Blog Archives

Pin the Nose, Tail and Antlers on Rudolph

28/12/2014

The BEA kids had a blast at our first-ever Christmas Day party! We had an afternoon of contests, games, caroling, and of course, cake to celebrate the big day. One of the highlights was our twist on a game favorite, "Pin the Tail on the Donkey." Since we had over 80 students at the party, we divided them up into three teams to play in the library and classrooms. In the library, we had the classic "Pin the Tail on Rudolph" and in the classrooms we played "Pin the Nose" and "Pin the Antlers" on the famous reindeer. Our librarian and my assistant did a fantastic job designing all the posters for the game, and all the staff worked so well together to give the students such a special day!

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.

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BEA's Christmas Party Finale

28/12/2014

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To wrap up our Christmas Day festivities at BEA, the BEA kids got to enjoy some cake before they headed home after a fun-filled afternoon. It seemed that the students took more time taking pictures of the cake than actually eating it! Afterwards, we had a small Christmas staff party and gift exchange. For my gift, everyone got a "daruma" doll from Japan, which is one of my favorite traditions connected to the end of the New Year in Japan. It represents a small Buddha that grants wishes. To make your wish, you have to color in the one of the eyes and make a wish. Once your wish comes true, you color in the other eye. The doll also represents the Japanese spirit of "gambaru" (never give up). When the doll gets knocked over, it rolls back up again. Just like all of us at BEA with the many challenges we faced in 2014.

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Merry Christmas from BEA!

25/12/2014

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Sprucing Up BEA Christmas Ornaments

24/12/2014

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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.

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A Very Merry BEA Christmas!

24/12/2014

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From our family to yours, may the Christmas season bring you much love and happiness. Here's a little bit of joy from us to you in our annual Christmas video! Merry Christmas everyone!

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Rolling out BEA Ornaments

23/12/2014

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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.