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

Heng, P. (2014, June 5). Educational Reform: A long-term Strategy to Prepare Cambodia’s Youth for ASEAN Integration. Khmer Times. Retrieved from http://www.khmertimeskh.com/news/1945/educational-reform--a-long-term-strategy-to-prepare-Cambodia---s-youth-for-asean-integration/

Bun, T. (2010, February 10). The importance of speaking English. The Phnom Penh Post. Retrieved from http://www.phnompenhpost.com/lift/importance-speaking-english

Tim, V. (2011, August 15). What cause traffic jam in Cambodia?. Khmer Bird. Retrieved from http://khmerbird.com/featured/what-cause-traffic-jam-in-cambodia.html

Sek, O. (2014, July 23). No End in Sight for Chronic Phnom Penh Flooding. Cambodia Daily. Retrieved from http://www.cambodiadaily.com/archives/no-end-in-sight-for-chronic-phnom-penh-flooding-64718/

Surasak, T. (2009, September 2). News Analysis: Cambodia viewed as "best" investment venue for Thais. Xinhua. Retrieved from http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/indepth/2013-02/09/c_132162078.htm

Thong, K. (2013, November 6). ASEAN and the rise of tourism in Cambodia. Tourism of Cambodia. Retrieved from http://www.tourismcambodia.com/news/localnews/11287/asean-and-the-rise-of-tourism-in-cambodia.htm

Chhay, C. (2012). Cambodians will compete will ASEAN countries. The Phnom Penh Post. Retrieved fromhttp://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/cambodians-will-compete-asean-countries

Chan, M., & Chhoun, S. (2012, March 26). ASEAN economic community 2015: Challenges vs. opportunity. Cambodia Circles. Retrieved from:http://cambodiacircles.com/articles/54/asean-economic-community-2015-c

Customs and other import duties (% of tax revenue) in Cambodia. (2012).Trading Economics. Retrieved fromhttp://www.tradingeconomics.com/cambodia/customs-and-other-import-duties-percent-of-tax-revenue-wb-data.html

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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.

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