Category: Arts & Crafts - Bayon English Academy

Bayon English Academy

Sprucing Up BEA Christmas Ornaments

24/12/2014

The BEA kids finished up their last Christmas craft activity just in time for the big day! After rolling out their dough ornaments and letting them dry, they were able to get creative with painting their ornaments. Once again, the kids absolutely amaze me with their creativity. Some of the ornaments even looked like you could buy them in one of those boutique Christmas shops.

It's such a shame that such talent can't be nurtured more at BEA since we don't have enough staff to run these projects on a full-time basis, as well as the funding to pay for salaries and supplies. We're hoping for more funding in 2015 so that we can continue our current programs.

The Bayon English Academy (BEA) is an accredited NGO school that provides English language education, leadership, and job skills programs to underprivileged youth from well-trained teachers in a safe, clean and professional environment in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Rolling out BEA Ornaments

23/12/2014

As our last Christmas craft activity before our Christmas party, the BEA kids finished the first part of our ornament-making sessions yesterday. For every single one of them it was the very first time to roll out dough and cut out their ornaments. At the start of each lesson, most of the students asked me if they could eat the dough, but I told them it wouldn't be a good idea since it's just full of flour, salt and a bit of cinnamon. Originally, I thought two to three ornaments would be enough for each student since it took me an hour to paint three of them when I did a test run the night before. However, they all asked me to make more because they wanted to give them to their family and friends as gifts. Of course, I couldn't resist, so some of the kids have six to seven ornaments. This afternoon, we'll be painting and glittering them all up just in time for Christmas.

The Bayon English Academy (BEA) is an accredited NGO school that provides English language education, leadership, and job skills programs to underprivileged youth from well-trained teachers in a safe, clean and professional environment in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Deck the Halls at BEA

21/12/2014

We've been all decked out for the holidays these past few weeks at BEA. The kids did a fantastic job with helping us decorate the school with their Snowmen and Santa creations; and our staff as added their own beautifully hand-drawn artwork as well. The students have really enjoyed the festive spirit at the school this month and learning about different holiday traditions, and how some of these traditions are similar to Cambodian ones. Over the next few days, we'll have a few more Christmas activities and then bring in the big day with our Christmas Day party!

The Bayon English Academy (BEA) is an accredited NGO school that provides English language education, leadership, and job skills programs to underprivileged youth from well-trained teachers in a safe, clean and professional environment in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Ho! Ho! Ho! Here Comes Santa Claus

13/12/2014

Santa Claus dropped by the BEA library a little early this year to inspire some creativity among the BEA kids. To help us decorate the classrooms and library, we've been running Christmas craft activities in our library in which the students can sign-up for if they have the time before or after their regular lessons. Just with paper plates, cotton balls and a bit of glitter, the kids came up with some amazing versions of Santa!

The Bayon English Academy (BEA) is an accredited NGO school that provides English language education, leadership, and job skills programs to underprivileged youth from well-trained teachers in a safe, clean and professional environment in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Here Comes Frosty the Snowman

11/12/2014

Snowmen were dancing all around the library this week as the BEA kids finished up their first Christmas arts and craft activity, which was a welcomed relief from their week of mid-term exams. Before their regularly scheduled lessons, the students signed-up for one of the three paper-plate snowmen-making classes. None of our students have a chance to participate in music and art classes in public school, so we’ve started to offer additional classes in the library during holiday times to encourage our students to be creative and to expose them to different holiday traditions from around the world.

The Bayon English Academy (BEA) is an accredited NGO school that provides English language education, leadership, and job skills programs to underprivileged youth from well-trained teachers in a safe, clean and professional environment in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

BEA's Great Pumpkin Project Phase 3

31/10/2014

We made it through phase 3 of our Great Pumpkin Project just in time for Halloween! The BEA kids finished up their jack-o-lanterns with ribbons, sparkles and colored paper on the last day of our week-long Halloween festivities. By the end of the day, we had florescent-colored jack-0-lanterns decked out with colored hair, eye patches, hats and even bushy eyebrows! Before the students left at the end of the day, they got to do "trick-or-treating" in their classrooms and then in the library!

The Bayon English Academy (BEA) is an accredited NGO school that provides English language education, leadership, and job skills programs to underprivileged youth from well-trained teachers in a safe, clean and professional environment in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

The Great Pumpkin Project Phase 2

31/10/2014

Continuing with our Halloween festivities this week, the BEA kids moved on to phase 2 of their Great Pumpkin Project. The first part of class was spent “carving” faces on their pumpkins, but before the students did this, they had to slowly deflate their balloons inside their paper maché
pumpkins, which has the most bizarre "crackling" sound as the balloon pulls itself off the sides. The last part of the lesson was spent on painting their jack-o-lanterns with some outrageous florescent colors – orange and yellow being the most popular colors of choice. This was clearly the most enjoyable part of the lesson for the BEA kids. Tomorrow will be the grande finale of BEA's Great Pumpkin Project. The students will get to put the finishing touches on their jack-o-lanters and then use them for trick-or-treating at our Halloween party!

The Bayon English Academy (BEA) is an accredited NGO school that provides English language education, leadership, and job skills programs to underprivileged youth from well-trained teachers in a safe, clean and professional environment in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Trick-or-Treat!!!

31/10/2014

What a way to end our week of Halloween festivities! Once the BEA kids finished decking out their jack-o-lanterns, they got to do a bit of trick-or-treating in their classrooms and in the library so that they could take part in every kids' favorite part of Halloween -- getting candy! However, it's really hard to tell what they liked the most -- making jack-o-lanterns, face painting, getting candy, or just having a great time with their friends!

The Bayon English Academy (BEA) is an accredited NGO school that provides English language education, leadership, and job skills programs to underprivileged youth from well-trained teachers in a safe, clean and professional environment in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Phase 3 tested for BEA's Great Pumpkin Project

30/10/2014

Despite my minimal artistic skills, my own jack-0-lantern survived phase 3 of BEA's Great Pumpkin Project -- the painting and decorating. The BEA kids had a blast with this past Monday with making their jack-0-lanterns from paper maché. The hatchling-like creations have had a few days to dry in the library, so now it's on to phase 2 this afternoon with "carving" their jack-0-lantern faces, and then finishing them up with a coat of paint and decorations tomorrow. At the end of their lesson, the students will use them for BEA's trick-or-treating party.

The Bayon English Academy (BEA) is an accredited NGO school that provides English language education, leadership, and job skills programs to underprivileged youth from well-trained teachers in a safe, clean and professional environment in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

The Great Pumpkin Project Phase 1

28/10/2014

We kicked off the start of our Halloween festivities this week at BEA with our Great Pumpkin Project! The BEA kids, all 150 of them, are making their own paper maché jack-o-lanterns. It was a massive undertaking for the first phase of this project. It took all of the BEA staff to help cut up thousands of strips of newspaper, mix up 15 huge bowls of flour paste and help students carry their creations down to the library for drying. The library looks a bit creepy now with these hatchling-like creatures. For the BEA kids, it was the very first time in their lives to do such an art activity. Public schools don't have the funding or facilities to include art and music in their curriculum, as well as other types of "hands-on" learning. Even the science classes are without experiments. Even though we're a small NGO school, we try our best to give our kids different types of learning experiences. It was indeed one of the best days I've had at BEA to see the students learning and having so much fun! Phase 2 of our Great Pumpkin Project continues this Thursday with "carving" and painting.

The Bayon English Academy (BEA) is an accredited NGO school that provides English language education, leadership, and job skills programs to underprivileged youth from well-trained teachers in a safe, clean and professional environment in Siem Reap, Cambodia.