Do you speak English?

Cambodia is a country that is rebuilding. It is also a country with a very, very young population. According to 2009 statistics, 35% of the population is under the age of 14.This means that the need for education is tremendous. The education level is generally quite low due to the lack of trained teachers and also because the overwhelming majority of the people live in poor rural areas. Education is thus one of the many services being provided by NGO and mission organizations.

There is also a real hunger to learn English. Speaking English is seen as the means for moving out of menial labor jobs. As I walk around this part of the city, it seems that there is an “international” school in every block. Many of them are “international” in name only and the quality of English-language teaching varies greatly.

The Four Rivers English Language Center is an outreach of the Anglican Church of Cambodia. It is staffed and supported financially by Christians from several Anglican parishes in Singapore. Lawrence and Lyn are the directors and only teachers at this time. Joy just arrived and is taking an intensive ESL course this month in order to qualify and begin teaching. They would be very glad to welcome qualified ESL teachers from America to help for any period of time.

There are now pre-beginner, beginner, pre-intermediate, and intermediate levels of English classes taught at the center. Being able to offer higher level classes is presently limited only by the lack of teaching staff. Lawrence and Lyn are doing all they can handle at the moment. Right now there are an equal number of native Cambodian (Khmer) and Korean students. They are all older teenagers and adults. The Khmer students come to these classes after their regular school classes or fit them in between hours at a job. They work hard and are very warm, agreeable people to be with.

The center is so bright and clean. The grounds are a garden setting and make it a real haven of peace in a loud and busy city. It is a pleasant place to come.

I have sat in on several of these classes since arriving. This past week I led the hour-and-a-quarter conversation class for the pre-intermediate group. I will be doing the same thing next Thursday morning. Lawrence is glad to have the help and is pleased that the students can hear a different English accent for a change.

This is a ministry that is both very important and easy to fit into. Since it is a church-sponsored school, there is no problem in talking about Christian faith. The classes run for 3-month terms. Lawrence and Lyn would be especially thrilled to have Christian teachers who could come and help for a whole school year.

Would you consider doing that?