New Lecturers

One of the things IFL is known for is the quality of its top graduates. With impressive study records, this privileged group usually have
an advantage when it comes to competitions for a job. But what happens when all of such candidates compete for a decent job like lec-
tureship at IFL? “Fierce” may not be an appropriate word which can be used to describe the competition.
Out of tens of outstanding candidates, IFL has recently recruited eight new lecturers who will add to the IFL team roster blends of
talents, initiatives, creativity and productivity.

The adjectives that can be used to describe Pel Dalen include outgoing, assertive, meticulous, and perse-
vering. Dalen started her teaching career at IFL soon after her graduation in 2010. She was an IFL De-
bate Club member and one of the best speakers in the 2010 7 th IFL Open Debate Forum. Her passion for
a teaching career emerged when she was a freshman at IFL and it grew even stronger from day to day.
In addition to her BEd (TEFL), she also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology from Royal University
of Phnom Penh. Presently, she teaches Global Studies 2, Core English 1, Writing Skills 1, Introduction to
Environment in English, BC Reading, and BC Speaking. Her study interests include Educational Psychol-
Pel Dalen
ogy, specializing in motivation, and Second Language Acquisition.

Ros Vutha, a sensible, industrious, helpful and friendly yet reasonably strict man, started his teaching
career at IFL shortly after his graduation in 2010. Before that, he had been teaching English at various
private schools since 2006. Courses which this lecturer is currently teaching include Global Studies 2,
Introduction to Environment, Core English 1, BC Vocabulary and BC Listening. His main educational
interests are Critical Thinking Skills, Independent Learning, Environmental Studies, Educational Man-
Ros Vutha agement, and Leadership Development.

Tuot Bunnat graduated from Institute of Foreign Languages (IFL) in 2007 and is pursuing a Master’s
Degree in TESOL at IFL. He started his full-time lectureship at IFL in 2010. Presently, he teaches Foun-
dations of Education, Introduction to Sociology 1, BC Grammar and BC Writing. He has experience run-
ning workshops and presenting his research findings at CamTESOL international conferences. His
teaching and research interests include Task-Based and Content-Based Instructions, assisting students
in becoming Autonomous Learners, Educational Leadership, Public Policy and Extensive Reading.
Tuot Bunnat

Inside this Issue Page

New lecturers 1
Writing? Oh no!!! 3
The end of the beginning 3
IFL Debate Club’s charity and fun trips 4
Using ABCDE for a better life 5
Doing things differently 6

1
 New Lecturers (cont.)

Have you ever met a person with passion, loving to share and possessing a modest character? Taing Sok Kong is this
type of person. She is interested in the variety of language used in daily life especially in the EFL teaching environ-
ment. She is inspired to use any means of motivation to help students of English language become independent
learners. Driven by her passion of sharing and teaching, she started her teaching career at IFL in 2010. She has been
teaching Core English 2, Introduction to Environment, BC Reading and BC Speaking. To her, learning is a never-
ending adventure. She welcomes constructive questions, so you should not hesitate to talk to her.
Taing Sok Kong

Ros Sokunmullika is a new English lecturer at Institute of Foreign Languages. She received her Bachelor of Education
(TEFL) in 2009 and is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in TESOL at the institute above. Mullika is someone who
likes to do things to her best ability. Being caring and sensible, she is a good listener to those who seek her compan-
ionship. At the moment, she teaches Core English 3 and BC subjects.

Ros Sokunmullika Well-mannered, friendly, helpful, hard-working, and creative are some adjectives that can be used to describe Thou
Narong. He had been teaching English since 2002 but only began his teaching career at IFL in 2010. After many years
of teaching, his motivation is still very strong. He currently teaches Writing Skills 2, Writing Skills 1, Introduction to
Sociology, and BC Reading. He holds a Bachelor of Education (TEFL) and a Master of Education in Educational Ad-
ministration. His teaching and research interests include Sociology, Global Studies, Literature, Environment, Motiva-
tion, Teaching Methodology and Reading Skills.

Thou Narong
First impressions of him are many a time false. Sum Sovannpanha is a cheerful, witty, kindhearted, levelheaded, en-
ergetic individual. This rather ambitious man, by passion and good fortune, became a teaching staff member at IFL in
2010. He began his career with teaching Grammar, Writing, Vocabulary and Listening to Bridging Course students.
Although he already got a Bachelor of Education (TEFL) from IFL, he is still a junior at Pannasastra University of
Cambodia. He is also a volunteer at an international youth organization called AIESEC. He is interested in integrating
humor into teaching, sharing his international experience and helping students develop intrinsic motivation. Educa-
tion, Leadership, International Trade, and Business Management could be one of the fields in which he would like to
Sum Sovannpanha pursue his Master’s Degree abroad.

