I go to a very unusual school. Our school is called the Liger Learning Center (LLC). It is located in Cambodia (Southeast Asia). Our goal that we need to accomplish is to change our country. We have been chosen to be in this school because we are unusual (smart). LLC gave 50 students a scholarship. Liger school had selected only 50 students out of more than ten thousands students in Cambodia. It is the first boarding school in Phnom Penh. Students at LLC learn two languages; English and Khmer. We have local teachers and overseas teachers. Our school spends a lot of time on explorations. Exploration is one of our school curriculum where we learn by exploring and researching. It a seven weeks long project. In explorations class we go out and explore the real world. In comparison, in the government schools the students just learn about theories, they never explore or practice their theories. I like my school so much because it gave me a scholarship and the opportunity to learn by exploring.
Football Competition
On Wednesday, 19, November was the amazing day for me because Liger got to play football with EastWest school. Every players were so excited. Before we left Liger we had a quick assembly about our study program. We done our assembly early because we needed to prepare our stuff. We left Liger at 3:00 oclock. On the bus I felt excited and nervous. When we arrived 3G (the place that for play football), every one shouted “ WoW!!!” because the field look amazing. Before we play we had a quick warm up. Our school teams were divided in four, two team were boys and two teams were girls. In boys team we divided A and B. My team was A team. We had 15 minutes practice suddenly our coach Jeff came and said that my team was the team to play first. My team came together and discussed how the game work. In my team there were six people played and a person substitute. Menghout was the goalkeeper, the defender were Maya and Somphors, the midfielder was Chhoeu and the striker were Vitou and myself. I like my teammate a lot. Before We played I called my teammate and had a quick talked about win and lost. I said if our team played hard and collaborate we will win if we not we will lost. The first round I scored one goal for my team. I was so excited. Every one look at me and cheered at me. After two minutes unexpectedly the East West team scored one goal back. My team felt a little bit upset with each other but it still okay. We kept played until finished the first half. When we finished the first round I called my group again and discussed how we going to play in second half. The second round had begun. In 2 minutes I scored another goal for my team and they were so excited and happy. We kept played until the second round was up and my team were so happy also the staff too. After my group finished I went to watched the girls played. The girls were scored a lot of goal. It was amazing. When We went back home Jeff bought the sandwiches for us its were so delicious. We arrived Liger about 6:00 oclock. My friends that they stayed at Liger asked me a lot of questions about the football. We arrived just on time to eat dinner. We had dinner with our friends and then we went home took a shower and relax. The football event was amazing if I have another chance like that again I will be very excited.
Day One Reflection
Since the first year until now my literacy skills has developed by a lot. The skills that I changed were spelling, past tense, plural, capitalization and reading. One of the sentences that I wrote was “yesterday I when to ican”. In this sentence there are three mistakes two of them were capitalization and one of them was spelling. My reading book changed by 15 levels from the first year. It (was) amazing to me because I thought that I wouldn’t move by this many levels. The past tense mistake that I did is “I go watch the circus.” I think it should be “I went to watch the circus”. My first year writing was really messy but now I try to make it more organized. Also my drawing looks so funny. Another sentence that I should use a better word is “One person stand and looked the one person was climbing on the rope.” In that sentence I should use the word another instead of the one person. Since the first years until now I made a lot of mistakes but that mistakes was my experience to me. So in the future I can change my mistakes.
