Improve the future for over 150 Cambodia Children

In this quarter, Dolphin School in Kratie province, Cambodia, is fortunate to have a dedicated team comprising 9 Khmer teachers and 3 foreign volunteers. Together, they are actively involved in the education of 119 underprivileged children.

As part of their commitment to the well-being of these students, the school recently organized a special food distribution event for all 130 children. The menu featured a variety of items, including curry, bread, watermelons, honey jackfruits, jicamas, and drinking water. Before enjoying the nutritious meal, the children engaged in traditional games, adding a playful and communal element to the event. This initiative not only focuses on education but also underscores the school's commitment to the holistic development and happiness of the students.

Chanchhay, an 11-year-old student enrolled in Level 1 at Dolphin School, resides with her family, consisting of four siblings, in Kantring village, Sangkat Orrusey, Kratie province. She is identified as one of the slower learners in her class. Due to challenging family circumstances, she had to discontinue her studies for a year. Her parents, who work as farmers, are burdened with debt, making it challenging for them to financially support their children's education. Furthermore, they lack an understanding of the importance of education. Despite these obstacles, Chanchhay recently re-enrolled in our school this month.

The family's financial struggles contribute to irregular school attendance among their children. Chanchhay explained that she often assists her parents with work, making it difficult for her to attend school regularly. Even though the teachers consistently encouraged her return, her frequent absences made it challenging for her to keep up with the curriculum. The teachers expressed a desire to visit her home once or twice a month, but Chanchhay's busy schedule, assisting her parents, made these visits difficult. Feeling embarrassed attending class only a few days a week, she also found it challenging to face her peers at school.

Davy, a 12-year-old student currently enrolled in Level 1 at Dolphin School, resides with her parents in Orrusey 1 village, Sangkat Orrusey, Kratie province. Identified as one of the underprivileged students at the school, Davy faced significant challenges that led to her discontinuing her education for over a year. During this period, her language skills became largely forgotten.

Her parents, initially not placing a high value on education for the younger generation, believed it was more crucial for Davy to contribute to the family's income. This made it difficult for her to focus on her studies. After multiple consultations with the school's teachers, her parents eventually recognized the importance of education and decided to re-enroll Davy in Dolphin School. This marks a positive step toward providing her with the opportunity for continued learning and development.

Report : Dolphin School of English in Kratie , Cambodia  2023

Our history: The school is based in Kratie province in the village of Orrusey which is about 10 minutes from Kratie town and the Mekong River.The school's director, Mr.Yuth, has lived in this area for several years, and over time he has watched children grow up with little or no English, and therefore, poor job prospects.He wanted to change this and offer the children of Kratie Province a better future. In January 2016, Mr.Yuth opened the School, built a house for the volunteers, and started lessons for underprivileged children from surrounding villages. In Cambodia, the economy is mainly based on tourism and agriculture. However, in the public schools of Kratie, students aren't taught much English. Therefore, the goal is to enable them to learn English and gain some basic IT skills, which will give them better job prospects and a brighter future. The school receives no financial support from the Government and instead relies solely on donations for improvements and volunteers for teaching. Volunteers might also be involved with work for this project as different needs arise.

Mission:“Empowering the learners and the communities through life skill and quality education”                                  Vision:“To offer a holistic education, to produce students who drive the economy, appreciate principles and philosophy governing education ” Our targ line : [Help every Cambodian child the chance to learn ]

Overview : Today, Dolphin School has 130 young students from underprivileged families and 22 adult students making a total of 152 students. They all receive quality teaching  from foreign teachers from countries like Canada, France, England, Spain and Scandinavia. At present, the school has nine classrooms and one library. We rely on a mixture of Khmer teachers ,and volunteer teachers from around the world. The group of students are aged from 6 to 18 years and the adult group are aged from 19 years.

