Tuk Talk – 9th Issue

Welcome to our 9th newsletter edition, we hope all our awesome readers are doing good. This month has been pretty busy for us with many projects being started and they’re already thriving!! The rain has truly arrived now with a cool downpour greeting us most afternoons but we are still able to have fun at Tuk Tuk Theatre (even if we get a bit drenched!). There has been lots of acitivity around the office from french lessons to ukele playing to some arts and crafts- we’ll explain further in this issue, enjoy!!

On the 9th and 10th May, we held our 4th workshop for kindergarten teachers. This workshop included two lecturers from NGO Sipar (http://www.sipar.org/en/) based in Phnom Penh. Sipar is an organization with a 36-year history in Cambodia, focused on activities such as establishing libraries, training librarians, promoting reading education, publishing books and picture books for schools and communities. Last May, during our first workshop for kindergarten teachers we also invited a lecturer from Sipar  who helped us with a lecture on reading.
We had an intense day and a half workshop which included a review of last years workshop and an additional two reading skill techniques. We are so pleased to be able to hold these events and offer support to the kindergarten teachers with great help from Sipar. 

In our last newsletter we gave you a little information about our very new and exciting project. Now we are so happy to give you some insight into our magnificent sensory garden being constructed by Chris at DDSP! The project was initiated by Chris and Yann as a way to promote organic education among the students at DDSP. Chris has designed a truly wonderful garden that focuses on each of the 5 senses and is accessible to children of all abilities. It features beautiful plants, delicious organic vegetables and raised levels to ensure accessibility for children who require wheelchairs. The project also focuses on the importance of recycling by using all sorts of materials such as plastic bottles  to construct a vertical wall. Niamh is also conducting art sessions with the students to bring some extra creativity to the garden and to focus on another skill for the students. So far they have decorated coconuts to be used as plant pots. This has allowed the students to really put their mark on the garden ensuring it reflects the unique nature of the school community. This special project has been amazing at helping the children to connect with nature and use hands on skills while acquiring a true sense of achievement as everyday they can see the garden progress through their hard work. We feel very lucky to have such a green-fingered, creative bunch of volunteers who can help the students discover their own natural skills for creating.

This month Niamh has been continuing to guide lessons on the Days for Girls course (https://www.daysforgirls.org/) with Sokha, Dala, Maly and our friend Keiko. They are focusing on understanding the female body and its cycles as well as challenged women face throughout the world. This is a wonderful opportunity to instill a sense of empowerment and strength through understanding ourselves and truly connecting with the power of the female body rather than being consumed by the stigma such conversations may carry. Yann has also been focusing on education within our TT4C team by beginning French lessons with Sokha and Maly which they are super excited about and are already starting to speak a little french!!

Report for May

Tuk Tuk Theatre（TTT）

Tuk Tuk Mobile Library

This month we visited all preschools and the DDSP class. Our theme to work with this month was ‘Around the Village’ so we sang a song with the same name, the kids loved it. Our Kamishibi was called ‘Cat, Dog and Egg’ which depicted a very cute adventure of a cat, a dog and a random egg!! We also introduced educational card games about jobs.

Voluntukers in May