Poem (My Smart Dog)
ឆ្កែឆ្លាត
នៅក្នុងផ្ទះខ្ញុំមានឆ្កែមួយ សប្បុរសលាយក្រហមខ្មៅ
រោមវាវែងៗទន់ស្រមូវ សមរូបសមរូវនិងដងខ្លួន។
រាងវាតូចល្អិតដងខ្លួនវែង ជើងវាកែងង៉ែងត្រចៀករួម
បាក់ខ្លបចុះក្រោមភែ្នកក្រលួង ច្រមុះតូចផងគួរស្រលាញ់។
ធ្មេញស្រួចសស្ងាចដូចបន្លា មុតដូចរណាដុះរលេញ
រីឯកន្ទុយត្រកងវិញ រោមដុះសេ្លះស្លាញសំពោងពាយ។
នៅពេលនៅផ្ទះវារវី ឃើញសត្វដ៍ទៃវាប្រញ៉ាយ
លោតព្រុសកន្រ្តោងស្រែកប្រវ៉ាយ ជើងដៃកកាយហាក់ខឹងណាស់។
វាចេះការពារទ្រព្យសម្បត្តិ ចេះព្រុសចេះឃាត់មនុស្សនានា
ពេលដើរចូលមកត្រូវហៅវា នេះជាបញ្ជាឆ្កែរបស់ខ្ញុំ។
មិនតែប៉ុនណ្ណោះវាឆ្លាតទៀត វាមានមាយាទពេលអោយនំ
ចេះលើកជើងពីរសំពះសុំ ប្រមុំដងគួរសមក្រៃ។
ហើយវាថែមទាំងចេះភាសា ដែលខ្ញុំហៅថា Hello Hi
Stand up sit down រត់ប្រញ៉ាយ ខ្ញុំសែនសប្បាយនិងវាណាស់។
ខ្ញុំសូមរាបរាប់ជាចុងក្រោយ ខ្ញុំមិនកន្តើយនិងឈ្មោះវា
ហៅថាអាភ្លូស្ងួនពុំងារ ជាឆ្កែកម្ពុជាខ្ញុំពិតពិត។
Refused Plastic Description
In Refuse plastics class we learned a lot of things. First we share our ideas about plastic what we know and what we wonder about plastic. We got a lots of ideas and a lot of wonder. We started to discuss about the problem. When we came to class we have one plastic bag to put our rubbishs in for an experiment. We did that for one week and we got only a little bit of rubbishs. Most of our rubbishs are school paper and other learning things. It mean we don’t uses more than we need but some rubbish is candy bag. We also learned about what happen when we burn, bury or put it in landfill why it bad. When we burn the plastic it will have co2 and have acid rain it bad for us. Some time if we burn the plastic or somethings it make smoke and when someone drive the car they can’t see. If we bury the plastic We started to learn about problem. After we discuss about the problem we went outside of liger to do research. We went to Phnom Penh to do research about plastic. We went to BKK market, Super market and Cintri. We went there and we interview a lot of people. The people gave us many answer and all the answers are very helpful for us. After we interviewed the people at BKK market We went to supermarket to do more research. At supermarket we did the same things in BKK market. When we finished at supermarket we went to Cintri to learn more about plastic. We went there and then we watch the presentation. In Cintri we learned more about waste. Cintri in one day they collect 14,000tons-15,000tons in Phnom Penh. When we finished from Cintri we returned back to liger. When we came back from Phnom Penh we discuss and we did a reflection in the group. The things that important in that trip is we want to see the different from BKK market to supermarket. After that we tried to learned and understand about the different why it different. We also invited the environment guy from the community to do a presentation for us. That man taught us about how to compost the organic waste. We also learned about three R and three R mean Reduce, Reuse and recycle. That mean reduce is we don’t uses plastic, Reuse is mean when we bought the plastic we try to use it again and recycle it mean we take the plastic and we make new thing. In refuse plastic we learned about five D and five D stand for Define, Discover, Design, Develop and Deploy. That is the step Define mean knowing what the problem is. Discover mean find out the problem. Design mean we design the project. Develop it mean we make our project and deploy is we go and teach people at community. In the class we had make the question to ask our community people. After we made the questions we went out side of Liger to ask the questions. We divided in 4 group and each group we went to different places. After we got our answers we started our project. our project are to make some things that our people in community will need. We spent two weeks to finish our project.
Tropical Forest Ecology Description
Name: Tropical Forest Ecology
Date: May 5 2014 – June 17 2014
Number of People: 12
Essential Questions:
- How are organisms and the nonliving environment interconnected in the world around us?
- What is the value of tropical forest ecosystems for Cambodia?
- How do humans impact tropical forest ecosystems in Cambodia? Is it possible to use tropical forests sustainably?
Description: In Tropical Forest Ecology we learned about Ecosystems. Ecosystems are a community of organisms that are interconnected and connected with non-living things. We went on two trips because we wanted to experience and see forest directly.We went to Preah Vihear and Koh Kong provinces. When we came back we compared the dry deciduous dipterocarp forest ecosystem (Preah Vihear province) with the evergreen forest ecosystem (Koh Kong province). In Preah Vihear we went to Tmatboey community and in Koh Kong we went to Chi Phat community. We learned about conservation. Conservation means taking care or protecting something. While we learned about conservation, we also learned about sustainable and unsustainable. Sustainable is the action that does not destroy the ecosystem. Unsustainable is the action that destroys the ecosystem. We learned about ecotourism. Ecotourism is tourism that uses and benefits the ecosystem. That is one way that we use ecosystems sustainably.Also we learned about ecological services. Ecological services are the benefits that people get from ecosystems. There are three ecological services such as provisioning services, regulating services and cultural services. Provisioning services are how the ecosystem provides us directly. Ex: Trees give us resin. Regulating services are how the ecosystem regulates the climate. Ex: Trees stop the floods by absorbing the water. Cultural services are how the ecosystems give us something culturally. Ex: Bambuti people use forest plants to smoke for their ceremonies. We answered our essential questions by using the knowledge that we got from our trips.
