How to prepare for NIE entrance exam (English)?

   

 I had never dreamed of becoming a public high school teacher. However, after working as a part-time English teacher at public and private universities for five years, I decided to pursue a teaching position at a public high school. To become a high school English teacher, I had to pass the entrance examination and attend a one-year training course at the National Institute of Education (NIE). After completing the training and a two-month practicum, I officially became a high school teacher in 2020. In this essay, I will share my experience of preparing for the entrance exam at NIE.

First, I closely followed announcements from the Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports (MoEYS). I liked the MoEYS Facebook page and set notifications to ensure I would see announcements immediately. Additionally, I followed the Facebook pages of Teacher of Cambodia and former NIE trainees. These pages provided helpful information, including updates about the number of teachers being recruited and the positions available. I also reached out to former classmates who had completed their training at NIE, and they shared valuable insights about the examination.

                                                        credited too freepik.com

    Second, I gathered relevant documents from various sources. I started by reviewing materials from my Bachelor's degree (BA) program, including subjects like language proficiency, applied linguistics, teaching methodology, and academic writing. Next, I visited bookstores in Bak Tuk to purchase guides on preparing for the NIE exam. I also searched online on Google and Facebook, finding many past exam papers for both English and general knowledge. Since I was busy with my job at the time, I decided to focus on reviewing these old exams and the documents I had found online.

    Third, I selected and categorized the most relevant documents and printed them out, organizing them from the most recent to the oldest. I had limited free time because I was working at three universities simultaneously, so I allocated my time accordingly: 20% for studying general knowledge, 30% for practicing past exams, and 50% for spending time with my family. I had a two-year-old daughter, and it was important for me to dedicate time to her.  

   Finally, I focused on self-study, particularly on general knowledge and English. I noticed that the general knowledge questions were often taken from previous exams. Luckily, I had reviewed these past papers several times before taking the test, so I was able to answer the questions confidently and finished the exam an hour early. However, I was not allowed to leave the room until the exam time was up. The English portion of the exam was relatively easy for me since I had been teaching English for five years. The English test included sections on vocabulary, grammar, reading, and writing. The vocabulary section consisted of key terms, many of which I was familiar with due to my Master's degree (MA) studies at the Institute of Foreign Languages (IFL). The grammar section, like the general knowledge test, was based on past exams.

    In conclusion, passing the entrance exam at NIE was not a difficult task for me. Although my high school was only supposed to recruit one English teacher, two of us were selected. We completed our training at NIE in September 2020 and are now teaching English at the same school. However, applying to schools in the city can be very competitive.

Updated: In 2023, MoEYS has already transformed a bachelor + 1 program to a bachelor + 2 program.  I believe that the exams will be different from previous ones, so future candidates should prepare even harder for the entrance exam. Good luck!  

Link to download document for exam preparation

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are just to express feeling or emotion of author and to publish articles for sharing everybody to read and reflect upon their lives.

       

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How to make rice wine?

 Rice Wine, which are produced from the hydrolytic breakdown products of rice starches, is a popular alcoholic beverage and it became an important food of human society worldwide. Rice wine is not used for drinking but it is also used for medicine. For the processing of rice wine is not complicate and it has many steps that is easy for everybody can make it. 

Firstly, the raw materials (rice) should be high quality of rice or starch. Rice was weighted according to the purpose and storage in tank for cleaning with water 2 to 3 times. for remove the dust, the solid, stone, insects, some of microorganism on the surface, and physical on the rice that can cause the raw material became softer. Before go to the next process, we have to soak the rice overnight to absorb the water. 

Secondly, steaming process is the step that we must take raw material to steam at 121 °C and for 15 to 20 min. The steamed rice was taken out from the pan and placed on a bamboo mat. The steamed rice was spread thinly on the mat for cooling. Steamed rice was cooled at room temperature while the temperature was decreased between 35 to 38 °C Next, it is suitable for mixing starter culture yeast (Dom Bae) by spraying on the surface of the steamed rice. For preparing Dom Bae, we have to crush the Dom Bac (yeast ball), take the yeast ball and place it in a small bowl. Use a pestle or the bottom of a large spoon to crush the yeast ball. Break apart the ball until it has become a fine powder. After crushing the yeast, sprinkle it evenly over the rice. Toss using the hands or a spoon to integrate and combine the yeast with the rice. 

