I am a bookworm. I have read so many books and my favorite author is John Green. How about when I was little? Do I like to read and do I have any favorite Cambodian author?
When I was growing up I hate book. I have never step into the library because when I was little, there was no good children Khmer book. When I became a teenager, I start to read English books and I started to have this mindset where I think reading is fun and it can help us with so many academic goals. I wish when I was younger I have a good academic performances by having my parents read to me or I read more books.
This round I was involved in an exploration called “Khmer Literature Children’s Book”. This exploration is about writing story books for children. The goal of this exploration is to write a collection of 6 children’s stories, one for each of the Liger Core Values. The Liger Core Values are the values in my school that we express in order to become a change agent. There are 6 core values in total: Determination, Integrity, Appreciation, Stewardship, Optimism, and Ingenuity. Another goal is we want to spread the information of reading at a very young age and its importance. I feel regret not knowing these importance’s when I was young, so now to make it better I think this exploration will inspire me to spread the information to others young children and family.
I was writing a book that represent “Determination”, it’s about a family of bears who lived far away in Cambodia wild forest. One day the father of the five little bears got sick, so they have to go on an adventure to find medicine in order to help their father. During the adventure they have met some challenges because of their determine heart they fight through it and successfully help to save their father. This is the process that we did in order to finish the final product. First we gathered ideas, next we write our story down and repeat the process of peer editing over and over again. After we fully finished with the writing part we moved on to the illustration part. We painted our own art and then we scanned it and design the final book. I hope the final product will finish very soon and we actually get to publish and share it throughout Cambodia.
In conclusion, as a Cambodian perspective, I think reading to Khmer children at a very young age can help them to understand the language and help them to develop their brain system. It can help them to understand the meaning of the language and building keywords that will help to prepare for their future studies. It can also help them to develop their imagination and creativity. Cambodian parents are always busy doing their work and this problem may lead to a lack of communication and affect the relationship. So reading is one good way to build the relationship between the Khmer parent and the children.