Category: 2018-2019

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I am from…

“I Am From” Poem Template

Adapted by Levi Romero

Inspired by “Where I’m From” by George Ella Lyon

 

I am from a flour mill machine from  a selling table

I am from the sweet flour, productive work

I am from the emerald scallion

The vegetable and sauce whose long gone limbs I remember as if they were my own.

I’m from kind-hearted and a long road full of advices from parents and grandparents

I’m from Compact Discs and microphone and from television.

I’m from Keep Moving! and Don’t Compare yourself to Others! and Five Senses Khmer Song

I’m from protective mosquito net and helmet

I’m from Battambang and rural area and eggs and variety of Khmer soup

From an educated person who survived at Khmer Rouge regime, mouth zipped and has to do whatever they told. He has to be adaptive. He had passed an obstacle course from black zombies. The bird was released in January 1979.  

I’m from his freedom which is part of who I am today. He meets his belove and created me. I’m from every single sweat and blood and those becoming my hero in my heart forever that can never be dissolved in memory.

I’m from Chhem and Phorn family tree.

 

By Dyna  Chhem

Date Jan/15/2019

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Traditional Food Exploration

What came up first to your mind when you heard about Traditional Food Exploration? It is one of my explorations this year. Documentary, Photos, Communication, Passion, Risks taking are all about this exploration. After a few weeks of discussion about what our exploration is, we took a Siem Reap trip toward the journey of creating our final product which is khmercuisine.ligeracademblog.org. We went to 3 restaurants; Mahob, Cuisine Wat Damnak, Sugar Palm. In addition, we also went to market and street food seller to understanding more about food in Cambodia. Below are the interesting facts, quotes, and pictures along this amazing journey throughout our exploration. 

Day 1: Street Food


Day 2: Mahob Restaurant

Chef: Sothea Seng

 

Khmer Rice Noodle Making

Day 3: Cuisine Wat Damnak

Chef: Joannès Rivière

Day 4: Sugar Palm

Chef: Kethana 


Chefs and Sellers quotes:

 

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Fractions & Geometry – Math

Tricks about Math (Triangle Area)

Tricks about Division Fraction 

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កុលាបប៉ៃលិន | Pailin’s Rose- Khmer Literacy

Location: Battambang Province (Western)

“Only you can help yourself,” said by the sick and wise old man Ta Jerm told his son Jao Jet. This was his last minute. After he passed away, the doctor introduced Jao Jet to be the worker at Pailin in Loung Ratanaksambath house.

Since then, Jao Jet been working so hard without any complaint which satisfied his boss, Loung Ratanaksambath. Also, every workers  love him as well. One day, while driving on the way, there were some problems with the car. Jao Jet was very creative and smart. He fixed the problem. Even another incident happened by the thieves entering the house, Jao Jet attacked with them bravely. Loung Ratanaksambath had one daughter and Jao Jet and the daughter fell in love with each other. At the end of this book, they got married and lived happily.

Have you ever heard or feel familiar with the story above? This is one of the most famous stories story by Cambodian author, Nhok Them. The story is showing how Jao Jet from a poor and low rank family got success through his integrity and being proactive.

“អត្តាហិ អត្តនោ នាថា” is a Khmer buddhist phrase that means “Only you can help yourself,” said by Ta Jerm the father of Jao Jet. This phrase teaches the reader one of the life quote that explain whether or not, only you can help yourself.

Photo from: Google

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Story Structure & Photography

Brain and Heart are stronger than rules

In the year 2000, there was a girl living a community. She has a very strong passion for entrepreneurship. Every day and every night, she only held her computer researched about becoming a successful people and figured out what product should she made. One day, there was a new law says that women can’t be an entrepreneur. Because of that, she broke the rule and pretending that she is a man. Because of that, she could continue making her amazing social product which is a new and better version of Google. Because of that someone exposed and reveal that she is a woman in her social media. Because of that, she got caught. Because of that, she got punished, but because of her amazing product that helped people a lot, they changed their mind. Because of that a lot of people used her product as a helpful resource. Because of that everyone respects her. Because of that society realizes that girls are also powerful. Because of that, her products are spread around the world. Because of that, she was famous and becoming a successful person. Until finally, the laws change that woman can also be an entrepreneur.

