NGO Teaching in Cambodia
Part of BEA's mission is to contribute to the teaching field, which Nicole, BEA's director, does through publishing. Her most important publication came out at the end of 2015 with TESOL Press called Perspectives on Teaching English at a NGO in Cambodia. In Nicole's book, she interviewed over 100 teachers and students to get their perspective on education in Cambodia. The book explains the challenges Cambodian students face when trying to get an education, and it also describes the obstacles teachers have to overcome to provide this education. There are two chapters that specifically focus on the lives of the BEA staff and students, and their daily hardships. The book also describes how BEA has contributed to the advancement of teaching and education in the NGO sector, and makes recommendations for those who would like to work in the sector.
The two chapters below include some of these perspectives. Chapter 2 describes the development of English language policy in Cambodia, and describe the challenges of teaching and learning in the public school system. Chapter 3 explains the challenges of providing education in the NGO sector, which include poor facilities, lack of training, few resources, and rampant corruption. If you would like to read the entire book, you can purchase it on Amazon.
The two chapters below include some of these perspectives. Chapter 2 describes the development of English language policy in Cambodia, and describe the challenges of teaching and learning in the public school system. Chapter 3 explains the challenges of providing education in the NGO sector, which include poor facilities, lack of training, few resources, and rampant corruption. If you would like to read the entire book, you can purchase it on Amazon.
BEA's English language program
Nicole also published her research paper about BEA's language program as a book chapter with Bloomsbury Press. In her chapter, Bridging communicative language teaching and task- based language teaching in Cambodia: A case study of an integrated TBLT and CLT program, she explains how she modified the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) approaches to suit Cambodian classrooms and analyses the success of these methods at BEA.
Cambodian-Japanese Writing Exchange
Nicole has also finished a research paper on the Cambodian-Japanese Writing Exchange program that she ran for 5 years between the BEA students and her university students in Tokyo. In her book chapter, Throwing away stereotypes: Deepening intercultural understanding through Cambodia-Japan letter exchanges, she explains how Japanese learners became aware of their stereotypes, and increased their intercultural awareness through only a few limited interactions with their Cambodian writing partner. Her chapter is in Insider Accounts of Classroom Life: Higher Education with TESOL (2017).
As a part of BEA's mission, we are also dedicated to increasing awareness about Cambodian issues, especially those focusing on the challenges Cambodian children face in their daily lives. To help us shine a light on these matters, Luis Martin, the editor-in-chief of the Truman Factor, one of Europe's leading online political-economic news services, invited BEA's director, Nicole Takeda, to share her expertise and experience with his readers. Nicole has already written articles on the challenges her students face to lift themselves out of poverty in Numbness, Rage and Hope: The Cambodian Children in my Life and on the effects of volunteer work in the NGO sector in Good Intentions: Volunteer Work in Developing Countries.
