Guest Post: Letter from Sam Orn

(*Note: Sam Orn is possibly my favorite student. Literally for the first three weeks of school, he was the only person whose name I knew. He wrote the letter below to send to my classroom in New York through the PC World Wise exchange program. I've edited it to make it more readable. If this doesn't make you smile, I don't know what will.)

Hello everybody! How are you? My name’s Tunn Sam Orn. I come from Cambodia. I’m a student at Hun Sen Taing Kork [High School]. I study [in] grade 11 “C”. I’m 18 years old and I have 7 brothers and sisters. In the future I want to be an engineer. Although I [want to be] an engineer, [I like studying English]. English language is my favorite language after my own and I like speaking with foreigner[s] although I can speak [only] a little or a bit, but I still try to speak with them. Furthermore, I’m so very happy that [we] have a foreigner [who] came from America. Her Name’s Cher Lin. She teaches students in my school and she is friendly with all the students and people in Cambodia [who] she [meets].

First, I want to tell you about my school. My school is in Taing Kork Village, Soyong Commune, Baray District, Kampong Thom Province in Cambodia. You know in my school there are seven [buildings]. One [building] is two floor[s]. In the second floor there is a good view because [it is] rich in trees in [the] school. In 2010 to 2011 there are 64 teachers and 1405 students, secondary and high school. All students in the school must wear a uniform when they come study. [The uniform is a white collared shirt with blue pants for boys and a blue skirt for girls.] If students [wear] a [different] color shirt, they would get [in trouble]. [In] one week they study 6 days except Thursday [they] study a half morning. In [...] one day they study two times: in the morning and the afternoon. In the morning all students start learning at 7:00 and finish at 11:00. [For] one hour they have a break. After [they] finish at 11:00 they go home and eat lunch, [they don’t] eat at school. In the afternoon, [they] start studying at 1:30 to 4:30, and they go home [and] eat dinner. But some students, they study extra school when they have free time. The subjects which they [study] are Math, Physics, English, Chemistry, and Biology. [At] 7:30 they come home and when [they] arrive at home some students teach themselves. Furthermore in my school there are 26 Red Cross students to help [if] some student [is] sick and [they] look after students. [The Red Cross students] wear a uniform that [is] different [from the other] students in school.

I hope you will write back to me because I want to know [about] there and about students in America, [student] activities, [and what the students do] when they [are] studying. If I know about something there, I would go to visit when I finish at University. I want to study there about English and I want to know about [the] view in America.

I wish you good health, good times, and success [in] all your studies and job.
Sincerely,

Tunn Sam Orn