Ouk Davy is an industrious, committed, adaptable and responsible individual. She had been teaching English for six
years before earning a scholarship to pursue her Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership in New Zealand. Upon
her return, her passion for teaching English is not changed. She is now back in full swing in the teaching career. Cur-
rently, she teaches BC subjects and Intercultural Communication.

Ouk Davy
Mao Putheavy is a cheerful, diligent and magnanimous person. This young lady has got the inspiration for teaching
English from her twin sisters and brother-in-law, who are all IFL lecturers. Throughout her time as an undergradu-
ate, she was very active and was selected to represent Cambodia in many international programs including the Sun-
burst Youth Camp and the Ship for Southeast Asian Youth Program (2009). Soon after receiving her BA in Accounting
and BEd in TEFL in 2010, she began her teaching career at IFL with great enthusiasm. Currently, she teaches BC Lis-
tening and Global Studies 2. Some of the educational spheres that catch her interest include teaching English as a
Foreign Language, Environment and ASEAN connectivity.
Mao Putheavy

2

Writing? Oh No!!!
How much do you like writing? I
personally did not like it at all. It
was always a challenging and
scary task for me because of the
difficulties I believed writing has.
According to Saddler (2006),
poor writers typically exhibit ma-
jor difficulties at two levels: coping
with grammar, spelling, and punc-
tuation (lower level), and generat-
ing ideas, sequencing the content
and revising (higher order). Add-
ing to these two primary difficul-
ties, I would name negative atti-
tudes toward writing as an emo-
tional barrier preventing me from
developing a writing habit.
As Schleppegrell (2004) sug-
gests, written language is typically
structured with condensed infor-
mation through lexical choices and
clause structures that are different
from the way language is used in
everyday spoken interaction.
This awareness always
alerted me to use academically
appropriate sentence structures
and various word choices for a
particular audience, which is
highly demanding and time-
consuming. I usually read my writ-
ing repeatedly to ensure that my
messages would be conveyed
clearly and my sentences were
punctuated correctly. However, I
frequently got stuck at certain
points, searching for the best word
choice to avoid mistakes, which
The End of the Beginning
Winston Churchill once said that,
“This is not the end. It is not even
the beginning of the end. But, it is,
perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
This quote is most applicable
when said on the graduation day
celebrated on September 19, 2010,
the day that marked the end of my
college life and the start of my
career path.
Study Skills
eventually made me frustrated.
Poor critical thinking which leads
to difficulty in generating and
elaborating ideas also hindered
me from producing a well-written
text. Sometimes, I could not find
any excellent ideas to write. At
other times, I did not know how I
could support major ideas con-
vincingly. Last, repetitive failure in
producing a satisfactory text de-
veloped my negative attitudes
toward writing, which in turn be-
came an emotional barrier. Com-
paring my written texts to my
classmates’ or colleague’s, I often
placed mine at a lower level. I told
myself frequently that I was not a
good writer, so I tried to avoid
writing as much as possible. I did
not write as a habit.
Despite all the challenges
presented, writing is unavoidable
since assignments, academic pa-
Sok Thida, a graduate from University of Massachusetts and an IFL lecturer since 2009
The atmosphere then was
friendly and congenial; a lot of
graduands in their gowns smiled
triumphantly. After four years of
hard work, every single one of us
is adequately prepared to be a full-
fledged person, who will be able to
meet every challenge life brings in
our paths ahead. Having been well
equipped with self-discipline and
the knowledge of English lan-
pers, final exams, and the like
must be completed in the written
form. Therefore, a student cannot
help but develop personal strate-
gies to cope with their writing
problems.
I have adopted some strate-
gies that help me overcome my
writing problems. First, in the
brainstorming stage, I use word-
mapping or listing by writing
down all ideas that I have in
phrases; then I group related ideas
together and remove irrelevant
ones. Since generating ideas logi-
cally in sophisticated structures
with beautiful vocabulary at once
is challenging, I usually do free-
writing as the first draft just to
elaborate the ideas with whatever
I have in mind regardless of gram-
mar, vocabulary, and writing me-
chanics. Next, I produce the sec-
ond draft by adding details, delet-
guage, we, IFL graduates, are
ready for our future careers. Some
of us will become teachers of Eng-
lish, whilst others will walk down
other career paths, deliberately or
accidentally. Whatever the career,
we believe that all the things that
we have learned at IFL will be of
great help for us.
Throughout the four years at
IFL, I have acquired more than just
academic skills. Friendship, self-
organization, cooperation, toler-
ing irrelevant information and
changing grammatical structures,
vocabulary, and other writing me-
chanics where needed. I often look
for interesting linguistic choices,
using various clause structures
and synonyms. I read the second
draft aloud to find any mistakes or
flow breakdown. Doing so draws
possibly overlooked minor mis-
takes to my attention.
To reduce negative attitudes
toward writing, I have encouraged
myself to email friends and write
an online journal to share ideas on
topics that are of my interest. I
have learnt that writing something
relevant to oneself is likely to pro-
mote intrinsic motivation and
willingness to take risks in writing.
And remember, reading is a useful
booster for general knowledge,
which enables one to notice the
complexity of sentence structures,
common written expressions,
beautiful vocabulary, and, more
importantly, organization of a text.
Although writing is truly a
difficult task, some writing strate-
gies have definitely helped me
overcome the challenges in writ-
ing. Thus, you should start writing
and adopt strategies that work
best for you. If I can improve my
writing, you can, too.
References
Saddler, B. (2006): Increasing story writing
ability though self-regulated strategy
development: Effects on young writers
with learning disabilities. Learning Disabil-
ity Quarterly, 29(4), 291-305.
Schleppegrell, M. (2004): The Language of
Schooling: A functional Linguistics Per-
spective. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum
Associations
ance towards others, responsibili-
ties, and more are invaluable les-
sons that I have learnt here. No
other places can provide me with
such irreplaceable values. The
extensive knowledge of English
language that I have acquired at
IFL enables me to perform well in
an international and professional
program widely known as Associa-
tion of Chartered Certified Ac-
countants (ACCA). Also, my Eng-
3