After that, steam rice mixed and Dom Bae was put in the cups and ferments it without water 2 days and with water 2 days. The process of fermentation is about 2-3days in pot by covering with the container avoided permeating the oxygen. The purpose of this process is to convert the glucose to the alcohol, which consists in the biotransfomation of grape sugar (glucose and fructose) into the ethanol and carbon dioxide. After fermenting one day, the water is added 20-25L into the pot without stirring the content and it was continued to the fermentation for 2-3days before distillation.

For next process is distillation, which is evaporable liquor from fermented liquid fermented was boiled in the vessel Verna. Put the fermented liquid and solid of cooked rice mixed with Dom Bae and water into the distillation pan. After one hour, the suspension becomes hot because of the fire. The First drop-clouded liquor with the sediment may be in 5 or 10 min about 1-2L, the transparent sraa was observed and it became clouded again. Use glass bottle to keep sra sor. The vapor was led to the water cooler to be liquefied and collected to the plastic bottle. The alcohol beverage is contained about 50% alcohol and store at room temperature. 

To sum up, the Rice Wine liquor process is divided into four steps: rice cooking (Steaming), mixing of cooked rice with Dom Bae, fermented with water and without water and distillation. We can use this process to make rice wine in your home, it is easy to make, and we can add flavor in rice wine by yourself. In addition, I would like to suggest all Cambodian and other people should follow by this process because it will make our product with a good flavor, taste, aroma, texture with long shelf life also.

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The quality of an ideal friend

 I have met many friends in my life and I mentioned that I have only one ideal friend. I
met her since the first year of university but I just become close with her in the second year. And
now we are studying in different department. But we still have time for each other. She is the
only one who I respected. There are many reasons that made me believe her.

She is the youngest daughter in her family. Her parents had gone away since she was
grade 10. She has 2 others sisters that support her nowadays. Even she has no her parents she still
be strong. She has been taught me a lot of thing. When I walk with her, I feel that she really
honest with me. She told me everything she had passed both in the past and present. When I have
been made something wrong she rare to blame me, she always corrects me to the right way. She
said that no one perfect, just try our best.

To be honest, I’m a temperamental person. I always disappointed with the other or her
even just a small thing. When I got angry with someone I always told that thing to her, she
listens to me and do not say anything until I finish. The word that she said back is keep calm, it’s
gonna be pass soon don’t think it much. sometimes I also got angry with her, she always says
with me, and do not care who is the wrong one because she knows me. She accepts me with
everything that I have.

One more thing I’m the one who is shyness in the class. In our English class teacher told
us to do a presentation instead of mid-term examination. In that time, I have been told her that I
can’t do that because I can’t stand being in the crowd of peoples and I’m also poor with my
English pronunciation. She spent for one hour to give advice and encourage me to fight with that
fear. After that day I try hard to change myself a bit and a bit. When the presentation arrived, I
passed with the good score even it’s not the best score but it’s also good.

In conclusion having an ideal friend is like a lucky thing for us because they take care us
as their family. They never let us feeling down they’re honest, always listen our mind even its
bad or not. To sum up when we have an ideal friend we should know each other well, loving and
taking care each other don’t let them feeling alone if we don’t want to regret when the time is
over.

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Mondulkiri Province

Bou Sra Waterfall 

People love traveling when they are tired of their job in a polluted city. They may go to the beach, visit the ancient place, or go camping on the mountain. Personally, I like to go hiking the most when I am on vacation . My favorite place, where I usually go on my vacation, is Mondulkiri. Mondulkiri is located in the north-east part of Cambodia and it is a paradise on earth because the view of the forest could make us feel very comfortable. 