Culture Shock
Culture Shock is the feeling of confusion experienced by someone when they go to another country and they are shocked with an unfamiliar culture, way of life, or set of attitudes. In our class we study about culture shock in Cambodia. We focus on culture in Cambodia mostly. The reasons of making this because we want to improve our knowledge of culture and we think that we should know about our own culture. The process of our learning is very good because we have a lot of activities like interviewing people, discussing, researching from the internet, visiting real places and having debates. We have seven weeks to learn and we research the information to share to other people. Also we have goals to (1) make a video from our knowledge that we learned and also about the trip, (2) conference with community, and (3) blog for all the people in the world. We had a big activity to go to the trip at Siem Reap to interview the people to have more information and make an idea to share in the blog
Ecotourism
Exploration name: Ecotourism
Exploration dates: August 13-October 3, 2014
Number of students: 13
Essential questions:
(1) What is ecotourism?
(2) How can ecotourism help change our country?
Ecotourism means to travel to natural areas that protect environment and help people life at location became better. Ecotourism was also about helping to preserve the environment. Our ecotourism group went to Chi Phat to study about the ecotourism in Chi Phat. Also we learned about how ecotourism in Chi Phat are different from other ecotourism sites. Our big goal when we went to Chi Phat was to interview as many people as possible. We interviewed different people to get different answers and all the people had different perspectives. After we interviewed a lot of people we came back and studied about the information we found some areas of concern. Our group made a recommendation to Chi Phat community about the areas of concern. Some areas of concern are education, transportation, marketing, collaboration, and energy. After we finished we will send it to Martin and Prom Hong, the CBET (Community Based Ecotourism Site) directors.
Architecture Description
Exploration Name: Khmer Architecture
Exploration Date: November 20-January 17
Number of students: 12
Essential Questions/areas:
(1) What is the meaning of architecture?
(2) What information should I know about architecture?
(3) What does Khmer architecture look like?
(4) What are the differences between ancient and modern architecture?
(5) How do we create architecture?
Description:
Architecture is the process of planning, designing and constructing. When we work on architecture with these three things we have to think about durability, utility and beauty. So in our Exploration we learned about architecture in Cambodia. For example: in Cambodia there are many houses, buildings and also the temples. The Khmer architecture was different than the other countries because like the Angkor Wat is made from the big rocks and the foundation that they built is layers of rocks and sand. But in the other countries, like in the U.S.A, there are not really the buildings that have the foundation like that. Before, the buildings in Cambodia were not that big. The houses were also not that big and were not made from cement like right now. Now when they make the houses, they put many colors and many styles that they want. But at the past, the Khmer buildings were not too big and did not have many styles like now. Just the temples had many styles that Khmer ancestors made by hand with the big rocks. On the big rocks they made the big sculptures that showed about Khmer history. To do the architecture we have to follow the theory of architecture and do it step by step. In this group we went on the trip to Siem Reap to learn how did the Khmer ancestorsbuild the temples. Other than that we also went to some places in Phnom Penh. We went to Central Market, Olympic Stadium and PPIT. That is the school that teaches about the architecture.
Website: http://angkorarchitecture.ligercambodiablog.org/
Bag Business Description
Exploration Name: Bag Business
Exploration Dates: October 7th-November 19th
Number of students: 13
Essential Questions:
Why do we use bags – the purpose of bags?
What is the purpose of creating a prototype?
What processes are needed to create a small profitable business?
Description:
When we started this project we thought about Ready-Set-Go, which is a website that helped us get ideas about starting our business. In Ready we thought about our logo, what business and our goals. Then we divided all the students in our group into three different departments. There were Research + Development, Account + Finance and Sales and Marketing. In R+D they worked on how to make our design unique. In A+C they worked on Project balance sheet. Project balance sheet is the sheet that we just think of but it is not happen yet. But S + M is very important because they need to prepare the attitude and be friendly to the buyers who come. After that we took trips to RUFA, Art Gallery, A.N.D, Royal Boutique, Smateria and Wattan. Wattan is a place which made bags for us to paint. At first we decided to make 52 tote bags but then we wanted another 13 ipad bags. In our last day we all painted the bags already and we opened the shop for the students, staff and visitors to buy bags from our business. On that day we also used a mannequin to make up and put the bags on it’s hand. At that day we sold nearly all the bags. We also had 2 bags to raffle. This was very fun. We had the promotion about the tickets and one ticket for the adult costs 1$ and for the kids costs 2000៛. From that day each of us got $5 from when we sold.