The second round of the year starts off with the study of social and environmental injustice; social injustice is basically about how people are treated unfairly, due to their race, origins, religions, etc… Environmental injustice is quite related to social injustice, as it is about how the environment affect human life. As we are learning, we completed a hyperdoc about minority groups in Connecticut and how the power plants affect them, since most of the power plants in the state are located near the minority groups territory. Besides that we are currently focusing on writing argumentative essays. As a warm up, we did something called Philosophical chair, where a topic or statement is given and students need to choose to agree or disagree and they will debate and give turns respectfully. Before writing the argumentative essay, we also learn tips and skills to write an argumentative essay. That includes devil advocate, writing thesis statement, choosing evidence, integrating source and more.
Take Mistakes as Your Lesson, Not Your Failure
Learning about Khmer traditional food is something that I’m proud of as a Cambodian child. Our goals in this exploration are to gather people’s story about how Cambodian food has impacts on them and to bring back the forgotten food of Cambodia, as nowadays Cambodians tend to have fast foods rather than Cambodian food. After a few weeks of our exploration, we went on a trip to Siem Reap province to interview chefs, small shop owners and local food sellers to get their life’s story and how Cambodian food have influence them. Before we went on the trip, we were assigned into three teams, Journalism, Video and Photo team. I was part of the journalism team and it was a really great experience working as a journalist and I came to realize that being a journalist is like a storyteller. Journalists tell stories, not just reports. They might tell the same story, but in unique and different ways, that’s what I really love about journalists. They also could bring the readers the incident and cause the readers to feel differently about something. Click here to see one of my writing about a Cambodian steam pork bun seller at a local market in Siem Reap province. I am also managing the blog and customize the blog format. Managing a blog for the whole team is very new to me, but I really enjoy doing it and there are some mistakes and struggles, but we use our mistakes as an experience, not a failure.
Digital Storytelling-Multimedia
Digital storytelling and photography are taught in this round in Multimedia essential. We basically learned about the story structures that could be applied to any types of story/writing. I really think learning about the story structure is very helpful for us, as students, because we will write a lot of stories and this skill will be apply to the writing. Digital storytelling is telling stories through technology. Photography is one of the visual storytelling. There are also different kind of photos, like depth, frame, symmetry, etc… Besides just studying in class, we also did some scavenger hunts, where we go around the school campus and take varieties of photos.
Creating a Mobile Theater-Round 1
This is the first exploration of my third year, which is called Tos Merl (*Khmer words, meaning,“Let’s watch”) Liger Community Traveling Theater. It is basically about building a community mobile theater. Last year I was in a similar exploration called Set Design, which is about preparing sets for a play, but this is a different kind of experience, since our goal is to make a mobile theater, but we also include the sets in the mobile theater. The reason why we do this is because it is more efficient and it could be used in various ways, meaning we could also use it for classrooms, presentations etc… I was assigned to be one of the two manager of the team, which is a totally new experience for me, since I’ve never been a manager before. After get a taste of it, I really like the job of managing, because this person helps the team a lot, interact with the team a lot, helps keep things organized, on task and keep them excited. Half way through our exploration, we went on a three days and two nights trip to Kampong Cham and Tbong Khmum, province located in the central of Cambodia. The main reason for us to go there is to interview people in the rural areas about their experiences with mobile theater or a play. We also filmed their answer, so that we could make a video and post it in Kickstarter, a website that we use to get donations, to buy the container truck, in order to redesign the truck into a mobile theater. On the other hand, we also performed an educational play to those people without our mobile theater, to introduce them to what is a play and what it looks like. It was a very fun experience for me and my teammates to interact with the villagers and get to know them more. This exploration is probably one of the biggest exploration this year, so we will continue this exploration in round 3 or later. I really enjoy working with my teammates and hope to collaborate with them in the future to finish our mobile theater.
Technology/Multimedia-Round 1
This is our first year learning multimedia and is also our first year learning with our new facilitator, Cindy. Our first week of multimedia, we were introduced to what is multimedia and research skills. It was very helpful that we get to learn about research skills. We could really use this skill to help us do research. We understand what is primary source and what is secondary source, these skills really help us when we are in college or when we write research papers and stuff. The following week, we learned about the adobe softwares, which includes Adobe Indesign, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator. These four adobe softwares are all very helpful for us when we want to edit pictures, create posters, design a book, make a graphic designs, make a flyer and more. Below is the poster I made for the homework I was assigned using Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Indesign. Although, we just studied multimedias for a few weeks, I really think it is very practical and helpful.
