Project by: Rei Weintraub (11th Grade), Nina Gerzema (11th Grade), Lily Parks (11th Grade), Josh Sapira (11th Grade)
Project Advisor: Manjula
Student(s)’s Advisor(s): Jane, Jess, Preethi

Description of the Project: Tassel is an open honors project with other students who want to participate. In Tassel, students will have the opportunity to teach children in very very poor areas in Cambodia English throughout the year either through two different methods. The first method is video chat, teaching reading or phonics to a class of about 30 Tassel students, or teaching a Cambodian Tassel teacher. The other method is through essay corrections, in which higher-level Tassel students write essays, which you correct with explanations and messages and send back to the students.

Final Product (e.g., documents, images, video, audio, poster, display, etc.):

As our final project for Tassel, we decided to present an Assembly in front of the high school. Many of us were surprised by the little history we knew about the Khmer Rouge and the current situation in Cambodia. We thought that presenting to the school would not only serve as a substantial final project for our honors project, but we could also teach our peers about something that we felt passionate about. In the end, our assembly was a success, and many students reached out afterwards to help out. Below is the presentation and our script.

To finish Tassel, we were hoping to take a trip to Cambodia to meet our students in person. With the current situation, it does not seem as though we will be able to go, however, we collected clothing to bring on our trip and give to families. This is the poster that we hung around the school to collect clothing:

 

This is the script from our assembly:

Slide 1:Tassel
Rei: Hi everyone, last year I became involved with an organization called Tassel. Tassel is an organization that provides free English education, food aid, clothes and health care to children and families in rural areas in Cambodian villages. Today, we are going to give a brief overview of some very difficult times in Cambodian history, and how they led to the current situation in Cambodia and the mission of Tassel. We are doing this presentation today because we thought it important for you all to know the context of our work, why we chose to volunteer, and how you can aid this community in Cambodia. This is an honors project that we have been working on since September. When I began volunteering with Tassel last year, I felt that many of the principles aligned with what we value here at LREI. Some of the topics that we will share are really difficult topics, so if at any point during this assembly you feel that you need to step out, you are welcome to.

Slide 2
Nina: Tassel is an organization in Cambodia that gives people the opportunity to teach English to children in very poor areas in Cambodia. There are two different methods we can use during our sessions. The first method is through video chat, teaching reading or phonics to a class of about 30 Tassel students, or teaching a Cambodian Tassel teacher, who will teach students when we are not there, and assist classes when we video chat in. Teaching phonics means teaching students how to pronounce certain letters of the alphabet within words and sentences. The goal of teaching phonics is so that every student can improve their English as they do not have textbooks in their native language, Khmer, because they were destroyed during the Khmer Rouge regime. This is because the Khmer Rouge did not think that education was important. This morning during our teaching session we taught the letter C. We are teaching different sounds of the letter C, and then we read different C words in sentences with the students. When they have trouble with sounds, we play games as well as ask for volunteers to read aloud a particular sentence and correct their pronunciation. 

This is a photo of a game we play with the students. It’s called the 123 forwards game. We show three or more words that are similar in some way on a google document that they can see. Then we tell them to close their eyes while we say one of the words on the document out loud. The students then have to hold up their fingers matching the number of the word they think was said. The students are always really excited to play the game and cheer like crazy when they get their answers right.

Slide 3
Lily: The other method is through essay corrections, in which higher-level Tassel students write essays that we correct with explanations and send back to the students. Being an essay corrector entails more than just correcting grammar and spelling mistakes in the kids’ work. Although that is a large part of it, the students and essay correctors also build relationships like pen pals. At the bottom of the kids’ essays, they’ll write notes to us and we respond. We also get a chance to learn more about their lives. They write about Cambodia, their families, and other topics that allow us to get to know the kids. This is an example of an essay written by a Cambodian student.