The views in Mundulkiri is very stunning. It is the most of making you feel comfortable and relaxing after you have done so far with your stressful of your working or studying. In the morning, we can see a beautiful sunrise. It is completely beautiful of starting of the day. I enjoy walking on view of the mountain beside my hostel. We can swim and be enjoyable with the fresh of waterfall “Tek Jrous Busra” is very beautiful. By that, we can see many of forest animals along the road while we are travelling, and the most colorful is the forest sea. We can go through there by driving uo to the mountain and just continue by foot for few minute you will reach the beautiful of the forest sea. 

The accommodation is amazing. We can find many best hotels, guesthouse, hostel and bungalows there. They are all neat and scrupulously clean. Once, I slept in a bungalow. The price is not cost too much but the rooms are cleaned and very comfortable. It is surrounded by the mountain and the view of the green forest that it make me to feel well of absorbing the natural smell where I can enjoy them from my room. There is a bench right in front my bungalow so I can take a nap and enjoy the wave sound. In the room, there is a clean comfort bed and a brand new air conditioner. The bathroom is also nice. Beside the sea, this bungalow is extraordinary. There are garden, swing, and more. It is the great view of this bungalows. I’m really appreciate it. 

Another things that I never forget are aliments and beverages. They are all tasty. There are cuisines from all over the world such as Khmer, Chinese, and Europe foods. The things that I really enjoy the most are many kind of meat. They provide us a very delicious foods and drinks. Their beverage is also a great deal. We can almost get all kind of drinks as on the mainland. Moreover, the cocktail is absolutely special. I really enjoy everything. Moreover, we can have a great dinner with the great view of the forest a great green environment there. 

In conclusion, Mundulkiri is definitely my favorite place. As the time I went there is not enough time for spending my holiday. Because it is the most of my favorite place ever. I would like to recommend to everyone for going there if there is yet no one have never been there. It will make you feel the most of comfortable. 
By Student 

This article is originally published at https://khminglish.blogspot.com Please note that NO article on this blog may be copied or reproduced in any form without prior permission.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are just to express feeling or emotion of author and to publish articles for sharing everybody to read and reflect upon their lives.

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The topic: The Negative Effects of Using Facebook for Cambodian Students

Facebook is one of the most popular social medias in the internet. In this site there are more than billions of people from different countries all over the world used it. As we known, while Facebook have many benefits on us, but it also has many effect negatives on our life too. In fact, the effect negative of using Facebook for Cambodian students, there are several main points such as eyes problem and effect on health, wasted times and money, depression, weakening long distance relationship, no concentrate on studying and lazier.

         Once we started on Facebook, such you tried to check your friend’s account, watched clip video or read your friend’s status every day and you spent too much times on it even night, it causes made you got eyes problem. If you are looking at the phone or computer screen the whole day you probably no feel to sleep and your tear fall also. Playing Facebook too much it can make you blink less because of our phone screen or computer screen also. In addition, it effects to your health too such sleep late at night make you no power, you feel headache because of you’re watching too much and make your brain thinking less also. 

         Second point, as we are students will waste our times by spending of our time on Facebook everyday doing silly things such as reading your friends status messages or try to comment on everyone stats. Then you will download picture of your friends or your family. Also, you try to find a best picture to change your profile for this day. Also, you will spend hours by looking to your friend picture and leave a funny comment for them on every pictures. Before, we online we have to pay money for our phone like you charge the money. So, most of your time and your money will be spending in playing with your friends on Facebook. That is the useless things that we did every day.

         Third point, starting on Facebook sometimes depend on your feeling if you feel good it isn’t the problem, but if you check Facebook while you are sad it will make you depression. Example: while you feel alone like your family ignore you and then you saw your friend’s Facebook post with their family, you will feel depress by using Facebook. In addition, you also got jealous while you are checking on it such your friend’s birthday, then their parents buy new phone for her birthday and she posted it, so you will feel jealous in your mind and you must be thinking about that thing why isn’t you. It is the negative thing for us that using Facebook.

         Fourth point, using Facebook also make us got weakening long distance relationship. If you were in relationship with someone, you chat to each other every day, but one day you got chat from your Facebook’s friend. Then he chats to you every day you both are getting involve new relationship, and one day your partner will something wrong with you. You and your partner will get long distend. 