After you read this, you might recognize the structure of the way that it was written. There are many different types of story structure but Pixar Story Structure is the story structure for the story above. There are five steps to do it: 

Basically, this is one of the types of Digital Storytelling. Other examples of Digital Storytelling are videos, photos, recordings, etc. In our class in this round, I’ve learned two particular types of Digital Storytelling; Story Structure and Photography. I really love photography and I’m so excited learning about this essential. On week 2&3, we learned about composition tips. They are:

  • Stright Horizon
  • Rules of Thirds
  • Head Room/Lead Room
  • Symmetry
  • Depth
  • Frames
  • Leading Lines

The week after, we learned about some basics which are:

  • Exposure
  • Shutter Speed
  • Appeture
  • Depth of Field
  • ISO

Last but not least, we learned about camera shot types:

  • Long Shot
  • Full Shot
  • Medium Shot
  • Close-Up
  • Extreme Close-up
  • Low Angle
  • High Angle
  • Eye-Level
  • Dutch Angle/Tilt
  • Over the Shoulder
  • Bird’s Eye View
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Social Justice – Literacy

There will be different themes in every round of English Literacy essentials. This round ’s theme is “Social Justice”. Social Justice is a concept that is related to the different types of justice between individual and society such as wealth, rank, etc. For the first few weeks, we focused on the topic of “Pollution”. We did some research about how pollution disproportionately affects people who are poor and members of racial and ethnic minorities and how members of ethnic minorities got affected by pollution than others. We also have words of the week which are:

An environment is very important not only for me but also for society. We did the writing about pollution in our community as well. I wrote about pollution in my province which is Kampong Cham province. It is located in the center of Cambodia. Here’s what I wrote about my community:

Pollution and Environmental Justice in Kampong Cham

Kampong Cham has a very beautiful city that everyone always think about, but people ignore one crucial problem about this province. Most of the provinces in Cambodia produce a lot of pollution, including Kampong Cham. The source of pollution mostly comes from human activities and they might not be getting enough education about the serious effect of pollution. The town and rural areas are covered with trash that only has been thrown, but not picked. Nothing will be fine if people keep repeating what they are doing right now.

Pollution in Kampong Cham mostly spreads over rural areas around districts. The city in this province might have less pollution than the rural area because there are a lot of factories surrounding the rural area. As I knew before in the province, there’s no landfill or damp, in fact, a few people started the idea of throwing the trash near Sala Chen market which causes others to throw at this place too. One of the big problems is throwing the garbage that concentrated near the station where they sell food, which leads the pollution from the garbage spread to the food. Therefore, it could affect people’s health through the food that they ate and it could lead to a serious health problem. This is one of the pollution sources that have been spread to the whole city.

In addition, there is a factory that located in Cherng Prey district. The workers produced more and more pollution through the air to the neighborhood. Obviously, there is an air pollution that produced from the smoke of the factory. Sometimes, I think it is kind of unfair when people who stay close to the factory got affected. I haven’t heard any solution for this yet, but I hope there will be one.

Moreover, Mekong River is also a source where pollution existed. There are a lot of people selling their products near riverside especially Food Selling. After they ate, people leave their trashes all over the river bank. Not only this, people who live close to Mekong River also threw their huge amount of garbages into the river. The pollution from the trashes spread to the freshwater species and it also affects the fisherman(s)  as they’re going to eat those species. No one realizes these situations that had happened into the province and country.

Nothing surprise saying that transportation is one of the pollution sources that existed in this crowded city. As I visit my community, a lot of pollution of smoke from cars and motorbikes spread to the city population. There are a lot of wealthy people that use cars and motorbikes, which is so rare that they use bikes in this generation. Air pollution is all over, it really needs solution!

Both city and rural area are affected by pollution. In the city, the main sources of pollution are the Mekong river, Sala Chen market, and transportation. In rural areas, the main sources of pollution are from the factories. People wouldn’t think it is a very important problem that needs a solution. In my opinion, this situation is unjust for people who live close to those places. For some reason, people who throw the garbages, just because they weren’t the one who gets affected if they’re not living near that places. I would say some of them are rich as well.