Time for learning at DSE

           Monday to Friday

• 4:00 to 5:00 pm (Library time)
• 5:10 to 6:10 pm (English for children classes)
• 6:30 to 7:30 pm (Adult Beginner class )
• 7pm to 8pm( Adult Intermediate class)
• 7:00 to 8:00 pm (Adult class)

Volunteering 

       DSE offers many positions to local and international volunteers:

1. Teaching English 2-3 hours per day
2. Painting the school
3. School land clearance
4. Project proposal design
5. Developing fundraising plans and campaigns
6. Updating FB, Instagram, Twitter, Website, and YouTube
7. Developing newsletters

         Volunteers work from Monday to Friday , 3 hours for teaching and 2 hours for preparing their lesson plans

DSE will arrange a room to stay in and a bicycle for all volunteers who are successful in applying to our school.We normally ask volunteers applying to teach for at least 3 weeks commitment. If volunteers only have a shorter time they can contact us to see what availability we have, We can organise Khmer meals for volunteers 3 times a day from Monday to Friday. At the weekend no food is provided as we find that a lot of volunteers like to travel around Cambodia. We ask volunteers to arrive and leave at the weekend.There are also lots of places to visit around Kratie : Rokakandal pagoda, Kapi resort, 100 pillars pagoda, Sambok mountain.

Our school is growing and changing

 Dolphin School of English was started with a small group of children in 2016. The first volunteers were a German couple Simon and Franzi who were very active and passionate and helped grow the school and are still great friends of DSE.           7 years later, in 2023, DSE is growing and at least 130 children come to school every Monday to Friday, including 40 new students studying in our new classrooms. Hong Sing and Hong San have been students of DSE for many years now and they can read , write and speak English well. Hong Sing has also been training with the volunteers to become an English teacher. She is now sometimes a teaching assistant at the school.

Achievements 

152 children and adults have received quality English skills from teachers. 60% of the children come from families in poverty or difficulty. Their knowledge of English have improved and they can now read , write and speak well with foreigner teachers. At least 10 of the outstanding students have been trained by Teacher June to be teaching assistants. Because DSE has built a good reputation in Orrusey one village , the school has attracted 22 adults to come and learn and practice English conversation. Most of them are Government teachers, NGO staff, and private English teachers as well as students from University of UME. In this location, there is only DSE providing English skill and lessons with foreign teachers. TVET of Kratie has cooperated with the teachers from DSE to provide lessons to young people in their centre. At least 10 young people participated in the disseminated lessons for 2 hours per week. There are 4 low vision children receiving education from DSE ( Ratana, Vatey, Sokheng, and Boramey) their levels are 2,3 and 4.

 Classroom buildings

This year, DSE has had great volunteers . Marie Giacobbi and Rachel Roger from France have successfully raised in total USD 885$ for one new classroom. Rachel also secured us a new donor , The Rotary club Quebec De Vallieres Construction , who gave us in total the amount of USD 2500$ for two more new classrooms. Carolyn Hodrien fundraised for 22 new desks and her mother, Pam Lewis, donated money for 5 new whiteboards. Volunteers Magnus Johansen and Nanna Munkholm, from Denmark, also made a donation of teaching materials, sports equipment, and one blue box for keeping the teaching materials safe.  

A volunteer from France , Victoria Gromnicki made a donation of USD50$ and Teacher Ashley Pugh from the USA also made a donation of USD150$ for installing electricity, fans and 10 new desks. Other volunteers Lilou, Joost, Isabella, Victoria, Joseph, Paula, Nathan, Majid, Lucas and Evan have also contributed to our new classrooms with their painting skills and creative activities as well as teaching English.

Library

This library was installed by an organization called Kriyaid, owned by Mr. Kumaravelu P and Devi , from Singapore. They also helped our volunteers decorate inside the library. The library is open from 4 to 5pm for students to improve their reading and speaking through playing educational games, singing songs, drawing pictures, and learning how to write with their teachers. In the library there are some different story books in English for children, sports equipment and drawing materials. Because the library is only a small space , it cannot have too many students in at one time. It’s very popular and many children use it from Monday to Friday. The children who come to the library are learning to communicate in English in a relaxed setting,. They love to draw pictures , paint and play educational games that they do not get the opportunity to access at their state schools.

Contact add: O'Russei 1village,Sangkat O'Russei, Kratie Town, Kratie Province,Cambodia, Mobile Phone:+855717328484, Whatapp:+855717328484,E-mail:dolphinschoolofenglish@gmail.com

Links:

• We provide free lessons to underprivileged children

• DSE_newsletter_June_2023.pdf (PDF)