         The last, playing Facebook everyday became to your habit, you will feel lazy and don’t want to do anything. Example: your teacher asked you to do homework, but you have excuse on yourself because you are busy with your Facebook so that made you no concentrating on your studying. Likewise, during you are studying but your phone is online and you scroll Facebook or play chat or comment with your friend, it is the reason that make you don’t pay attention with teacher are teaching so you will skip your lessons and one day you will low grade also, because of using Facebook during studying. These is the negative effect for all of us.

         In conclusion, using Facebook definitely comes with negative effects, but not everyone who uses the site is affected. As the reason above that explain about negative effects of using Facebook for Cambodians students. I just want all Cambodian students use it with positive things. We should be able to use the site responsibly by not posting too much information and not spending too much time on Facebook.

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What makes a good student?

To become a success in life,we all need to learn to become a good student in every aspect of life. Becoming a good student takes much work and self-discipline. There are many ways that a student can stand out from the rest of the class. These good students are distinguished by their attitude, intellectual skills, consciousness, and achievement.

Everything would indeed seem very easy and enjoyable if we think of school as a place for discovering our self as person not as a frustrating place where we are always pressured by a tremendous amount of work. Furthermore, a good student must be punctual, organized, and know how to develop self-discipline.For instance, he or she must always come to class and the assignments and projects on time. Moreover, time management is the best thing for student to improve is a part of their success.In addition, a good student must be active, be polite. Also, a good student would also always listen to the teachers and never interrupt when the teachers are talking or explaining something. Student need to have deeply responsibility in their work such as assignment or project. 

Another way to be a good student is to enjoy school life. Every teacher in the world wants to see hard-working students, but they also want to see a student who enjoys school life and an active student. An active student does not mean funny or athletic student. Active students are the ones who like to be a part of the school society. Active students are mostly involved with activities; for example, sports, clubs or school related organizations. However, it does not stop there. Students try to be a leader from their activities, and they want to show some kind of leadership quality. It is the most obvious evidence which shows how active this person is.

All in all, being a good is not that hard, at least you try your best to achieve your goal. I have met most of the criteria of a good student described above. However, I realize that there are still many hindrances that might keep me from achieving my academic goals such as lack of optimism and confidence. I need to overcome these weaknesses in order to become a successful student.


This article is originally published at https://khminglish.blogspot.com Please note that NO article on this blog may be copied or reproduced in any form without prior permission.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are just to express feeling or emotion of author and to publish articles for sharing everybody to read and reflect upon their lives.

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Differences between football and boxing-Comparative Essay

 Most people likes playing sport. It would be a fun and healthy activity for players. Obviously, people may have different interest, characteristics, and lifestyle…etc. For instance, they may have different favorite sport and idol. There are plenty of sports which people are taking these day; some are friendly, some are competitive and others may be a violent one. Meanwhile, there are two popular sports in Cambodia, namely football and boxing. 

The primary thing about the differences is the solidarity and independency of the sport players. Football, practically, the spirit of this sport is to create a sense of solidarity in your team. It consist of  11 players working and communicating together to be successful. Every single player’s contribution is very important role to the team. The whole team cannot depend on only a greatest player because we play 11 against 11 players on the field, even though you are a great player but you cannot beat those players by your own efforts without your teammates’ collaboration. All football players should be trained in the same training camp under coaching of the same coach for a period of time before a game start. Unlike the football, boxing requires a strong sense of independency of its sportsmen. You learn to fight alone against your opponent without helping from other people during the match. Thus, to be self-confidence, maintain your mood and to defend your body by own efforts is the key to survive and succeed in this toughest sport. 

There is a great disparity of characteristics in the match between the two sports. Every level of people can watch and play football no matter how young or old they are, whether male or female, normal people or patients, that’s because football is a peaceful sport. In contrast, the boxing seems brutally violent because the competitor must fight his/her opponents by throwing more punches, more powerful to weaken them and eventually make them fall down in order to beat them. According to this, it’s not suitable for children, pregnant women, heart-disease people to watch such violent match. 

