Siem Reap Teachers Attend CamTESOL as Delegates and Presenters
By I'mACE
CamTESOL provides a platform to exchange educational practices, gain more confidence in ourselves as presenters and make connections with educators from various other institutions. Moreover, delegates can be inspired and influenced by both younger and more experienced professionals, and especially guest speakers. I strongly encourage teachers to attend CamTESOL if they wish to grow as teaching professionals, and to submit an abstract for the upcoming CamTESOL conference. They should ask a friend or colleague to proofread their abstract before submission. CamTESOL is a great experience!
Keo Sopoan & Prom Rattanak
I have been teaching at ACE since 2015. I have learned a lot about English teaching techniques and approaches from other teachers, presenters at CamTESOL and attending professional development sessions. CamTESOL has helped me develop my teaching skills: I have learned from other teachers, educators and researchers in the ELT and education fields who have shared their best teaching practices.
This year, I had the opportunity to present at CamTESOL, which was an amazing experience. The conference enriched my teaching skills, and I was able to build networks with other presenters. I also had an opportunity to share my own teaching experiences with others in the ELT field. CamTESOL enhanced my confidence, in that I received valuable feedback from other ELT professionals.
Kino Born
I attained a CELTA in November 2017 and was fortunate to be offered a teaching position at ACE Siem Reap campus. Before deciding to be a teacher, I was a Forensic Social Worker for 13 years, which involved working with people in prisons and secure hospitals. I thought that teaching would be easy after that experience. How wrong I was!
As a new teacher, I wanted to gain as much knowledge and experience as possible, so as to develop my classroom skills. I had heard of CamTESOL, but thought it was a conference for more experienced teachers. As a result, I did not even think of attending the conference. After talking with a couple of colleagues, however, I realised that it was learning platform for all teachers and that the workshops could help me in areas in which I was lacking. The conference was a fantastic experience. Each workshop was half an hour long, so I saw many different presentations. I am very glad that I attended, and would encourage any teacher at any level to go to CamTESOL to learn new skills and techniques, and to network.
Emma MacQueen
I have been teaching English at ACE for nearly six years. I had just started teaching at ACE the first time I attended CamTESOL. This year, I had the opportunity to present at the conference, thanks to my Campus Manager and Lead Teacher, who encouraged me and gave me ideas. My experience as a presenter was different from my experience as a participant: it took time to write an abstract for submission and then prepare my presentation. Presenting at CamTESOL was challenging and exciting. After I had done my presentation, I felt proud that I had shared my experience and knowledge with other teaching professionals.
Khiev Chan
This year I attended CamTESOL for the first time, which opened my eyes to a wide variety of interesting topics. I learned a lot of new teaching methods from local and international presenters.
Channang Sim
I first attended CamTESOL in 2009. It was held at a university near the Independence Monument that had very basic rooms. Back then, it was a professional development conference that exposed Cambodian teachers to the latest ideas in English language teaching and gave them an opportunity to present in an international environment. Ten years later, I presented at CamTESOL for the fifth time. This year, I presented on monitoring writing programs. Needless to say, it was quite a different experience. These days the conference is at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC). The effort of the organisers was apparent from the moment I registered online. There is a CamTESOL App that delegates can download for all the latest news and program details. When I presented, there was comprehensive support from the event volunteers. The audience was incredibly supportive and interested because they had chosen to be there.
My conference presentations are always based on my current teaching experience. I feel that presenting on issues with which I am currently dealing in my own teaching is the key to a confident, clear presentation, and to learning from the experience. Learning through teaching or explaining things to others is a powerful method that clarifies your own understanding. It also enables you to receive feedback on your ideas from audience questions and by following the stream in the conference that matches your area of interest. My preparation involved using the materials and ideas I was already working on and just working out what angle I was going to take for my presentation. Putting together the PowerPoint slides is about keeping it simple rather than spending hours on them.
I have attended and presented at TESOL conferences in Australia, Europe, Asia and the US, and I always find that this rejuvenates my passion for teaching. Conferences keep me up-to-date with the latest theories, methods and technology. All teachers should attend CamTESOL and challenge themselves to present at the conference. You can be inspired and inspire others!
Tony Matthews
CamTESOL opened doors to many opportunities for me. It provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and dissemination of information. As a delegate, I saw some excellent presentations and learned useful teaching strategies. CamTESOL enables professional development for people from different backgrounds, who can share and learn in an English-speaking environment.
Kimchheng Khov