Finally, the growth of this province is starting. Everyone starting to have a campaign where they’re trying to reduce the trash. I think the provincial office is also trying to create a secure environmental justice for Kampong Cham. I’m glad that students putting their effort once a week to pick the trash from their community area, which helps Kampong Cham a lot.

The week after, we did some argumentative writing of the topic that’s we’re passionate about that related to our exploration (project-based learning) or the topic that related to SDGs. First of all, we were taught how to write a thesis statement. So What is a Thesis Statement?

  • Thesis Statement is...

Starting the introduction with thesis statement would be very helpful for the reader to understand our main point. Writing an argumentative would be very fun and an important experience for me. I’m looking forward to seeing my argumentative essay done!

 

 

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Science – Matter

Atoms is a very small element. Even though we can’t see them visually, but it is one of the consideration topics that we should learn about. This round I’ve been learning about Atom Family. To give us more understanding about Atoms family, the facilitator gave us a few paragraphs that could explain it and I found it very helpful for this science learning. 

In the center of Matterville, there is a place called the Nucleus Arcade, where two members of the Atoms Family like to hang out. Perky Patty Proton, like her sisters, is quite large with a huge smile and eyes that sparkle (+). Patty is always happy and has a very positive personality. Nerdy Nelda Neutron is large like Patty, but she has a boring, flat mouth and eyes with zero expression (o). Her family is very apathetic and neutral about everything. Patty, Nelda, and their sisters spend all their time at the arcade.

Around the Nucleus Arcade, you will find a series of roadways that are used by another member of the Atoms Family, Enraged Elliott Electron. Elliott races madly around the Arcade on his bright red chrome- plated Harley-Davidson. He rides so fast that no one can be sure where he is at any time. Elliott is much smaller than Patty and Nelda and he is always angry because these bigger relatives will not let him in the Arcade. He has a frown on his face, eyes that are squinted with anger, and a very negative (-) attitude.

The first energy street can only hold only two Electron brothers. The second energy street, called the Energy Freeway, can hold 8 brothers. The third energy street, called the Energy Superhighway, can hold 18 of the brothers.

The morale of Matterville is stable as long as each negative Electron brother is balanced out by one positive Proton sister. The number of residents in Matterville

depends on the Proton and Neutron families.

Challenge: What would happen to the morale of Matterville if one Elliott Electron was kidnapped?

As you’re reading through the Atom Family paragraphs above, I hope that you learnt something about it. 

On the second week, our facilitator assigned us the topic, research about it and teach everyone in the class. I was assigned to present and teach about Atomic Force. Basically, Atomic Force is the reaction when two particles charge either repel or attract each other. Basically, there are four types of Atomic Force which have different roles; Strong Force, Weak Force, Gravitational Force, and Electromagnetic Force. These are my team slideshow to help more understanding about Atomic Force:

In conclusion, I enjoy learning about atoms because it is interesting to learn about things that we don’t see. I’m excited to get to know more about these topics and it would be very fascinating thing if I could see them with microscope!

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Beginning of Algebra

This year I was introduced to the beginning of algebra. I was a little bit nervous because I was scared that I won’t perform well in class by solving the problem with algebra. I’m learning 5A grade books. We didn’t go deep to specific and advanced algebra, but our facilitator (Sam) taught us the general information of what algebra is. My first thought to algebra is to think as deep as Mariana Trench, highest as Mount Everest, critically as Albert Einstien. In fact, the secret is that we always solve the problem with algebra every day, but we never notice about it. I enjoy and figure out about learning it, but sometimes getting dizzy as well. Conclusively, I think it is very important to learn about algebra which is one of a good learning strategies for solving any problems. Positively, if we’re being optimistic and getting excited about it, boring would never come. Trust me! After I got this lesson, I’m now familiar with it. 

I also found it very helpful by using the pictures instead of algebra. Sam teaches us different types to solve different words problem. This is a really good learning strategy. These are the words problem that I solve using pictures and algebra:

John had 300 stamps. He sold 120 stamps and gave 13 of the rest to his brother.

(a) How many stamps did he give to his brother?

(b) How many stamps did he have left?

At first, I found it complicated, but I wasn’t panic. I calm down and solve the problem step by step. 

