On February 25 and 26, I attended the CamTESOL conference held at the National Institute of Education in Phnom Penh.
During the week, the conference venue is an active school so it was only open to conference participants during the weekend conference. The opening session and closing session were held in an air-conditioned auditorium, but the classrooms that housed most of the presentations are cooled only by ceiling fans and whatever cross ventilation can be achieved by opening shutters.
The power went out twice during the conference, and although it was quickly restored, the outages demonstrated the positive impact of the ceiling fans. Rooms that were simply uncomfortably warm when packed with dozens of English teachers became saunas when the fans weren’t working.
While we didn’t get to see these classrooms while classes were in session, it was interesting to see the spaces in contrast to the private schools. Whereas Beltei seemed corporate and carefully processed, the National Institute of Education classrooms had colorful, handmade decorations and much more personality.
I’ve learned and observed a lot during the conference that will help my research. For the sessions I’ve attended, I’ve been tracking who the presenters cite, and it’s fascinating to see which publications are/are not making it across oceans. I’ve also learned a lot about the different educational contexts that complicate generalizations from education research. I have a growing number of notes for my sabbatical project.