The last but not least, difference between the two sports is the physical strength. To become a great footballer, you need to be trained to be dynamic and full of tactics along with an acceptable strong body. You are just able to run at a high speed with your strong body and use tactics to manage the ball, that’s enough. However, the boxer need to come across very difficult physical training. They are trained to resist the force from punching from their opponents without significant physical hurt and fight them back. It takes hours in the gym and years to develop the specific characteristics needed to be a great boxer. 

Even though football and boxing have many differences, but both sports requires sportsmen’s interest and determination to be successful. Although we are interested in different types of sport, we should give value to them all even not your favorite ones.

Differences_between_football_and_boxing_-_Comaparative_Essay.docx

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Please note that NO article on this blog may be copied or reproduced in any form without prior permission.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are just to express feeling or emotion of author and to publish articles for sharing everybody to read and reflect upon their lives.

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Two Years of Suffering Were Worth It

I have been studying English since 2008, and have always attended classes where English was the medium of instruction. I earned my bachelor's degree in TESOL from PUC in 2015. Wanting to pursue another degree, I decided to take the entrance exam at IFL, which had always been my dream language institution. After passing the language proficiency test and interview, I began my first semester at the end of 2015.

I faced some challenges during my first semester. I found myself in a class with people from diverse backgrounds, most of whom had earned their bachelor's degrees from IFL. I did not know them, and they did not know me either. I studied under experienced lecturers who had graduated from overseas, which made everything feel new. I remember one particularly interesting but difficult subject—English Phonology. It was a new area for me, as I hadn't studied it during my bachelor's degree. The lecturer, who had graduated from the USA, was very strict. It was hard to understand the material since I had never been exposed to this subject before. However, I worked hard to grasp the concepts. Eventually, I became interested in the field of phonology and chose it as the focus of my research proposal. Thankfully, I passed all my subjects in the first semester.

In my second semester, I began studying research methodologies. Before pursuing my master's degree, I had little knowledge of research. Research is generally divided into two types: qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative research deals more with ideas and opinions, while quantitative research focuses on numbers. As assignments and homework began to pile up, I struggled, especially as deadlines approached.

By the third semester, every student was required to choose a research topic and a supervisor. As mentioned earlier, I was particularly interested in pronunciation, so I chose one feature of pronunciation—lexical stress—for my research proposal. A research proposal is a clear plan outlining your intended thesis research. It must include the research topic, literature review, research methodology, research plan, and more.

Next, students had to defend their proposals. Two examiners would listen and provide feedback during the proposal presentation. Before the defense, presenters had to organize a well-structured slide presentation. Each candidate was allotted about 15 minutes for their presentation and 10 minutes for questions and answers. The examiners gave extensive feedback to help candidates improve their research proposals.

In my final semester, I had to balance both studying and writing my research thesis. It was a tough job that required immense effort. I had to teach in the morning, attend classes in the evening, and work on my research at night, leaving me with little sleep. Candidates were supposed to work closely with their supervisors, but I didn’t meet with mine as often as I would have liked. Nevertheless, I managed to successfully complete my thesis.

Here are some valuable experiences I gained from my master's degree. First, I had the opportunity to teach at the Royal University of Phnom Penh (RUPP), the Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC), and Phnom Penh International University (PPIU) simultaneously. Interestingly, RUPP and ITC only recruited candidates who had earned their bachelor's degrees from IFL at the time, but despite having graduated from PUC, I was able to pass the interview because I was pursuing my master's degree at IFL.

Second, I had the chance to study with experienced lecturers who had completed their doctoral studies at prestigious institutions. Most of these lecturers had earned PhDs from countries like the USA, Australia, New Zealand, and various European nations. Third, the school offered special workshops and seminars, often held on campus, featuring language experts and book authors. I was especially excited to meet the authors of textbooks I had studied in the GEP program.

Finally, I now hold a master's degree from a well-known institution, which serves as a bridge and scaffold for pursuing further education.

