A high season of school work

December marks the last month of the year. It also signals the start of the new year. Most people do not want to start their new year with lots of workload. One of my teacher, likewise, said that he did not want to begin the new year with many more things to do such as correcting students assignments and tests. He wanted to have time for himself to enjoy some of the things he likes so that he can have a fresh start.

A wake-up call

It is very interesting to know that my writing ability has degraded so fast. I don't even realize that it has been so poor like this. It took me only a mere 10-minute duration to write a short paragraph a few months ago while I was practicing my vocabulary everyday, but now it takes me more than half an hour just to produce a short passage. I questioned myself too whether it is because the subject that I am writing now is much more difficult than the subjects I wrote before. The answer is not much. The point is my stock of vocabulary has decreased as I haven't practiced much lately. Anyway, that's a wake-up call for me. I should restart my vocabulary learning.

Challenge is a fact of life

Everyday I face with new challenges. They are neither what I want nor what I hate. They just come into my life sometimes unconsciously to make me a stronger, more intelligent, more adaptable and more optimistic in my life. Change, Hate, Anger, Learning, Love-seeking, Emotional management, Never Give up, and Empathy are the the things that come to my mind when I hear the word 'challenge.' Admittedly, they are challenges in my life, perhaps other people's life as well.

Year 3 Vacation

Just realized that I started school the other day, I am now going to the final year of my undergraduate study, Bachelor of Education. My year 3 vacation lasted roughly about two months starting from mid-July to mid-September, but I did not get a two-month full vacation because I have still been having to study at the other university, the University of Cambodia. Normally, I would study only three subjects during a summer course at the University of Cambodia, but I was advised to take four subjects during this summer course, which means I need to study both in the morning and the afternoon. The morning class is every Tuesday and Wednesday.

My teaching experience

It has always given me a great feeling to recall my good past memories. Thinking of my teaching, I feel that I should write something down here.

When I stepped into my teaching classroom for the first time last year, I was so nervous seeing many eyes looking at me. I felt that way because it was the first time I was playing a role as a Teacher of English. I did not expect my students to love or like me very much because I was an inexperienced teacher. What I needed from them was their passion in learning from me. After I had been teaching for a week, the number of my students had decreased noticeably. The reason that many students left my class was perhaps because of my appearance--I looked very young, and of course I was just 18. A few of my students were even older than me. However, the decrease in number did not discourage me. It gave the power, the strength, the enthusiasm and the passion to keep the gusto and teach the rest of the students well. A week later, I could see the result of my effort. The number of my students stabilized, and they really enjoyed my teaching.

The point here is that nothing can stop you from being successful as long as you have the passion and perseverance in doing your job.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Part 2)

Finally, I have finished reading the book. I sense an enlightenment, though I can't guarantee that I have understood everything taught in the book. Feeling inspired by the teaching in the book as well as the remarkable effort the author put in in writing the book, I have committed myself to reflecting back to what I have gained from the 8-month periodical reading.

First, I would like to start with the organization of the book. The book, so to speak, is divided into four interrelated parts. The first parts starts with the explanation of what a paradigm is and it deals with how we can change our outside world by changing our inner self. The point here, as Stephen explains, is that by changing the way we see others, we can change how we will interact with them, and the ways we see others is defined by Stephen as a paradigm. Then, Stephen goes on to introduce the 7 habits in a superficial but dramatically intriguing way. In this part, several key words have been explained such as paradigm, habit, P/PC balance and effectiveness.

What Cambodia is doing to achieve MDGs

After suffering from chronic wars of over 30 years, Cambodia is now heading for better future...

There remains only five more years to the deadline of the Millennium Development Goals. Things have not been progressed as they should be. Being one of the members of the UN, Cambodia is also trying to achieve MDGs (Millennium Development Goals). Now I am going to talk about what my country Cambodia has done and is doing to achieve these goals. First, we are trying to eradicate extreme poverty through building and rehabilitating our infrastructures such as roads and bridges. Our government is also trying to attract foreign investors to our country in order to generate more jobs and opportunities for the have-nots. Second, we are also working on developing our human resources. Obviously, our government has implemented a new policy on education system, making 9th grade the compulsory level of education. Third, women are now given opportunities to receive education by allowing them to go to schools. Moreover, unlike in the past, they are now encouraged to join public events so as to increase their visibility in the society.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (Part 1)

One of the greatest books that I have ever read is the book by Stephen R. Convey titled "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People." Rich in principles and clear in explanation, the book has been sold over 15 million copies. People around the world appraise this book for the life-changing experiences the book provide to them. Having been reading this book for over 8 months, I have gained so much knowledge about myself and my surroundings. I have grown aware of my actions, my values, my goals, my aspirations as well as my weaknesses. Particularly speaking, the book has provided me a new level of thinking, a new paradigm, a concepts about my future, the ways I should deal with others, and how I could lead a good life. Bereft of time for reading, I have grabbed every single free time that I have had to read this wonderful book. After reading all the parts and chapters in this book, I will summarize what I could understand and share with all of you the experiences I have had with this book.

