Public Speaking

This past week, I hosted my first successful workshop that I can take some ownership of. I think I’ve contributed to some cool workshops and community groups, but this was certainly the largest project that I helped plan and implement. A Cambodian teacher, Sam On, and I had a class about public speaking for students. It was three hours long and 64 students came.

Public speaking is particularly important here because few Cambodians know how to do it properly. In class, it is customary for students to stand up when they give answers. Most students either lean on the desk while they are standing or speak too softly. And many students lack confidence or are too shy to even speak up in class, even when they know the right answer. Not speaking up is partially cultural, due to the fear of losing face from not knowing the right answer, but it also a skill that can be developed.

Our lesson focused on how to speak in public and how to be less nervous. We played games, then I gave a bad speech and Sam On gave a good speech. We asked students to compare the differences. Then, we gave them some tips and they watched speeches in Khmer and English on my laptop and then some students came up to try to emulate the speakers. We had some speeches written, but some students made up their own.

I actually saw an improvement in the students by the end of the workshop. Instant gratification is rare as a Peace Corps Volunteer, so I felt pretty good afterward. We were planning on doing a leadership workshop next week, but the students enjoyed public speaking so much that we are going to do it again.

Here are some pictures from the event:

From for blog

This one is of my students at the workshop. The students in the front row are regulars during my free extra classes. Notice how one student has his hand resting on his friend’s inner thigh. It’s pretty typical for friends of the same sex to touch each others’ leg or even hold hands. Opposite sexes rarely touch in public, especially if they are not married.

From for blog

This is Sam On speaking to the students.

From for blog

This is a student giving a speech. Behind her is the world map, which was a project done by the Peace Corps Volunteer who lived in my district before me (I’m the second one). While I was waiting for the workshop to begin, I asked the students in Khmer where a few countries were. They were all able to find Cambodia, but struggled to find the US and other countries. They were surprised by how big China was and how small South Korea was (a lot of the music they like is from Korea). Clearly, there is still a lot of work to be done with education in Cambodia.

The workshop was in Khmer. I could do some of it in Khmer by myself, and when I could not, Sam On translated for me. My Khmer is coming along nicely. I can hold a pretty long conversation. For example, the other day I stopped at the tailor’s on the way to lunch. He fixed my shirt in about a minute, but then we ended up talking for about 20 minutes and I was late for lunch. He actually mentioned America deploying 30,000 more troops in Afghanistan and I understood him, but I’m not yet at the level of commenting or anything. All I could say was that I didn’t want to join the army and I was able to ask him if he was ever a soldier. Many Khmer people were soldiers when times were less peaceful, but he was not one.

One nice thing about learning Khmer is that few foreigners speak it, so Khmer people in the provinces are very happy when I can speak it. So, they give me a lot of positive reinforcement. I am constantly told that I speak Khmer “a lot” and I speak Khmer “clearly.” Or, they turn to their friend to discuss how I know Khmer. The other day at the market in the provincial town, where people are slightly less friendly than in my town, a bunch of sellers came over to talk to me once they found out I spoke Khmer. Oddly enough, sometimes I have conversations about how I don’t speak Khmer, even though the conversation is in Khmer.

Learning the language can also be frustrating. The down-side of few foreigners speaking Khmer it is that many people, especially older people, are not used to hearing it with a non-Khmer accent and find it difficult to understand. And, naturally, there are so many words, phrases and structures I still don’t know.

As for an interesting food and a cross-cultural experience:

An interesting food I’ve eaten lately is goy-tio chah. It’s basically fried noodles, vegetables and peanuts, but you have it with bon chio. As I mentioned in another post, bon chio is the omelet-like pancake. Together, goy-tio chah and bon chio are a delicious $.50 breakfast.

A funny cultural exchange occurred when a co-teacher of mine told me that I got fatter in Cambodia. I was a little taken aback, but he said it was a compliment. Most Khmer people are very thin, so perhaps being fat is a sign of wealth. I don’t really know my weight because none of the scales are accurate, but most of my male American friends have lost weight here. You be the judge:

From for blog

Cambodian people also love white skin. They always say how pretty my light skin is and even use creams that are supposed to whiten their skin (although I doubt they work). They also try to stay out of the sun. I think they view people with lighter skin as people who are not out in the sun farming. If someone does not need to harvest rice, it’s probably because they are wealthier. When I try to tell people that in American we want dark skin and think it's beautiful, Khmer people are usually blown away. So basically, it’s cool to be a fat white guy in Cambodia.