This article is originally published at https://khminglish.blogspot.com 
Please note that NO article on this blog may be copied or reproduced in any form without prior permission.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are just to express feeling or emotion of author and to publish articles for sharing everybody to read and reflect upon their lives.

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Approaches, Methods, Procedures and Techniques

Approach: People use this term approach to refer to theories about the nature of language and language learning which are the source of the way things are done in the classroom and which provide the reasons for doing them. An approach describes how language is used and how its constituent parts interlock- it offers a model of language competence. An approach describes how people acquire their knowledge of the language and makes statements about the conditions which will promote successful language learning.

Method: a method is the practical realization of an approach. The originators of a method have arrived at decisions about types of activities, roles of teaches and learners, the kinds of material which will be helpful and some model of syllabus organization. Methods include various procedures and techniques (see below) as part of their standard fare.

          Wen methods have fixed procedures, informed by a clearly articulated approach, they easy to describe. However, if a method takes procedures and techniques from a wide range of sources (some of which are used in other methods or are informed by other beliefs), it is more difficult to continue describing it as a ‘method’. We will return to this discussion when we discuss post method realities in B2.

Procedure: a procedure is an ordered sequence of techniques. For example, a popular dictation procedure starts when students are put in small groups each group then sense one representative to the front of the class to read (and remember) the first line of a poem which has been placed on a desk there. Each student then goes back to their respective group and dictates that line. Each group then sends a second student up to read the second line. The procedure continues until one group has written the whole poem (see Example 5 in Chapter 19C)

          A procedure is a sequence which can be described in terms such as First you do this, then you do that…. Smaller than a method, it is bigger than a technique.

Technique: a common technique when using video or film material is called silent viewing (see Chapter 18, B1). This is where the teacher plays the video with no sound. Silent viewing is a single activity rather than a sequence, and as such is a technique rather than a whole procedure. Likewise the finger technique is used by some teacher; they hold up their hands and allocate a word to each of their five fingers, e.g. He is not playing tennis and then by bringing the is and the not fingers together, show how the verb is contracted into isn’t.

Another technique is to tell all the students in a group to murmur a new word or phrase to themselves for a few seconds just to get their tongues round it. 

Reference:

Harmer, J. (2010). Popular Methodology. In The Practice of English Language Teaching (Fourth Edition ed., p. 62).

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ASEAN toward 2015: Challenges and Opportunities for Cambodia

Association of South East Asia Nation was formed on 8 August 1967 in Bangkok, Thailand by five founding countries: Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Indonesia to promote political and economic corporation between its members and other countries. Currently, the ten countries in Southeast Asia such as Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippine, Singapore, and Vietnam are the members of ASEAN. Cambodia becomes the last member of ASEAN on 30 April 1999 after the observation on the political situation, and got the consensuses from its members. Similar to European Union, Asian is divided into three main pillars, which are ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), ASEAN Security Community (ASC), and ASEAN Socio Community (Association of Southeast Asian Nations, 2012). The purpose of creating ASEAN are to accelerate the economic growth, to promote regional peace and security, to enlarge corporation and relationship, and the main arm is to end the war and conflict in the region. However, Cambodia, one of the developing state in the region, seems to be not ready for the regional integration as it has not done quite enough to conclude itself in the region where the others are far more developed compared to Cambodia. Therefore, this essay will show the possible challenges and opportunities that Cambodia would face, joining the integration in 2015.

First, the most concerned problem in Cambodia is the lack of human resources. In fact, our educational system is not strong enough to produce qualified human resources for local and regional completion. The quality of education was every important. We are weak in some areas compared with other countries. We have a lot of schools but the quality is low (Khieu, 2012). Moreover, some Cambodian students study two or three universities but their skill force is the key concerned to compete with other countries. An ILO survey of 500 firms conducted in 2013 suggests that more than haft of the establishments were not satisfied with their employee’s performance (Heng, 2014). Language proficiency is another challenge that hinders the Cambodian in the integration. “It’s more than just a bridge, your major in business, law or whatever, you won’t be able on the stage to compete” (Bun, 2010)