In addition, Sam also teaches us about fraction, order of operation, distribute of properties and prime factorization. I believe that Math is one of the subjects that uses critical thinking skill. It is very important and it has the ability to help our future job.

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Week 1- Adobe Software & Programs

This is the year that I start to learn about Multimedia. For the first week, Cindy (our facilitator) teaches us about researching skill; how to be a good researcher. So the topic that I chose for doing research was about Mount Everest. After I chose my topic, she taught us about Primary Sources and Secondary Sources. These are the example of the two sources:

Primary Source: Diary, Recording or any type of sources that happened during that event

Secondary Source: Review, Magazine (possible), any type of sources that are not experienced in the first-hand. 

On the second week, I created a poster that related to the topic I researched about. To warm everyone’s up, Cindy started the class by doing Adobe learning. For those students who are good at each Adobe Software, they were chosen to teach the classmate. I’m part of the teaching one of the Adobe software which is “InDesign”. The teaching went very well and everyone learned a lot from it. Not only teaching people, but I also learnt more about Photoshop and Illustrator. I’ve learnt so many things and tool from those software. After we finished all the lesson, teacher Cindy assigned us to do the poster that we should use 3 software and try our best to create this poster creatively from what we’ve learned (Indesign, Photoshop, and Lightroom). For the point, she will give us full score if we have completed 10 things: 

Criteria Points
Poster is 1-page long 1
Poster is exported correctly as a PDF print document 1
Poster includes English text 1
Poster includes correctly formatted Khmer text 1
Poster includes a shape (square, rectangle, circle, line, polygon, etc.) 1
Poster includes an image created in Photoshop 1
Poster includes an image edited in Lightroom 1
Poster is well-designed, clear and neat 1
Google Doc includes explanation (at least 5 things) for image created in Photoshop 1
Google Doc includes explanation (at least 5 changes) for image edited in Lightroom 1

For the lesson that I mentioned below, was very fun for me. I got a lot of tips for researching skill and it helps me to become a better researcher. I also learnt about the tips to analyze whether this source might be credible or not. It is very important to know because after we get the information, sometimes we have to share or spread it. If it isn’t credible, it might lead us into trouble or any types of problem that could happen due to untruth info. 

For the last week of round 1, I’ve learnt about computer programming. If you don’t know what program is, it is a set of instruction that has been executed by a computer. I haven’t been going deep through the specific types of computer programme yet, but just getting to know the basic general information. First, Cindy introduced us about Pseudocode. It’s mean not a specific language; kind of fake code. So down below, I will tell what have I learnt from Pseudocode:

  • Math Operators
  • Output print
  • Variable
  • If or Else statement

Last but not least, we learnt about a game called “Divide and Conquer”. The word of the day is “Efficiency” which mean easier. We were doing an activity that about conquered the problem by using the strategies. So this is the problem :

There is a marker in one of the sixteen people’ hand. One person has to guess who has the marker. That person has to find the efficient strategies for this problem or riddle. 

The strategies for this problem is to divided half and half until there is two answer. I find it very helpful and I enjoy learning this class!

This was the first time for me to learn about this and I’m excited to go through the lesson the next week. I’m proud that I’ve involved in technology. I hope that more girls involve in Technology!

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Becoming a Cambodian Poet- Khmer Poem

This year, our facilitator, Sokha mostly focuses on writing Khmer poems. For me, I’m very excited every time I hear the words “Poems” because I could express my feeling or developing any creative thinking in my poems. I’ve written a lot of poems, but I’m going to share two of my different poems. One is about strategies of a successful person and another one is about the infinity sweat and tears. *English Translation Below*

យុទ្ធសាស្រ្តភាពជាអ្នកជោគជ័យ

(បទ៖ ពាក្យ១១)