Josh: Before we went into teaching the children English through essay corrections and phonics lessons, we had to go through the process of teacher training. We watched video tutorials created by other Tassel high school volunteers about how to teach the students. After we learned the different methods, we took a test to make sure we were making the right corrections to certain mistakes, and teaching concepts correctly. Although English is our first language, it was difficult to understand all of the grammar points as they are things that we don’t usually think about being native English speakers, like different grammar rules for certain letters. After we learned these rules and passed our test, we then were able to teach.

Slide 4:
Rei: Over the summer, Tassel volunteers can go on a trip to Cambodia to visit our students. I went on the trip last year, and it was life-changing. Before I had seen it in person, I could not have imagined that people, in this time period, could be living in the kind of ways that many of these students and their families are living. The main reason for this is that Cambodia has not yet recovered from the Khmer Rouge regime. So in order to fully understand the current situation of Cambodia, it is necessary to understand its history.

Slide 5:
To understand this history, we are going to show a quick video about the history of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia.

Slide 6:
Josh: In this video, the man says that Cambodia is now a place of skyscrapers and smiling faces. In cities like Angkor Wat, and Phnom Penh, where tourism has helped to bolster the urban economy, this is true. However, in the rural areas where Tassel’s work is focused, the economy and the people are still greatly impacted by the Khmer Rouge regime.

The Khmer Rouge were in power for 4 years, ruling Cambodia from 1975 to 1979 and was responsible for one of the worst mass killings of the 20th century. There have been 20,000 mass grave sites discovered, indicating a total of about 2.5 to 3 million people killed out of a population of roughly 8 million people. Marxist leader Pol Pot forced millions of people from the cities to work on communal farms in the countryside. The Khmer Rouge killed whole families through execution, starvation, disease, and overwork. Originating in the 1960s, the Khmer Rouge was the armed wing of the Communist Party of Kampuchea. They were based in remote jungle and mountain areas in the northeast of the country. In a Civil War that went on for 5 decades, the Khmer Rouge slowly increased its control in the countryside. Forces then took over the capital, Phnom Penh, as well as the whole nation in 1975. 

Slide 7:
Josh: Declaring the nation would start at year “zero,” Pol Pot isolated his people from the rest of the world, emptied cities, abolished money, private property, and religion, and set up rural collectives. Anyone thought to be an intellectual in any way, or anyone with a college degree, was killed. Many times people who wore glasses or spoke another language were condemned. The Khmer Rouge also targeted Vietnamese and Cham Muslims. They tortured hundreds of thousands of people in the middle-class educated population and executed them in killing fields.

Slide 8 S-21
Nina: This is an image of a classroom turned into a torture cell. This is a bed that was put into an old classroom. The most notorious torture chamber, S-21 in Phnom Penh, Tuol Sleng, imprisoned roughly 17,000 men, women, and children. S-21 used to be a school, until the Khmer Rouge turned it into their secret torture chamber. Here, prisoners were tortured in horrific ways into writing false confessions, and ratting out their friends and family as spies. Hundreds of thousands of others, many of them teenagers, died from disease, starvation, or exhaustion as they were forced to do extensively taxing work by members of the Khmer Rouge.

Lily:  One of the central ideas of the Khmer Rouge was that, in order to fully get rid of something, you had to remove its roots. Under this principle, the Khmer Rouge’s goal of killing intellectuals meant also killing their parents, grandparents, children and anyone who had any relation to them. Out of the 20,000 of the prisoners who were sent to s-21, only 7 people survived. 

In the end, the Khmer Rouge government was overthrown by invading Vietnamese troops in 1979 after a series of border confrontations. Higher-ups of the party retreated to remote areas of the country, slowly losing power. In 2009, the UN helped establish a tribunal to try surviving Khmer Rouge leaders.

