Six Months Teaching English in Battambang Changed My Life

I signed up with a volunteer organization to teach English in Battambang after finishing my master's degree in education. I'd spent my whole life in classrooms as a student; now I wanted to be on the other side, somewhere completely different from everything I knew.

Battambang is Cambodia's second city, but it feels like a big village. Colonial architecture lines the riverfront, art galleries hide in converted shophouses, and the pace is gentle and unhurried. I was placed at a community school on the outskirts of town — a simple concrete building with plastic chairs, a whiteboard, and 35 incredibly enthusiastic students aged 8 to 14.

My first day was humbling. I had lesson plans, teaching materials, and a degree in education. None of it prepared me for a room full of children who had walked 3 km in the heat to learn English, whose families earned $3-4 a day, and who were so desperately eager to learn that they'd crowd around me after class asking for extra homework. The contrast with students in India who treated English class as an obligation was stark.

I taught four hours a day, five days a week. Mornings I'd work with beginners — alphabet, basic words, simple conversations. Afternoons were intermediate classes where we'd read stories, practice dialogues, and play vocabulary games. The kids' progress was astonishing. By month three, my beginners were having basic conversations. By month six, my intermediate students were writing short essays about their lives.

One student, a 12-year-old girl named Sreymom, stood out. She'd arrive 30 minutes early every day, notebook already open, and would stay after class to practice. Her father was a rice farmer, her mother sold vegetables at the market, and education was her only path to a different future. On my last day, she gave me a letter she'd written in English — imperfect but heartfelt — thanking me for "opening the door to the world." I still can't read it without crying.

Outside of teaching, I fell in love with Battambang's art scene. Phare Ponleu Selpak, a circus and performing arts school for disadvantaged youth, put on shows that rivaled anything I'd seen in Mumbai. The galleries, the street art, the independent cafes — Battambang has a creative energy that completely surprised me.

I also traveled on weekends — the bamboo train, ancient hilltop temples, bat caves at sunset, and fruit wine tastings at local farms. Every weekend felt like a mini adventure without ever leaving Battambang province.

This experience didn't just fill a gap year. It redirected my career. I'm now working in educational development, and I return to Battambang every year to see my students. Sreymom is now 14 and dreams of being a doctor. I believe she'll make it.