Teach in Cambodia

Cambodia offers teachers excellent opportunities for those interested in teaching English and exploring Cambodia’s fascinating culture.

Teaching Jobs in Cambodia

How to Teach in Cambodia

Development is occurring at a staggering rate throughout Cambodia. At the same time, evidence of the oldest and most diverse culture in the world can still be found all around you! The English language market in Cambodia is booming, and as a result there is thousands of positions available teaching English here.

If you choose to teach English in Cambodia you are bound to have a new and exciting experience every day. You’ll meet other teachers from all over the world and see amazing places in your free time like the stunning Angkor temples. This really could be the perfect career change or way to spend a gap year in Cambodia.

Employers hire enthusiastic TEFL graduates who want to take a time out and teach English in Cambodia. Teaching positions can be found in private run ESL schools in many different parts of Cambodia like Phnom Penh and Siem Reap.

Poverty, and the consequential lack of education that results from it, traps the children of Cambodia in a cycle of deprivation that causes many problems in their lives such as becoming vulnerable to child labour markets where they can be forced to work terrible jobs.

The ever present poverty causes malnourishment, homelessness, and lack of access to healthcare and sanitation, amongst other things. With nearly one in three 7-14 year olds unable to attend school, the prospect of escaping this ‘poverty cycle’ is bleak indeed.

You can give hope to these impoverished children, giving them the help with education that they have been denied for much of their lives. You will dance, sing, and play games with children as well as help teach them English.

Literacy is key to education and future jobs for poor children, enabling them to move beyond subsistence farming. Illiterate children have few educational options, and your presence in the school gives them the gift of English, the language of commerce, allowing them access to more stable and secure jobs, and potentially high school and college scholarships.

Teaching in Cambodia FAQ

What Will I Be Doing?
You could work in a local school at the heart of a community, where you will have the freedom to be creative and inspiring with your teaching, using the innovative and fun techniques of TEFL as the basis for your teaching framework. The children you are helping to teach will be very hard working and appreciative of your contribution to their education, and will be incredibly responsive to your presence on the project.

Teaching these children English is a powerful way to enable them to access opportunities that would otherwise be entirely denied to them, and is also an enjoyable way to build up your own skill base and independence with practical TEFL experience, whilst embracing the exotic and friendly culture of this spellbinding pocket of Asia.

Jobs at schools have fixed terms and contracts whilst if volunteering in Cambodia we recommend that you stay for four weeks to maximise the benefit of your presence within the classroom. Those volunteers staying for less that four weeks may not have the opportunity to teach English to their own class but will play a key part with kindergarten, organic gardening and arts and crafts exercises.

What Will I Be Eating?
On some jobs you will be provided with breakfast each day and for lunch and dinner you can visit the reasonably priced local resaurants and street food outlets to sample traditional Cambodian cuisine; enjoying dishes such as delicately spiced curries made with fresh market produce, and delicious meat, fish and vegetables.

Try specialities such as: Amok curry, based on coconut milk or a herb and spice paste known as kroeung, oriental squash, unusual vegetables such as winter melon, luffa and yardlong bean, or ngam nguv, a chicken soup flavoured with whole preserved lemons. Vegetarian diets can be accommodated easily in Cambodia. You should find that about $25 per week will cover your food if you are happy with a basic diet.

How Will I Get To Work?
Transport from your accommodation to your school each day will be by local bus (cost not included).

Additional Opportunities
In your free time you will be spoilt for choice with activities and wonderful sights and experiences. You could book Cambodia tours and get lost in the mystical world of the temples of the Khmer Empire, where you will be inspired by the beautiful unspoilt monuments, the magical atmosphere, and the charming monkeys tumbling amongst the ruins.

Visit the local towns with their complex and multifaceted architecture, and friendly, welcoming locals. Watch the captivating sight of a traditional Aspara dance, or visit one of the silk factories, where silk worms produce reams of delicate and rare fabric.

On a weekend break you could take a road trip through the rice paddy fields, catching a glimpse of the age old farming techniques that are still in use, to visit the famous floating village of Chong Kneas, or the flooded forest of Kompong Phhlul, both on the extraordinary Tonle Sap Lake.

How to Get Started
If you would like to teach English in Cambodia check out highly rated TEFL courses to get certified today.

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