PTA - Pannakhmer International Academy - Cambodia

I used to teach at Pannakhmer International Academy. The building and classrooms were adequate for teaching. The problem with this school is the curriculum and management.

First off, the curriculum is supposed to based on American curriculum, but yet they used materials based on British English. There were no correlation to the American curriculum. There is not a standard set and sometimes students are confuse what level of English they are learning.

The students are not tested on listening and speaking as well as some other classes that they take, such as Grammar and literature. The core-English was okay since they use the book test, but what's not okay is not checking the test to ensure that's it covered the material that was taught. What they did is took one book and broke it down into several level, but when they use the test, they don't bother to check that the test are accurate and it covered the lessons. Now the reading test is just awful, the worst I had seen in any school. The school Program Director copied the test directly from the book, not even bothering to mix it up or use some creativity. My students complained time after time about both tests.

The teachers, although graduated from universities are ill-prepare to teach because they don't plan the lessons and there wasn't any oversight. The program coordinator was just absolutely too busy with her outside teaching as well as the Program Director. There's no teacher training or professional development course. We don't get together and talk about the curriculum and try to make things better. However, I heard there was one American Asian who was respected by all the teachers to be very knowledgeable and experienced, was trying to turn the program around but for some apparent reason, he walked off the job too. Leaving the school with no quality management.

If you are a teacher looking for a job in Takhmao town, this is not the school for you. We once had many foreign teachers and one by one they just disappeared. The low is pay and not equal across the board. Personally, I think they are prejudice and pay by the color of your skin if you are a foreign teacher, whether than by you skills and experiences.

For the students, I just feel so bad for them. They are paying the highest price in Takhmao for education that is one of the lowest quality.