IFL Debate Club’s Charity and Fun Trips
Debate club members on a trip to an orphanage near the Cambodian-Japanese Friendship Bridge
Throughout seven years of exis-
tence, it has become an IFL debate
club tradition to take one or two
trips after our members have com-
pleted an academic year of hard
work. This year, 2 trips (a charity
trip and a fun trip) were organized
to strengthen the bond, to implant
the sense of community service,
and to promote an act of kindness
among the club members.
The charity trip was held on
September 4, 2010. A number of
IFL lecturers and debate club
members gathered at IFL campus
and departed for Kien Klaing Or-
phanage situated near Cambodian-
lish proficiency plays a pivotal role
in my full-time job as a banker and
my prospective part-time job as a
teacher of English. What is more, it
seems highly likely for me to win a
scholarship to study abroad since
English proficiency is somehow an
important requirement to meet in
most, if not all, scholarship appli-
cations.
I have also developed a great
number of learning strategies that
have helped me to get this far and
discovered a vital theory for the
rest of my life. Not only for learn-
ing but also for other tasks that we
will have to do later in life, we
should concentrate our efforts on
4
IFL Debate Club
Japanese Friendship (Chhroy
Changvar) Bridge. We arrived at
the orphanage at around 8:30 am
and conducted a number of fun
and educational activities with the
orphans until 11:00 am. The ac-
tivities for younger kids included
health practice like cleaning their
teeth and washing their hands
appropriately. For the teenage
group, we raised their awareness
on some potential problems such
as traffic accidents, HIV/AIDs,
alcohol, and drugs by doing such
activities as presentation, and
group discussions.
In addition to the knowledge
doing what we are passionate
about. When we treat a matter
with utmost care, no matter what
the outcome will be, we will feel a
Chea Sophal receiving her degree from H.E. Lav Chhiv Eav, Rector of RUPP
we shared with the orphans, we
also distributed a package contain-
ing items for their daily life such as
toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, and
shampoo. What was given is not
much for the rich, but to the poor
and needy like them, this small
package means a whole lot. We
could see that their innocent faces
beamed with joy. They whole-
heartedly expressed their grati-
tude to us. That was the moment
that we felt most excited and
proud of our generous deed. After
gifts distribution, a few interesting
games, followed by series of guitar
performances came. We happily
sense of personal satisfaction. Of
course, there are so many things
for us to cope with, but we have to
learn to prioritize them and sched-
sang many songs together as if we
were brothers and sisters. Our
charity trip came to an end at
around 11:30 am. The participants
carried big smiles on their faces
back home. It was such a fulfilling
day.
One day after the charity trip,
debate club members along with
our club manager began our long-
awaited fun trip to Chombok Wa-
terfall situated in Kirirom Moun-
tain. We departed from Phnom
Penh at 7 am and arrived there at
around 10:30 am. We hiked to the
2rd level of the waterfall at 12 pm
and hastily grabbed our lunch
boxes. Heavy rain fell down while
we were having lunch. Quickly,
some of us wore rain coats; some
took shelter; some took turns
holding umbrellas for each other.
After the rain, we continued our
journey to the top level of the wa-
terfall and stayed there until 3 pm.
Along the way back, we played
games, debated, sang songs and
most importantly expressed our
friendly feelings towards each
other. We showed our gratitude to
the club manager, IFL lecturers,
Debate Club Organizing Team and
all club members who helped
make these two trips such a fruit-
ful and most memorable time for
each and every one of us.
ule our tasks to ensure that we
will get things done efficiently.
To conclude, I really appreci-
ate everything that IFL has given
me, and all these priceless assets
will always be engraved in my
heart. For the unforeseeable fu-
ture, I strongly believe that I will
leave no stone unturned to make
the best use of all the skills and
knowledge I have developed at IFL
to help the next generations, espe-
cially those in dire need of my
help. Hopefully, this small contri-
bution of the 2010 graduates will
help improve our communities,
our society, and our country, mak-
ing it a better place for everyone
to live in.
 Life Skills

