Adam Little @ CIID

Students at the PEPY Ride School in Chanleas Dai by Jeff Kennel

I remember very clearly when I was accepted to the Pilot Year program at CIID. I had just arrived in Siem Reap after a 50km trip along a dirt highway with 20+ plus people and some ducks in the back of a pickup truck. I had been visiting a school in Chanleas Dai, a small community in Cambodia where access to electricity was difficult enough, let alone the internet. So immediately after disembarking from the pickup truck in Siem Reap, I went to an internet cafe to send my parents a message… and there was the email from Isabel!

So now I am in Copenhagen and I just read a blog post on the PEPY website about some computer programs created by students at the school in Chanleas Dai, the one I visited less than a year ago where water came from ground pump and electricity from solar panels. With help from OLPC’s Give One Get One program, PEPY has managed to equip the students of Chanleas Dai with 100 XO laptops, along with satellite internet access. Even though I knew the children were now using XOs, I was really astonished to see them creating their own computer programs and sharing them online. And the best part is, these programs are actually pretty cool!

Click on the number to reveal the name and then click on the name to hear the pronunciation

Through animation, interaction, sound, photography and graphics, the Chanleas Dai students (who are probably 10-12 years old) created small applications that teach spoken English, Khmer literacy or just told a story. All of this was done with a program called Scratch, which I assume comes packaged with the XOs. Scratch is a visual programming language created at MIT and is designed to teach children “21st century learning skills”. It is actually quite fun to use and the interface is almost all graphics, which makes language not an issue. It is also supported by a website where children can share their projects with people all over the world, although I imagine that might be challenging for students in Cambodia who are just starting to learn English.

See all the applications here: http://scratch.mit.edu/users/pepyride

I think it is really great that these students are learning Scratch to make programs to learn English and Khmer. Well done!