ភាពជោគជ័យនីមួយៗបានដោយការប្រឹង

ជីវិតតឹងតាងឬឧបសគ្គច្រើនប៉ុនណា

ចិត្តត្រូវរឹងពឹងប្រើខួរក្បាលនិងពិចារណា

គ្មានទេថាចុះចាញ់ដោយសម្តីអ្នកដទៃ។

គ្មានទេមនុស្សយើងកើតមកឥតខ្ចោះល្អគ្រប់ដប់

ត្រូវសម្របសម្រួលជីវិតឲ្យបានមានន័យ

ចេះក្លាហាន តស៊ូ ជាមនុស្សដ៏មានតម្លៃ

នេះប្រពៃថ្លៃថ្លាហើយបន្តដំណើរទៀត។

ដើរផ្លូវខុសគេមិនប្រាកដថាលទ្ធផលខុស

យើងជាមនុស្សស្រាវជ្រាវថ្មីធ្វើអ្វីយ៉ាងខ្មីឃ្មាត

បើធ្វើមិនត្រូវមិនបោះបង់ស្រាវជ្រាវថ្មីទៀត

រួចហើយឆ្លៀតពេលរៀបរៀងគោលដៅនៃជីវិត។

អ្នកជោគជ័យមិនដែលរអ៊ូនូវអ្វីគាត់ធ្វើ

តែងតែដើរប្រឹងបន្តមិនថាឆ្ងាយឬជិត

ចូរចាំថាជាមនុស្សត្រូវប្រើភាពច្នៃប្រឌិត

ជោគជ័យពិតប្រាកដសមនឹងបានកោដសរសើរ។

ដើម្បីបាននូវភាពជោគជ័យត្រូវដាក់គោលដៅ

កុំចាំ!ត្រូវចាប់ផ្តើមប្រតិបត្តិកុំបង្អើរ

គេរិះគន់កុំឈប់ អ្នកជោគជ័យបន្តធ្វើ

ឆ្ពោះដំណើរជោគជ័យទើបអ្នករិះគន់ប្តូរចិត្ត។

អ្នកជោគជ័យម៉តចត់ ប្រឹងធ្វើច្រើនជាងនិយាយ

ញាតិមិត្តឆ្ងាយជិតធ្លាប់រិះគន់ផ្លាស់ប្តូរគំនិត

នេះហើយដែលគេហៅថាអ្នកជោគជ័យមែនពិត

មិិនប្រឌិតទេជោគជ័យតែងស្វែងរកឪកាស។

អ្នកជោគជ័យតែងយកកំហុសទុកជាមេរៀន

ចិត្តមិនអៀនប្រៀនតតាំងមិនប្រឹងរើបម្រះ

ពេលអានហើយសូមអ្នកទាំងអស់គ្នាចងចាំច្បាស់

គ្រប់យុទ្ធសាស្រ្តចាប់ផ្តើមគំនិតថ្មីតរៀងទៅ។

*English Translation*

Every successful are coming from the determination
Even though there are a lot of obstacles in life
Be strong, using our brain and consideration
There’s no way that giving up through people’s opinion
No one is perfect
Be flexible to make it meaningful
Brave, Patient, Be a valuable person
That’s great and continue this journey
Walking different path doesn’t mean bad result
We’re love researching, doing thing carefully
When doing the thing wrong, never give up and try another method
Having time to set the goal in our life
A successful person never complain what they’re doing
Always continue no matter near or far
Always remember to use ingenuity
Real succeed deserves real admirations and proud
To be successful, always setting the goals
Don’t wait, just do it!
If people criticize, don’t stop; CONTINUE
Work hard toward success and people will change their mind
Work hard more than talk
People stop criticizing us
This is what we call a real succeed
I’m not making it up, but a successful person always seek for opportunity
Someone who successful always keeps mistake as a lesson
Never be shy!
After reading it, please keep it in your mind
Every strategy, start practicing RIGHT NOW!

ញើសនិងទឹកភ្នែកអមតៈ

(បទ៖ ព្រហ្មគិតិ)