Slide 9:
Rei: This is a very recent war, which means that many of the people who survived the Khmer Rouge regime are still alive today. Because many Cambodians are dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD, the effects of the war are still very much a problem in the country. During the war, because the Khmer Rouge abolished technology, all of the torture and killing was done through physical techniques. Because of this, there is heavy PTSD in both survivors, and ex-khmer soldiers. This trauma can cause many people to abandon their families. When I went to Cambodia, I met many students and teachers who had had a parent or both parents abandoned them. They possibly could live with their grandparents, but their grandparents are too old to work, so often they don’t have any money to eat.

Slide 10:
Going to Cambodia allowed me to see the situation of an average family in some of the poor areas where Tassel does most of their work. I visited one family where the grandmother is raising her grandchildren (two cousins who are attending Tassel). Their grandfather is an ex-Khmer Rouge soldier which caused a lot of trauma for their parents growing up.

Both of these young boys, who are 6 years old, work. One of them travels to Phnom Pehn and walks up and down a large staircase of a temple on top of a mountain, fanning tourists without asking them, and then begging for money. They don’t have to pay him because they didn’t hire him to do this, so he is just hoping that the tourists will be kind enough to tip him. The other grandson, works climbing tall trees and selling the leaves for people to build their houses with. The grandmother cannot work, so they hunt and gather all of their food. The grandmother told us she had exactly 3 cents saved up.

Slide 11:
This is very typical that students end up living with grandparents. However, after a while, grandparents pass away and their children end up living alone. I visited another family where there are 2 sisters who are living alone. The older sister is 16 and the younger sister is 13. Because they didn’t have any money, the older sister, who always came in the top of her class, had to drop out of school to move to Thailand alone to become a dishwasher while sending money back to her younger sister, who was living alone, in a house like (show image).

Slide 12:
(Like this) This is a typical rural Cambodian house. All of the houses we visited resembled this shape. Families make their houses out of gathered materials. They didn’t mention this, but something that I was concerned about was the fact that the 13-year-old was living alone without a lock or any protection. As you can see, there is no door, no lights, no bathroom or water. They sleep in hammocks attached to the bottom of the house. For about half a year the younger sister was living like this. While her sister was away, she would find plants, or animals to eat, and attend the Tassel school after her regular school day. When I asked her what kinds of things she did while her sister was gone, she said she liked to read books. This family really struck me because they were around the same age range as my sister and I. I tried to imagine us being put in a situation where the two of us had to fend for ourselves.

Slide 13:
Josh: As we said before, many of these families have no money to buy food or clothes. Most families drink untreated river or rainwater, which often causes them to be sick. To get food, they gather plants that they find nearby or catch frogs, snails, and rats to eat. We are privileged enough to be able to afford everything we need to survive and more.

Slide 14:
Rei: My friend and I have chosen to do a joint sponsorship for the Tassel teachers. We have committed to sending a certain amount of money every month to help supplement the minimal money that they earn working for Tassel. These teachers are barely getting paid anything, but continue to stay because they are hopeful for a greater change in their country. They have a full English education, and could very well get a well-paid job, but they continue to devote their lives to Tassel.

Slide 15:
Nina: What we’ve committed to do at LREI in the near future is to do a couple of fundraisers and drives for clothes, shoes, and toys.

Slide 16:
Many of these families only get clothes when we bring them over the summer. We let you know about the details and dates of these fundraisers. I was really shocked that I had not known anything about the history of the Khmer Rouge, spreading the message about the current situation of Cambodia is also really important to make a difference.

Slide 17:
Rei: Here are a few photos of some of the students attending the Tassel school who are living in the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge. When I was asking one of the Cambodian teachers about the issue of Cambodia, he said that Cambodians need to learn how to love. He said that if there was love in their country, parents would not abandon their children.

Slide 18:
Also, not all Cambodians are poor. He thought that it was really strange that there were foreigners coming to Cambodia to help with Tassel. There are many Cambodians living in Phnom Penh, who are financially capable of helping the poor. There is a lot of money coming to Cambodia through tourism, but none of these people are getting it. The teacher thinks that it is because there is no love in the country.

