YL13 Project: Waste Disposal and Animal Conservation

By Gordon Ramel, ACE Teacher

The Australian Centre for Education (ACE) has been providing high quality English language training in Cambodia since 1992. Teachers are encouraged to facilitate various projects, which creates a dynamic classroom setting. These projects not only give students the opportunity to practice their English in realistic contexts, but also help them to develop other worthwhile skills such as research, design, planning and teamwork (the projects are done in teams).

My YL13 class in Term 2, 2019 was a small class that naturally fell into two teams: one team of girls and one team of boys. I assigned each team a separate task focused on problems relevant to both the public and the government in Cambodia today. The girls set to work designing a poster advertising the good work done by Phnom Tamao Wildlife Rescue and Refuge Centre, while the boys designed a poster drawing people's attention to the issue of recycling and waste in Phnom Penh. Both teams tackled their posters wholeheartedly and had a lot of fun.

Students needed little help other than a few tips as to what kind of information they should look for. They had one class for research and one for production, and I am pleased to report that they worked very well together. As an ecologist repurposed as an English teacher, I really enjoy any opportunity to bring environmental awareness, which is such an important issue in the modern world, into the classroom. Read on to hear what some of my students had to say about their experience.

Eam Choranike

Completing this project with my teammates helped me to learn many things. I felt sad to discover that some people still hunt animals, even though only a few are left in the forests, but I am happy to know that other people work to find and rescue these hunted animals. I learned how and where they are protected and kept safe, and where they can be set free again. I also learned about two special elephants called Lucky and Chouk. Most importantly, I learned a lot about working with others as part of a team. We helped each other while learning about the animals that call Cambodia home and the wonderful people who fight to protect them.

Phaut Sovannvatanak

I was very interested in this project and I learned a lot about my own city. I had not previously understood the huge problem of waste disposal in Phnom Penh, or the importance of recycling. I also learned a lot about research, how to design a poster and how to deliver a good presentation. The project was really fun for my team and I, and we loved working together!