Second, even though ASEAN integration focus on Economic integration, it will obviously affect the Cambodian society. Currently, we fact two main issues in Phnom Penh, they are flooding and traffic congestion. The traffic jams is due to small and narrow roads which are not available for expanding, and increasing in needs for vehicles by the city dwellers (Tim, 2011). Flooding impacted much of the city as heavy rains fell Tuesday afternoon, causing traffic jams as motorists flocked to major thoroughfares in order to avoid smaller roads with poor drainage (Cambodian Daily, 2014). After integration, large amount of newcomers will come to Cambodia for various purposes such investments, job opportunities, and tourist purposes. Therefore, when people can freely travel cross by Cambodia, the situation of traffic congestion will be worse and worse. In addition, the integration will bring us more social issues such as social crimes, human trafficking, and drug trafficking.

In contrast, the integration has a positive effect on the economy and future development of industrial base in Cambodia. Cambodia could likely to attract more foreign investments because Cambodia has relatively low wages. “In the regional context, Cambodia should benefit from the implementation of the AEC to attract investment from services firms to serve the region and the world (Phnom Penh Post, 2012). Sophana (2013) argued that once Cambodia economic is interwoven into ASEANs, Cambodia absorb any company that wishes to partner with local businesses for production and export. Cheap labour is considerable for investors come to Cambodia. Cambodia's daily wage of 200 baht (6.6 U.S. dollars) is considerably lower than the 300 baht (10 U.S. dollars) in Thailand (Roongrote, 2013). By having similar geographical proximity, Thai government has planned to build and expand roads and railways to link the two neighboring countries (Roongrote, 2013). “By 2015, Cambodia will become the daughter of rich family. We will no longer be the daughter of the poor family that no man wants to marry with (Sophana, 2013)”.

Another opportunity for Cambodia is the increased number of tourists. Cambodia will attract more tourists because of its attractive ecotourism sites and cultural tourist sites. In tourism, there will be ‘one billion tourists, one billion opportunities’ by 2015 (Thong, 2013). According to the ministry of tourism, in the first nine months of 2013, Cambodia received 3.5 million international tourists, a growth rate of 18.6 % over 2012. In 2014, the number of tourists is expected to be around 4.2 million international tourist arrivals. The forecast made by mister of tourism, the number of international tourist arrivals will reach five million by 2015, and 7.5 million by 2020. By increasing the number of tourists, Cambodia will create more jobs such as front office, housekeeping, food and beverage services, food production, travel agencies, tour operations, hotel and services. These job titles will create 800,000 direct jobs for Cambodian by 2020 (Thong, 2013). Tourist factor is now a priority for Cambodia as tourism is becoming an important driver for economic growth.

In conclusion, the integration is coming in the very short period of time in 2015. However, Cambodia does not seem to be ready for ASEAN integration. What the Cambodia might face after the integration in 2015 might be both challenges and opportunities; however, challenges seem to be higher than benefits (Chhay, 2012). The Cambodian government and citizens must take action together to improve the standard of people and economy and society. Cambodian people should be aware of current trends in the region and follow up the any situations including political and economic issues not only in Cambodia but in the whole region (Chan & Chhoun, 2012). Significantly, the government should improve the quality of education, industrialization, and the condition of cities to ensure that we will integrate successfully with other countries in the region.    

References

Association of Southeast Asian Nations. (2012). Overview. Retrieved from:http://www.asean.org/asean/about-asean

Association of Southeast Asian Nations. (2008). ASEAN Economic Community blueprint. Retrieved from http://www.asean.org/archive/5187-10.pdf 

ASEAN Economic Community (n.d.). Association of South East Asia Nations. Retrieved from: http://www.asean.org/communities/asean-economic-community

Phnom Penh Security Plc. (2013) Research paper on Tourism Sector in Cambodia. Retrieved from http://pps.com.kh/PPSUploadFiles/iv/424_en-us.pdf

Khieu, K. (2012, August 28). AEC: Cambodia sees challenges. The Nation. Retrieved from http://www.nationmultimedia.com/aec/AEC-Cambodia-sees-challenges-30189153.html

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