My books and my grandpa

When I was young, I tried to keep every old book that I had. Now, my room is replete with unused books, which means I have to jettison some of them. However, my grandpa tussles against my will saying that those books contain intrinsic value and are highly lucrative. Inevitably in order to avoid his stern rebuke, I superficially agree with him because he happens to complain about such a thing once in a blue moon only.

Lesson from my manager

I am being very careful about my work because I don't want to be rebuked by my boss. My boss just doesn't like those who are remiss in their duties. His aversion to careless people makes me afraid of him. Anyway, he never evinces any anger in front of his staff. His superficial calmness is the vogue for other managers. I should start learning from him from now on because you know what they say "strike while the iron is hot."

Cramming and cramming and cramming!!!

I really feel not particularly happy when I see people cramming before the exam. This practice has been seriously spread among Cambodian learners nowadays. This morning I had an exam at my university. Before I went to the exam room, I was in the library chatting with one of my friends who was reviewing for his exam in the afternoon. Just half an hour before the exam starts, the library was filled with groups of students. In their hands were the documents they have copied from the book. I did not know exactly what purposes of those documents are, but as I might have understood they were used as cramming materials. All the groups inside the library shared a common characteristic which was cramming. They tried to upload all the materials they had learnt for more than a month into their brain in just a few minutes. "How are they going to remember all of the information?" I questioned myself.

A Football Prodigy

Lionela is a football prodigy. He is able to juggle the ball for more than 12 hours non-stop, using his head, shoulders, both feet and other parts of his body, although he is just 12 years of age. This remarkable young man never falters or lets anything faltering his effort in his ardent sport. Born in a family bereft of necessary wealth, Lionela has not been educated in a proper school. Even though his lifestyle is constricted by his family situation, Lionela still has a great exultation every time he plays football with his fellow friends. "When it comes to football, I am loaded for bear!" is what Lionela said when talking about his passion in football.

That is why!

An ardent supporter of globalization raised an important points at the start of the meeting. It was a terse proposition, and it was shameful to the speaker because the audience did not understand what he had been trying to explain. At a glance, I saw a man standing up among an array of anti-globalization fans rebuking the speaker that he had not broken the ice yet. True! The first speaker could not get his ideas across, which culminated in the audience walking away from the conference hall. The pinnacle of his aspiration as a supporter of globalization had come to the end when he gave the audience an obscure view of what globalization really is.

I had to be blunt on this!

It was that transient moment that I forced myself to speak out that words, even though I was aware that these words could hurt him. "John, you have done a very good job so far for our company," I said to him sympathetically, "But a piece of news that I hate to break is that the situation really forces me to dismiss you." After saying this, I knew that I had been terse to John. "I know that is what I will get at the end of the day, but don't you want to sleep on this decision for a few more days. After all, I have been working here all my life," John angrily replied. "Well, John," I pat him "The gist of the story is that we are running out of fund to support more stuff. So we need to lay off some." It was not the most cogent reason, I knew, and it was an acute pain to lay off such a good stuff like him.

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SHOULD CHRISTMAS BE ALLOWED TO CELEBRATE IN CAMBODIAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS?

Christmas or Christmas Day is a Christian holiday which is celebrated annually, usually on December 25 by both Christians and non-Christians around the world to remember the birth of Jesus Christ. It is the time for people to share joy, bliss and festivity. Christian religious views were first spread to Cambodia in the 1660s, imparting its values to Cambodian civilization. Nowadays, although the majority of Cambodians are Buddhists, most of them also celebrate Christmas. In recent years, however, there have been arguments about whether Christmas celebration should be allowed in Cambodian public schools. In my opinion, celebrating Christmas in Cambodian public schools because someone or some group finds it enjoyable should not be allowed because it can be carried out in other places; it creates chaos to and pollutes the environment of the schools; and Cambodian public schools are expected to promote Cambodian culture.