From February until May 2012, Griet Vandeburie, student biology – physics education at Artevelde University College Ghent (AHS), spent three months at the Regional Teacher Training Centre in Kandal. For her internship she worked together with two teams of Cambodian students during their ‘practicum’ or internship at local schools.
They worked together on lesson development and observed each other’s lessons. Secondly, she prepared seven lessons on physics and biology for her fellow students, using low-cost experiments and student-centred approaches. Finally, she developed an instructor’s manual for the optical bench and the laser ray box, two valuable pieces of equipment for teaching about optics. These manuals will enable teacher trainers to use this equipment in their colleges.
Below you can watch two short fragments of Griet's biology lesson on the structure of muscles.
Despite the language barrier contacts with student teachers and teacher trainers were warm and inspiring. Students loved her presence on the campus, attended ‘en masse’ her lessons and invited her for after-school activities. Griet, from her part, introduced students to ‘Belgian games’ and treated them on ‘chocolate fondue’. Surely a perfect way to boost student attendance!
Hear below what Griet, and Om Sochada, one of her fellow internship students, have to say about the internship.
The internship is part of a strong collaboration between the Cambodian teacher education programme and Artevelde University College Ghent (AHS). Five students from AHS have done their internship in Cambodia. AHS staff visited Cambodia for training sessions and performed quality control on instructor’s manuals. A VLIR-UOS project between AHS and the National Institute of Cambodia (NIE), with support from VVOB, is in implementation.
Stefaan Vande Walle,
SEAL Programme Coordinator
