“I am studying English”

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It has been said that the lack of human resource is one of the biggest challenges facing Cambodia. DDD employs young and disadvantaged Cambodians in entry-level IT jobs as operators, provides a scholarship for their college education, and gives the operators the opportunity to attend additional classes at the office in Phnom Penh. Every day more than 30 operators join the newly established English classes. When I recently attended the intermediate class, verbs in the present continuous form were on the agenda.

“I am studying English”, the teacher wrote on the board and then he asked the class: “Do you remember from yesterday what we call this tense?” The class fell silent, and I was wringing my brain trying to think of the correct term. It is called present continuous tense and describes that you are engaged in an activity at this very moment: Right now, you are studying English. Students nodded and let the information sink in.

Recently, Professor David Jonathan Gross, a Nobel Laureate for Physics, visited Cambodia, and he said that human resource is the major problem facing the country. He observed a lot of brilliant young minds, but he is concerned that they are not given the opportunities they need to develop their skills and grow the human resources in the country.

The English classes at DDD are part of a pilot program where operators, who have not yet been accepted into college, are given the chance to learn the language. Good English skills help the operators in their jobs and are essential to be accepted into most college programs, since a lot of the classes are conducted in English. When I asked the students what other reasons they have for wanting to learn English, they told me that English is the international language, that you will get a better job if you know English, and that you can talk to foreigners and learn about other cultures.

Back in the classroom at DDD it is time for a break and students ask me about my country: How are the roads? Do I live with my family? I talk to the students about their lives and their future. “I think you should come every day”, Vannak, who sits across from me, says, “We can learn more from you.” While I sadly will not be able to go every day, the students continue to join the class, studying English and seizing the opportunity that DDD is providing to develop their skills.