Using ABCDE for a Better Life knew how bad I was. I felt stupid
and thought I did not deserve to
had been in the club for at least
one year.
yourself as a result of the situa- be a club member. Looking back, I did learn a
Life is like flowing water that tion), C: Consequences (The physi- C: Consequence: I felt upset good lesson. That was my first
sometimes you don’t really know cal and/or emotional results of about my performance. I swore time. At least, I could stand in front
what will happen next. Joy fills one your negative belief toward the that I would never ever, ever of my friends and show my brav-
day and sorrow just comes the situation), D: Disputation (Actively speak in public again. Then I could ery in trying new things. I told
next. After all, it’s not life if not disagreeing with what you nega- hide my weaknesses and no one myself, “Look, some people want
without sorrow. tively believe about yourself ), and would know that I am not good. to be a member, but they don’t
Accepting this reality, we Energization (The positive energy If you don’t immediately cope even have a chance. I must be
should seriously question our- and hope you get after you fall with your negative thought of proud of myself and learn from
selves: Can we learn to turn mis- down and pick yourself up to even yourself like that I had about my- this experience so that I can keep
fortune into positive energy? Can try harder to face new challenges). self, you may feel hopeless and on improving myself.” I always
we be unhappy happily? YES, WE Let me elaborate by using my helpless and will not look into keep in mind what Confucius said:
CAN according to MARTIN E. P. personal experience. your weaknesses and keep on “A journey of a thousand miles
SELIGMAN, the author of “Learned A: Adversity: When I joined improving. As a result, you will starts with a single step.”
Optimism”. In Seligman’s own the IFL Debate Club, I felt inferior never become a more skilled indi- If you can kill negative beliefs
words, “Life inflicts the same set- to everyone, whose speaking was vidual. However, if you con- about yourself, you can be ener-
backs and tragedies on the opti- outstanding, impressive and con- sciously (knowingly) use D gized to go further and get
mist as on the pessimist, but the vincing. Then I was asked to de- (Disputation) to eliminate your stronger.
optimist weathers them better. As bate in front of all the members. I negative inner voice, the chance is E: I felt energized and ready
seen, the optimist bounces back couldn’t do well, my hands shook, I that you may feel relieved, learne- for a fresh start.
from defeat, and, with his life felt dizzy and everyone looked at from your mistakes, move on, and Some people may say using
somewhat poorer, he picks up and me and seemed to say “how pity try harder so that you won’t be in ABCDE is just a way to lie yourself.
starts again. The pessimist gives you are, how stupid you are that the same situation again. It may be true if you are blindly
up and falls into depression. Even you don’t know how to speak in the D: Disputation: I was blowing optimistic by taking things for
when things go well for the pessi- public, you are not one of us.” things out of proportion. I hoped granted without looking at your
mist, he is haunted by forebodings B: Belief: What an awful to show my competence to match weaknesses, eliminating them and
of catastrophe.” speech I gave, I believed. Everyone the other members, some of whom improving your strengths. This
Clearly, the choice to be an strategy is one good way to make
optimist or a pessimist is in your you feel hopeful and energized in
hands due to the fact that you can facing challenges in this world full
learn the skills of optimism and of unfairness and misfortunes.
permanently improve the quality Let me end this article with
of your lives. Usually, people talk this message: You may not be able
to themselves through the inner to choose to be happy, but you can
voice. The more negative their choose to be unhappy happily by
inner voice, the more pessimistic turning misfortunes into unstop-
they are, while the more positive pable power to propel you into the
it is, the more optimistic they be- path of success, happiness, and a
come. The good news is you can better life for you, your family and
consciously monitor your inner everyone around you. So let us all
voice in order to become an opti- spread this seed of optimism and
mist by using Seligment’s opti- be the change we want to see.
mism model “ABCDE”. Reference
A: Adversity (a difficult or Seligman, M. E. P. (2006). Learned
unlucky situation/event), B: Belief optimism: How to change your mind
and your life. New York: Vintage
(Negative things you believe about Phearak, IFL lecturer and Deputy Debate Club manager Books.

