Learning never stops at Little Hearts! Besides attending a day school in Phnom Penh, our kids receive English lessons at home in the afternoon. And in the evening, those who need extra support with homework, exam preparation, and catch-up work have access to two wonderful tutors, Van Chandary and Long Chhengleng.
Van Chandary, known to everyone as Teacher Gii, is 57 years old and has been a maths and physics teacher for 39 of those years at various schools. Currently, he teaches at the nearby Arey Ksat High School, where he is also the principal. He has been tutoring our kids regularly for the past 11 years, coming to our facility every weekday for one hour after dinner, from 7 to 8 pm.
We first hired Teacher Gii because some of the kids were struggling with maths. His main role is to assist our students in grades 7 to 12 with their homework in various subjects. If there’s no homework, he gives them practice exercises from their textbooks and his own materials, and he teaches them various techniques to solve maths problems, especially when facing exams. Usually, 7–10 of our kids attend his evening classes.
What Teacher Gii likes the most about working at Little Hearts is knowing that he’s supporting young Cambodians who really need his help to get ahead in life. Since he started teaching here, he has seen many of our students transition from elementary to secondary school and on to university and working life. Watching them succeed as adults makes him happy because he knows he has played an important part in their education. It also reminds him of how fast time passes, though – something he is less happy about!
One of the things that all kids know about Teacher Gii is that he’s always sure to bring a treat for them, usually fruit or a tasty snack. Some of the kids tease Teacher Gii (affectionately, of course) about one of his most characteristic habits, namely, telling them the same stories over and over. He often doesn’t realise that he’s repeating himself until one of the kids reminds him that he’s already told that same story the day before. But everyone knows that he’ll tell the same tale again on the following day, and that is very comforting because it suggests that everything is well with the world.
Our other tutor, Long Chhengleng, also has a lot of teaching experience – 23 years. Throughout his career, he has taught various subjects in different schools and grade levels. Currently, he teaches high school maths and chemistry at the same school as Teacher Gii.
Teacher Chhengleng has been tutoring at Little Hearts for the last two years. We assigned him to work with our younger students in Grades 3 to 6 while Teacher Gii focuses on the higher grades. In addition to teaching maths and science, Teacher Chhengleng helps our younger students with Khmer dictation and essay-writing, an area where they often struggle.
Teacher Chhengleng is passionate in his desire to improve the lives of our students. The difference between teaching at Little Hearts and a regular school, he says, is the freedom he has to adjust the content and teaching method to each kid’s needs, and the more intimate and focussed setting that allows him to pay close attention to individual learners.