Three months of CLIP 2, Reading Day, a Tukbook in Melbourne

TukTalk 54 reviews the first three months of CLIP 2, marks National Reading Day and tells how Jack the Giant reached a Cambodian restaurant in Melbourne.

From the TukTuk team in Pursat, Cambodia

Happy Khmer New Year!😄

Smiling kindergarten girls in school uniform crowd together and look up

It's already April, and the cherry blossom season has come to an end in Fukuoka, Japan, where we are.🌸

The Khmer New Year, which everyone in Cambodia has been looking forward to, is coming up on April 14th - 16th!! All major New Year celebrations have been banned for the past two years owing to COVID-19, but the restriction has finally been lifted this year! TukTuk is looking forward to the end-of-year party and wishes you all a happy April!

Adrian & Mayu & Milly 🦘👘 👶🏻

Three months have passed! 💻

CLIP2 January to March collage: teachers work at laptops and children study in classrooms

Three months into the year 2022, the COVID situation in Cambodia has significantly improved, and it is now possible to enter Cambodia easily for tourism purposes.

The first year of the CLIP2 project, which is presently underway, has reached the end of its first quarter, and we have been able to complete the project's launch, the first workshop, and follow-up visits to target schools during this period. We're also making good headway on the resource package, which includes teaching resources based on our new storybook.

In the next three months, we will begin working on a new original storybook, which will be our second book of the year, and we will hold a second workshop in May. We're looking forward to meeting the teachers during our next workshop!

Let's read books 📖

National Reading Day graphic with photos of preschool children reading picture books at school

Do you enjoy reading? How easy is it to get books where you are?

The 11th of March is marked as "National Reading Day" in Cambodia. Not every school has a library, and not every province has community-run libraries as well. Books are also usually found in the corner of a stationery store, but with the rise of smartphones and the Internet, not as many people are interested to pick up a book and reading.

There did not appear to be any specific activity in schools in Pursat Province on this day, although there was a six-day online event organized by the Ministry of Education. We hope that the "National Reading Day" will encourage more people to enjoy the pleasures of reading!

TukTuk's Mobile Library Project, which lends storybooks to target preschools, has also been running since 2018, with the intention that children will be exposed to a diverse range of storybooks at an early age.

Khmer of the month

Khmer Word: Niyeay Leng

April 1st is April Fool's Day, and Cambodians love to talk, tell funny stories, and joke around. 😆 TukTuk's Khmer staff, of course, loves funny stories so much that they sometimes burst into tears of laughter. When you visit Cambodia, you should bring at least one joke with you to "Niyeay Leng" (joke around) 😜

Khmer Food:

Tuk Daung (Coconut juice) 👇

A fresh green coconut with a straw, the Khmer drink of the month Tuk Daung, with a short description

You can read the book in Jack & Katie's country...!🐨

Collage: a woman holds the TukTuk book Jack the Giant at Angkor Reach Restaurant in Melbourne beside the book characters

"Jack the Giant" is the first storybook of TukTuk. This book is now available in Australia, the native country of the book's original characters, Jack and Katie!

The book has been graciously placed in the Angkor Reach Restaurant, a Cambodian restaurant in Melbourne, thanks to the generosity of the owner. There are approximately 66,000 Cambodians in Australia, and getting Khmer language picture books can be challenging for families with children living in the country.

We've realized that the Tukbooks can be enjoyed not just in Cambodia, but also by Cambodians living in other countries. We hope that our storybooks and educational materials will be enjoyed by a broader range of audiences. If you are interested in the TukBooks, check it here!

Tukstaff spotlight | Chhingchhing

Tukstaff Spotlight banner with a smiling portrait of TukTuk illustrator Chhingchhing

This month's spotlight shines on Chingching, our illustrator, who has been helping us remotely on the weekends to create our worksheets!

A small trivia about Chhingchhing 😉:

Favorite activities：Reading novels, drawing illustrations, making worksheets, and looking for ideas that inspire others.
What I do for TukTuk：Creating worksheets and drawing illustrations for resources.
A word for everyone： I appreciate everyone who contributes to TukTuk and helps preschools in Pursat Province where educational resources such as worksheets, storybooks, and toys are in short supply. TukTuk, I hope, will grow more in the future to benefit the children all over Cambodia. I don't have anything to offer you, but I wish you all the best of health, luck, and success in the future.

Chhingchhing graduated this year from Phare Ponleu Selpak, the Battambang art school where she studied and recently concluded assisting a school project. On Saturdays and Sundays, she helps TukTuk with worksheet creation in the hopes of pursuing her dream of being a designer and honing her skills in Phnom Penh.😊

We are currently looking for volunteers with the following skillsets to help TukTuk bring educational resources to Cambodia;

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If you want to get involved or know someone with skills that could help us spread positive education in Cambodia, hit that link below and say hi (we're friendly, promise).

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