នៅក្នុងក្រុមគ្រួសារ                             មានម៉ាក់ប៉ាប្អូននិងបង

មានទាំងយាយតាផង                        ល្អកន្លងសុភមង្គល។

ប៉ាម៉ាក់ស្រឡាញ់គ្នា                              មិនរេរាត៉ាងដិតដល់

នេះប្រាប់ឲកូនយល់                            និងបានស្គាល់ពីប៉ាម៉ាក់។

កូនតែងសង្ឃឹមថា                              មួយគ្រួសារមិនបែកបាក់

គ្រួសារដែលជាក់លាក់                         គ្មានប្រលាក់ស្នាមឈ្លោះគ្នា។

ប៉ាខ្ញុំធ្វើសំណង់                                     មិនបង្អង់ធ្វើការងារ

ម៉ាក់ចិញ្ចឹមមាន់ទា                             មិនរេរាគាត់ប្រឹងណាស់

លោកទាំងពីរប្រឹងខ្លាំង                      ប្រឹងកម្លាំងបានប្រាក់ខ្លះ

អ្នកមានគុណចំណាស់                         លោកនេះចាស់ៗអស់ហើយ។

ប៉ាម៉ាក់ប្រឹងខ្លាំងមេ៉្លះ                       កូនអាណិតណាស់ព្រះអើយ

ចង់ឲ្យលោកធូរស្បើយ                          ឲ្យលោកអើយជួយគាត់ផង។

ចិញ្ចឹមតូចដល់ធំ                                   លោកខិតខំស្រាយចំណង

លោកខំប្រឹងសាសសង                        រកសំណងដែលជំពាក់។

ប្រឹងស្រែករកជំនួយ                             រកអ្នកជួយឲ្យខ្ចីប្រាក់់

ឈឺចាប់ទាំងពីរនាក់                            ដូចគេចាក់កណ្តាលទ្រូង។

រកពេលជូតញើសគ្មាន                        លោកប្រិតប្រៀនប្រឹងកាយពូន

បាក់កម្លាំងពីខ្លួន                                លោកប្រឹងពួនលាក់បាំងកូន។

ឥឡូវលោកឈឺខ្លាំង                              បាត់កម្លាងនិងសាបសូន្យ

លែងបានមើលថែកូន                        នឹកដំបូន្មានប៉ាម៉ាក់។

លោកទៅរហូតហើយ                           កូនបានខ្សោយដូចគេចាក់

ឲ្យកូននៅតោកយ៉ាក                         នៅតែម្នាក់ឯងកំព្រា។

ជីវិតគ្មានប៉ាម៉ាក់                                រស់សោកាយ៉ាងវេទនា

មានតែរកការងារ                              ពេលឈឺជាគ្មានអ្នកថែ។

អានហើយសូមអ្នកគិត                     សូមប្រព្រឹត្តល្អដាក់ម៉ែ

ក៏ដូចឪពុកដែរ                                    កាយគាត់ប្រែតែចិត្តនៅ។

នេះហើយញើសអមតៈ                         ហូរស្រស្រាក់ពេញដំបៅ

ទឹកភ្នែកសមុទ្រជ្រៅ                            ដែលហូរទៅលែងមកវិញ។

*English Translation*

In a family, there are mom, dad, and siblings

Including grandparents amazing family full of happiness

My parents love each other so well

This shows and lets me know more about my parents

I always hope that this family won’t break

A happy family that never have an argument scar

My dad is a construction worker working really hard

My mom feeds hens and ducks she works really hard as well

They worked really really hard using their full energy to gain more money

They become old now their energy also become old

Oh, my parents, they work so hard it is very pitiful

Want them to get better praying for God to help them

Feed me from small to big they are trying to solve every issue

They do communication finding money

Asking for help, really need someone to lend them money

Hurting them both, feeling like someone putting the thorn in their heart

Finding no time to wipe the sweat. Being an amazing parents

Having no energy in the body. Hiding their sickness from me

Now their illness spreading so badly, they were passed away

Will never see them again really miss them!

They will never come back and I’m so weak right now

Living so hard as an orphanage life

Life without parents living my life miserably

Finding a job on my own when I’m sick, no one looks after me

After reading it, please think!

Doing good things for mommy

As well as daddy their body gone, but not their soul

This what we call, the infinity sweat and tear had fallen over the scar

Deep ocean of tears that has flown, but never come back.

After learning about different types of the poem for several weeks, I’ve learnt and improved so much about writing poem properly and professionally. Not only this, but I also learnt some Khmer vocabularies that I’ve never known before. I’m proud that I participated and involved in this hard work. We’re having a plan to publishing junior cohort Khmer Poem and I’m excited to see this book and hope it will go very well. This is my second remarkable products that I’ve made!