“When I first got to Cambodia in March 2013, it felt like I was on a different planet! Everything was new to me – how people thought, how they saw life, even just their everyday actions. I really wanted to understand, so I went all over the country, learned about its history, and looked closely at the people. Slowly, I started to see what made them special, what made them happy, and what they were afraid of.
This also happened with my students. I saw that sometimes the kids had to follow rules that felt old and didn’t make sense. Their eyes sometimes looked lost, like they didn’t know how to understand their own thoughts or the world around them. What really stood out for some was that they didn’t get a lot of hugs or love. Their families often felt like families from way back in the 1950s, where if you were poor or rich, it made things hard for the kids in different ways.
For my students, meeting me was like meeting someone different who really paid attention to what they needed. It was hard work for me, but when I saw them getting better, it made me so happy! I saw in them some of the same things I remembered about my parents’ generation, when people thought giving kids stuff was the best way to show love, and things like the Montessori way of teaching weren’t common.
With the Cambodian kids, I quickly learned that I couldn’t just assume they knew things. I had to explain everything because their history and music had almost disappeared from their society.
We have to remember that these kids were the children of the people who were kids during a really bad time in Cambodia, under Pol Pot. Their parents are survivors.
Even though it was tough sometimes, I can honestly say they made amazing progress over time. Their results were good and even better than I expected. It was really just about learning about life. The kids already had the potential inside them; my job as the teacher was to help them bring it out.
Of course, I learned so much from them too. Kids have so much to give! Once you help them find out who they are and understand the world, they learn super fast. I was always so happy when they got excited about a new song, felt proud when they answered questions right, or were happy to share their ideas.
It took a lot of effort, but it was so worth it. Now that I know I’ll be leaving Cambodia soon, I feel really sad. These kids have helped me grow as a person; they’ve taught me so much. They will always be in my heart, just like I hope I’ll be in theirs.
I want to tell you a little story that always makes me smile. One day, I asked one of my young student what she wanted to be when she grew up. She said she wanted to be a dentist. I told her I would come to her to get my teeth checked. She said, with a straight face, that maybe at first she wouldn’t know me because I would be old with gray hair. But then she would remember when she took lessons with Teacher Arianna and how wonderful it was to learn the piano together.
My time in Cambodia has really changed how I see learning and how much potential every child has, no matter where they come from. This understanding is the main idea behind my Music & English teaching method.
Music & English Methodology 