Physical Science
This year, we will be focusing on Physical Science, which is a type of science. Physical Science is the study of matter and energy, which includes physics and chemistry. These few weeks, we learned about scientific investigation, how scientists investigates the field the science. Below is a picture of the process of scientific investigation. We also learned about the states of matter and atoms. To really understand more about atoms, our facilitator have us read the atom family, which is very useful to me. We also worked in groups to do research and do a short presentation to the whole class about what is inside an atom, atomic numbers etc…
Etymology-English Literacy
Currently, we are focusing on studying etymology, which is very helpful and useful for English learners. We have a homework packet every week, in which we learned about the root words. We are only focusing on greek and latin words, also we have three new root words every week. Some of the root words we have learned are graph/gram, dict, scrib/scrip, aqua/aqu, mer/mar, bio, photo, phil etc… I really think studying these root words help me and everyone to know more vocabulary and could figure out the definition easily by just looking at the root words. We also have a little assessment related to the root words every Monday. In this class, we did a lot of discussion and the current one is about Poison. The morals of poison is for us to discriminate anyone, to be grateful, appreciative and not do the same as Harry, one of the character in the story that discriminates the doctor by calling him “ Litte Indian” and “ Dirty Little Hindu Sewer Rat”, which is very rude and disrespectful. This story is very descriptive of what was going on in the story and is very detailed.
Introduction to Algebra-Math
This year we start a new book called “Primary Mathematics Workbook 5A”, which is from Singapore. This round, we reviewed a lot of things we learned last year such as; factors and multiples, calculations with parentheses etc… Something new I really like learning this round is methods for mental calculation, because this could really apply to real life living. I also really calculating without using a calculator or a paper; I usually only use my brain to calculate smaller numbers, so learning some of these methods really help me a lot with my learning and daily life. We actually got introduced a bit to algebra, which would be the hardest topic I’ve learned this round. I find it hard to learn, but it is very useful, if we know how to use it correctly. I really look forward to learn even more fun and useful topics in the future.
An Ungrateful Child-Khmer Poem
This is the first round of my third year at Liger. This round, our Khmer facilitator, Sokha focused on making Khmer poems. Khmer poem is very different from English poem. In Khmer poem, there are different ways of writing poems and different ways of saying the poems. Khmer poem is about the meaning, the rhythm and the emotions and tones when we say the poem. Every students in my class has a different type of poem. Below is my eight syllables poem, so each phrase has eight syllables. This poem is about a child that is wealthy and has a grateful mom, but the child is not much appreciative, so the child regrets after the mom past away.
កូនអប្រិយ
មនុស្សគ្រប់រូបត្រូវចាំកំណើតខ្លួន ថាម្ដាយស្ងួនពិតជាឈឺចាប់ណាស់
ព្រោះកូនក្នុងផ្ទៃតែងតែបម្រះ នោះពិតច្បាស់ថាម្ដាយកំពុងឈឺ។
ទោះបីយ៉ាងណាម្ដាយនៅខំប្រឹង ខំពង្រឹងទាល់កូនឃើញពន្លឺ
ក្នុងនាមជាម្ដាយដូចអ្នកបំភ្លឺ មិនហ៊ានឈឺព្រោះខ្លាចប៉ះពាល់កូន។
៩ខែ១០ថ្ងៃបានមកដល់ ម្ដាយពិតខ្វល់តស៊ូទោះសាបសូន្យ
តស៊ូទោះរលាយទៅតាមក្បូន ស្រលាញ់កូនជាជាងអ្វីទាំងអស់។
ពេលកូនធំម្ដាយជូនទៅសាលា ទៅសិក្សាក្រេបយកគ្មានចន្លោះ
ខំរៀនពីមត្តេយ្យមិនហ៊ានផ្លោះ ខ្លាចចន្លោះបាត់ចំណេះវិជ្ជា។
ឯកូនខ្លះវិញមិនដែលចូលរៀន ប្រៀបរុះស្ពានចម្លងភាពជោគជ័យ
ម្ដាយខំឲ្យកូនរៀនសាលាល្បី កូនអប្រិយមិនព្រមក្រេបចំណេះ។
បែរទៅជក់អភៀនញៀនកញ្ឆា ត្រូវប្រហារព្រោះតែងធ្វើប្រហែស
បើនៅតែបន្ដនោះនឹងឆេះ ក្លាយជាផេះរំលេចទៅតាមខ្យល់។
ម្ដាយខំធ្វើការមិនហ៊ានឈប់ តាំងពីយប់ដល់ព្រឹកមិនដែលខ្វល់
កូនខ្លះវិញមិនដែលមានកង្វល់ ព្រោះមិនខ្វល់ពីឪពុកម្ដាយ។
នៅចំពោះមុខមិនរក្សាថែ ពេលបាត់ម៉ែបាត់ពុកទើបកូនស្ដាយ
ពីមុនកូនតែងតែសុំលុយចាយ ឥឡូវអ្នកម្ដាយមិននៅចំពោះមុខ។
នៅពេលដែលព្រះមាតាទៅបាត់ រលាយខ្ចាត់ទើបកូនចេះកើតទុក្ខ
អារម្មណ៍ពេលបាត់ម្ដាយដូចជាប់គុក សល់តែពុកនៅមើលថែរក្សា។
ពេលវេលាមិនអាចត្រឡប់វិញ គេនឹងចេញដូចនេះកុំសោកសារ
ព្រោះវាត្រឹមតែជាជោគវាសនា មិនប្រាថ្នាឲ្យវាកើតឡើងឡើយ។
ដូចនេះពេលវេលាបានមកដល់់ ខ្ញុំបន្សល់់់់សំនួរខ្វះចម្លើយ
ថាគួរខ្វល់់់់ខ្វាយឬកន្ដើយ ឬបណ្ដោយឲ្យវាកន្លងហួស។