5

Doing Things Differently
“Winners don’t do different
things. They do things differently,”
philosophized Shiv Khera, a suc-
cessful businessman.
How can the phrase “doing
things differently” be properly
interpreted in an academic con-
text, so that at least I can remind
my fellow friends and students
(especially those forgetful) about
something valuable they know
already?
Over the past three years at
two universities (RULE, Econom-
ics; IFL, TEFL) simultaneously, I
have always been striving and
giving my best. I have never been
easily satisfied with the work I do.
I have always challenged myself by
taking school tasks and learning to
a whole new level. What is realis-
tic, for me, does not matter; being
idealistic is my personality. I aim
to rise above conventions and
achieve greatness.
Parinha in the IFL’s Self-Access Center
My effort has paid off. I have
become a mature and responsible
person; I have grown. What is a
thousand times more important is
that along the way I have compre-
hended a principle of self-
management that is very simple
but highly effective. Sadly, al-
though it is presumably widely
known, this so-called principle
never seems to be implemented by
many students as it should be. It is
one principle of “doing things dif-
ferently.” Or so I interpret.
Students’ Corner
The principle can be viewed as
a “strategy” by those who want to
think so. However, a caution is in
order. So far as any “strategies” or
“tactics” of learning are concerned,
they are only effective if the learn-
ers themselves are committed. In
fact, methods of learning, however
sophisticated, are inferior to a
desire for learning. Useful tactics
can lighten only some workload in
the short term, but without a real
desire or commitment, long-term
self-development fails.
In The Seven Habits of Highly
Effective People by Stephen R.
Covey, there are four generations
of time management: to-do lists,
calendar notes, prioritization, and
self-management. (Read the book
for details.) Lists, notes and priori-
tization were designed for effi-
ciency, which is the minimization
of cost (time spent) to achieve a
given objective. But worshiping
efficiency is “counterproductive”
because it fails to take account of
long-term capacity building—self-
management, the fourth genera-
tion of time-management, which is
so powerful that it cures all, solves
all and sees all.
Self-management is what I
attempt to mean by “doing things
differently.”
I want our fellow students to
embrace self-management, not
efficiency. Self-management is
capacity building, preventive meas-
ures, and therefore a panacea.
According to my experience, effi-
ciency will make you busy with
this principle successfully. Learn
for joy! Learn for enlightenment!
juggling problems. It enlarges un- Learn for a fulfilling life!
necessary problems. You will
worry about problems. You will
see problems and walk with them.
You become a problem-solver.
Ironically, instead of being effi-
cient, you will spend the majority
of your time dealing with prob-
lems usually with disappointing Share your views with
results. The PROSPECT at
Self-management will make Russian Federation Blvd.
you even busier. However, it mini- P.O. Box 416, Phnom Penh
mizes problems and maximizes Tel: 023 885 419
Fax: 023 884 154
opportunities. You no longer deal
ifl.prospect@gmail.com
with problems but see alterna-
tives.
Capacity building: if you are to
do things differently and become
successful, do not spend time find-
ing ways to cope with problems.
Instead, utilize the majority of
your time building your capacity.
Books are a very good main source
of knowledge. They contain a great
deal of valuable and useful infor-
mation. Create a personal mini-
library at home and spend much of
your time alone reading, thinking,
and reflecting on facts and argu-
ments put forth in books. Build a
habit of loving solitude too, so that
this will not be a daunting task.
Preventive measures: When it
comes to problems (e.g. school
tasks, assignments, homework,
etc., in academic contexts), you do
not solve them but prevent them
after you have built your capacity.
You possess a rich stock of bril-
liant ideas and information at your
disposal. Alternatives abound in
your head. This minimizes prob-
lems and opens up opportunities
for excellence since you have
“done your homework” in ad-
vance.
A Panacea: Your competence
will multiply. You will see your
potential in every environment.
You will become readily accus-
tomed and adaptable to new unfa-
miliar situations. In this way, the
principle cures all.
This principle is action-
oriented; it requires commitment
and determination. A desire (real
interest) for learning as an end in
itself is the key to implementing