Slide 19:
So although Tassel is meant to teach English, we are also teaching the children about love. The students in Tassel are all really cute. When I went to Cambodia, they lined up after every class to tell you that they love you and give you a hug and a kiss and a letter or a bracelet that they made for you. The hugs and presents seem really sweet at the moment, but they are rooted in a deeper mission for these kids. Joining Tassel is a commitment like gaining a second family. It is really important to stay involved in these children’s lives.

Slide 20:
The head of Tassel constantly tells the students, we’re teaching you English, but not so that you can use it and leave the country, get a job, and make money for yourself. You need to become a leader and help your country. Then he asks the students “who wants to be like your teachers and Teach at Tassel” And all of the students raise their hands.

After our assembly, we had our peers break up into advisory groups and discuss the following questions:

Questions to talk about in advisory groups; you can also give students a few minutes to write down their thoughts/reflect on what they heard. 

1. How do you feel after hearing about the relatively recent history of Cambodia?
2. What did you know about Cambodian history before this assembly?
3. How could you learn more about Cambodian history? Or the histories of other areas that you haven’t learned about before?
4. What is something you found surprising about the history of Cambodia?
5. What is something you found surprising/interesting about the current situation of Cambodia?
6. What does this make you think about when you are interacting with people whose cultural/family histories you don’t know about?
7. Do you feel motivated to help? If so, what do you think you can do to support people in Cambodia today?

Final Reflection on Learning:

Rei:

Last year when I joined Tassel, I knew that it was something I wanted to be a part of for the rest of my life. In traveling to Cambodia, I was able to learn more about the tragic history of Cambodia and had the opportunity to meet many very special people. Despite the fact that many of the students and teachers have faced very difficult situations, they were the kindest, most hardworking people that I had ever met. Their eagerness to learn English, not only to help themselves and their families, but to better their entire communities was truly inspiring. Going to Cambodia was a life changing experience for me and I was able to learn a lot, but I understood that me going to Cambodia for a week and teaching kids English twice a week over Skype would not change their lives. I understood that because I was still young, there was not much that I could do to make any kind of difference other than spread the word about their history and their current situation. I was excited to find out that many people at LREI wanted to become a part of Tassel, and I picked 3 friends that understood the weight of becoming a part of the community. Nina and I taught phonics, and Lily and Josh were writing instructors. We also planned an assembly to share with the school. In the end, the assembly went really well and many people reached out to say that they wanted to help sort clothes and other donations that we would bring on our summer trip to Cambodia. Because of the current situation with Covid-19, the chances of us not going to Cambodia this year are high. I was disappointed because I had such a fun time going to Cambodia last year, and I was looking forward to going back and sharing the experience with my friends who had been working hard all year with Tassel. However, I feel that the progress we made this year will serve as a strong platform for next year. I am looking forward to continuing to teach next year.

Nina:

A few short months out of this year I have been lucky enough to teach english to two classes in Cambodia through TASSEL. Rei and I got up early every morning and went to one of our houses to teach together. Teaching english to these kids has allowed me to strengthen my leadership skills twice a week in our forty minute classes. The teachers in Cambodia in charge of the two classes Rei and I taught helped me learn better ways in which I can teach and were extraordinarily helpful, especially in helping explain something more thoroughly and in depth in Khmer so it was more understandable for the kids. Also because I was not as knowledgeable or accustomed to teaching anything, especially teaching english to kids who spoke such a different language than mine. At first I didn’t really understand just how much my connection with these kids would grow, but as I got used to seeing each class every week I got more and more fond of seeing their faces and hearing their progress throughout our class. Now, when I learn more about and pick up on conversations relating to post-Khmer Rouge Cambodia, I can’t imagine what it must be like for those who are still struggling and haven’t fully recovered yet from this history that still looms over what seems like such a cut off part of the world. I never had the initiative I feel I now have gained from this experience and am so grateful that I have gotten the chance to expand my knowledge and willingness to help others who seem so far away and disconnected to me. I wish we were able to continue our classes through the end of our teaching period this year but I am so glad that TASSEL is putting the health and wellbeing of their students at the forefront. I can’t wait to start up our classes again and hope that we are able to go there over the summer to meet the kids I’ve been seeing through a computer screen this year. I also understand that teaching english is changing my life even more than theirs, as we are playing a simple part in their education and learning as they grow up. This experience has truly humbled me and made me think more about and be grateful for the things I have, and has made me realize that just because we may seem completely different, despite our distance and disconnect in language, we can still find common ground in such a simple thing as seeing each other’s faces once a week.

