions board because it more like an activity base and the rest of the module was like discussing and answering.

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Khmer MUN

On the 23rd of May, all of the senior students were given an opportunity for the whole day to joined Khmer MUN (Model United Nations). We are the first school in Cambodia that did this and possibly next year we will invite others school to join us. I was scared at first because I didn’t have a lot of time to research and prepare myself for the topic as well as my first time joining it. I was the delegate of Russia and the debating topic is called “Biological Weapons of Mass Destruction.” It was a big topic for the starter to research but we did our best to make our teacher proud. 

When I first read my opening speech it was scary than I started to take a deep breath and prove to everyone that I can do it with confidence and loud voice in myself. I mostly focused on my opening Speech not finding a resolution, which had affected me in my debate. Lucky my teammate they have a lot of resolution so our team decided to use one resolution and then make some edit to it. After all, I have learned that you and your team doesn’t need to agree on the same resolution at all and talk more, be confident in yourself no matter what. Even Though It was my first time I took a risk to delete one of the other team resolutions since they didn’t have enough information to prove that it should stay there.

Moreover, I would like to says “Thank you to all of the Khmer facilitators for giving me this opportunity to practice my Khmer and also inspired me to join an event like this more.” After joining this event, it inspired me to will join MUN in ISPP for next year and I can’t wait to join it. Most of the students were told that English was easier than Khmer because we don’t have to spend time translating information. Inconclusive, if I had never joined this Khmer MUN I would never make my mind and join MUN.  

 

 

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91mvZkWdTi0