An Analysis of January's Monthly Tests

            Students have a test in every subject once a month. For one of my co-teachers, I am always the one to make the test, and proctor the test. I am one of those sick teachers who everyone hated because I find pleasure in giving tests. I just like seeing who actually learned what. And I think their whining during the test is kind of entertaining too. I know I’m sick.

            I created and gave tests in grades 7, 10, and 12 this past month. Before I gave the tests back, I recorded some data, that I thought may be of interest to you. My grade 7 and grade 10 class did pretty well. My 12^th graders completely bombed.

GRADE 7

            On the test there was numbers from 1-30. They had to translate table, red, skirt, breakfast, and ruler. They answered 3 questions about colors around the classroom. They had fill in the gap sentences with the words in, her, but, trousers, and evening. And finally they had dictation. The two sentences were “What is the time?” and “The cat is on the chair.”

32 Students took the exam (which means that over 20 were absent!)

Grades ranged from 26% to 100%

The average score was 74%

By Cambodian standards, 3 students failed (failing is under 50%)

By American standards, 11 students failed.

9 Students achieved “honors” scores (above 90%)

Student answers that made me laugh, and common mistakes:

What color is your shirt? Is your shirt

What color is your pen? Is your pen

What color is your English book? Is your English book

What color is your shirt? It’s a buler

What color is your pen? Color, black red buler

What color is your English book? It’s a green and buler (anyone? Anyone? Buler?)

One dictation answer: “bod in kad ktodkom”

What color is your shirt? There is 10

Another dictation answer: “An cat is on ruler chili”

GRADE 10

            On the test there were 3 sentences with grammatical errors they had to correct. Fill in the gaps sentences with the words decided, choices, future, explain, and project. A reading passage and 5 easy questions. And fill in the gaps listening.

38 Students took the test.

Grades ranged from 12% to 98%

The average score was 70%

By Cambodian standards, 4 students failed

By American standards, 12 students failed.

7 students had “honors” scores.

Student answers that make me laugh, and common mistakes:

Listening: “I yelled for have (should be help) but no one came.

What will they do in Kampong Som? They will do in Kampong Som.

GRADE 12

            On this test was fill in the gap sentences with Hindu, secret, shoplifter, silent, and dizzy. 2 writing questions, What is your favorite Buddhist holiday, and By the time you graduate, how old with you be. They had 5 scenarios where they had to give advice using “ought to”. They had matching for sentences beginning with “by the time” and “You’d better”. Finally their two dictation sentences were “the spy stole the rare liquid” and “Give the baby breast milk.”

58 students took the test (2 different classes)

Grades ranged from 6% to 100%

The average score was 56%

By Cambodian standards 25 students failed

By American standards 38 students failed

9 students had “honors” scores

Student answers that made me laugh, and common mistakes:

Fill in the blank terribleness:

“I need to sit down because I am feeling Hindu.”

“No talking. I want the students to be Hindu.”

“The police caught the Hindu before he left the store”

Dictation answer from nowhere “The police officer knew thal was”

She has a spider in her food. She ought to eat it (every other student who answered correctly said that she ought to take it out)

Matching: “By the time Diana goes home – feed her baby breast milk” (I DEFINITELY don’t have any babies to be breast feeding)

Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Diana! These are terrible grades! Why would you share?” And I will agree with you that Grade 12 in particular did quite poorly. I was disappointed. My co-teacher was downright angry.

But look at that range! How can some students get 100%, and some students get as low as 6%??

Well, the results of the tests kind of show you a main problem with English Education here. Students start learning English in grade 7, and in the first lesson, the book jumps right into reading English. Students who did not take alphabet lessons before 7^th grade are already behind. Then, the English books move so fast, and they never review content from previous chapter. What’s more is that in a school year, teachers sometimes don’t even get through half of the chapters in the text book. But when they study next year, students will pick up the next textbook in the series without catching up on what they’ve missed. So in grade 7, already some students are behind, and a few eventually lose hope in catching up and basically give up. In my class of 56 students, I have about 3 or 4 kids who never participate. Then by grade 10, more students fall behind. By grade 12, the average student in my class can barely scrape a 75%.

            Students in Cambodia do just as much learning in private classes as they do in the public school. Students who can afford it study 5 or 6 hours in the public school, and then maybe 3 additional private hours. Private English classes are much more effective in teaching students because classes are smaller and more focused, and the teacher can choose a more suitable curriculum. So most of the time, the students who score “honors level” on the tests, are the ones who take private classes.

            I know, that’s not fair to the students who cannot afford private classes. And I’ve been struggling with that for a while. But there is very little I can do to catch them up at this point. I do everything that I can. One of the reasons I like making tests is that I can make sure it is fair. I only test students on what we have studied thoroughly and RECENTLY. Khmer tests can sometimes go off-topic. I also give partial credit on tests for nearly right answers. I don’t think my teachers do that. In my grade 7 class I can do a little more to help the kids in the back. I always skim the lesson before I teach to make sure that the book didn’t throw in any new words without introducing them first. Oh, and of course I cannot forget to mention that Peace Corps is writing a new curriculum and series of textbooks for Cambodia. I am on the Grade 10 Curriculum committee.

            Otherwise, where I have a choice, I always try to teach to the middle of the class. I don’t teach t the smartest kids. I challenge them in other ways. For example, when teaching vocabulary, I have one smart student act as my co-teacher and translate words on the board for me, or pronounce the words for the class. I try to simplify some activities for students who are completely lost. And of course, when a lower-level student does something right, I give huge praise, which is another concept so foreign to students.

            Realistically, many of these kids are going to be farmers when they graduate, or when they stop coming to school. The students know that, and those particular students know that you do not need to speak English to be a farmer. So now my philosophy is that if a student wants to learn English and is willing to try and put in some effort, I will go out of my way to push that student up and help them realize their dreams. If a student wants to focus on other subjects like agriculture because English is not essential for them, I will not fight them for doing so. But just like my clever students, I will cheer for their success and try to be a role model of passion for ones work and dedication.

            So I’ve blogged about the results of testing. I will definitely have to make a future blog about the process of testing. So coming soon, “Cheater Cheater Prahok Eater”

1 and 2: More pictures of my neighbor Mikey!

3. My sister Sokhen cooking my favorite dessert

4. My favorite dessert Jayk k'tee! Its bananas, coconut juice, tapioca, and sweetened condensed milk.

5. Pasta that I made with garlic, broccoli, ad baby shrimp

6. That's the house across the street. Check out the colors of that sunrise!