Lily:

These past couple of months participating in Tassel have taught me a lot about the education systems in underdeveloped countries and has allowed me to learn about Cambodian culture through working with the kids. I believe I corrected 3 essays and 3 homework assignments all written by one 6th grade Cambodian student. Having worked with the one same girl, I felt like I made a connection with her through the notes that we wrote each other at the end of each assignment. Tassel gave me the opportunity to get to know this student and help her grow as a writer and English speaker. I also feel like I learned a lot from her, through her essay topics. For example, she wrote topics such as about poverty in Cambodia, the role of women in their society, and about influential people in her life. I didn’t know anything about Cambodia before participating in Tassel but now I feel as if I know a great amount thanks to her essays. I hope that we can carry on with Tassel once the world recovers from Covid-19 and that we were able to help Cambodian students move forward with their education!

Josh:

Despite this project only spanning a few months, I can confidently say that it has taught me a ton. I learned about the history of Cambodia and how its history still affects it today. However, the highlight of the project for me was establishing a connection with a Cambodian student. Through her essays, I was able to learn about her personality, her ideas, and what life is like for her. Even more so, through the letters we wrote back and forth with our essays and essay corrections, we talked about many subjects spanning from our pets to the sports we play. When we were notified that Tassel would be ending its essay correcting program early due to the Covid-19 outbreak, I was surprised by how disappointed I was. I had enjoyed the program, but I wasn’t expecting to feel so strongly about its ending. This project was a great experience and I hope to continue with Tassel in the future.

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ORIGINAL PROJECT PROPOSAL

Please write a description of the project you are proposing. Why do you want to take this on, and what do you hope to learn?

Tassel will be an open honors project with other students who want to participate. The reason why I am making this an honors project and not a club is that I cannot accept all people who want to join Tassel. In Tassel, students will have the opportunity to teach children in very very poor areas in Cambodia English throughout the year either through two different methods. The first method is video chat, teaching reading or phonics to a class of about 30 Tassel students, or teaching a Cambodian Tassel teacher. The other method is through essay corrections, in which higher-level Tassel students write essays which you correct with explanations and messages and send back to the students.

Critical thinking, creativity, citizenship and courage are essential LREI learning values. Explain how you’ll draw on at least one of these values to complete your proposed project?

Courage and citizenship are required in Tassel because there is a lot of PTSD in Cambodia due to the Khmer Rouge. This isn’t really a short terms honors project, it’s more of a lifetime commitment. Many of these children don’t have families and they need a brother, or a sister, to love them for the rest of their lives. Not just until they graduate high school. If we do just abandon them after we leave, we are doing the same thing as their parents, and because all they know is being abandoned, they will think that that is what love is.

What is your proposed outcome? How will you be able to demonstrate successful completion of this Project? How do you plan to share your learnings with the larger LREI community (e.g., exhibit of work, poster of learnings, performance, etc.)?

I hope that, in the long run, this will become something that continues at LREI even after I graduate. I also want to make sure that everyone who joins is someone who is fully committed to Tassel.

Please provide a general outline that indicates your work plan for the trimester? What are some of the key project benchmarks (i.e., goals that will help to ensure that you finish the project)?

Introduction and choosing members, weekly lessons/essay correction papers to send in, possibly a summer trip to Cambodia

When do you plan on meeting?
Fridays