CamTESOL

What is CamTESOL? 

CamTESOL conference was first established in 2005 in Cambodia. It was about Practical Issues in Teaching and it has been continued. It is a big conference for people interested in Teaching English. There are many presentations and workshops about ELT. It is organized and conducted on a voluntary basis but it is let and underwritten by IDP Education (Cambodia). This international conference is not only conducted in Cambodia but it is also conducted in many countries. It has also become a significant international conference with over 1,500 participants from more than 30 countries now attending annually.

Who goes to CamTESOL? 

The participants are teacher trainees, teachers, teacher trainers, professors, publishers, public officials, and researchers. The participants can be both presenters and participants. The presenters have their own individual sessions which allow the audiences to participate in. It is a kind of parallel session that the sessions are run around 30 classes at the same time. The participants can choose only one session at one section. The topics are provided in the schedules, so they can find their interesting topics.  

 When? and Where?

This 10th Annual CamTESOL Conference took place at Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC) on 22-23 February 2014, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The theme is English for Regional and International Integration. The 11th Annual CamTESOL conference will take place on 21-22 February 2015. The theme will be English: Building skills for regional cooperation and mobility.

What are the Aims?

The CamTESOL Conference Series aims to:

- Provide a forum for the exchange of ideas and dissemination of information on good practices within English Language Teaching;

- Strengthen and broaden the network of English language teachers and all those involved in the  ELT sector in Cambodia and the region;

- Increase the links between the ELT communities in Southeast Asia and the international ELT community;

- Showcase research in the fields of language and language education.

Pay or Free? 

Cost of sponsoring an individual national from the following countries: 

 Cambodia US$ 70

Vietnam US$ 300  

Laos/Myanmar/Philippines/Indonesia US$ 500 

How Can I participate in this event?

I am taking Methodology Training Course for Private School Teacher of English at National Institute of Education (NIE). The US Embassy sponsored provincial teacher trainees who are trained in NIE to participate in the CamTESOL conference. Once, I am given the opportunity by US Embassy to participate in CamTESOL.

What do I get from the conference?   

By participating in two-day conference, I learned a lot from different presenters who are from different countries. There are many interesting topics which they were hard for me to decide because they were running at the same time. They are mostly about teaching English methodology. I am proud of myself because I could expose myself to TESOL community. I am a year-four Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) student, so I found out that the conference was very beneficial for me. On the other hand, I could communicate with many foreign participants; especially, I met people from our regional countries. 

I am preparing myself for ASEAN integration, so I have to build up my strong capacity to challenge other membering countries with future job market. I want to be a good English lecturer in order to provide good quality to my future students. English will be medium language for communication in our region; however, most Cambodian students do not have enough ability in English language yet. Thus, how can we compete with our neighboring countries? My solution is to strengthen my capacity and to encourage people around to be ready for the upcoming integration.