Month: October 2018

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Deeper into Algorithm

Algorithm is one of the most interesting lessons for me because it involves a lot of problem-solving concepts but we solve those problems by using smart and efficient formulas. During the course of algorithm, I am introduced to two new types of algorithm.

Our teacher (Cindy) gave us an extremely hard task which requires us to find the sum between 1 and 200 (1+2+3+4+5……200) with a limited time. As a result, all of us got the answers wrong in the first time; however after we are introduced to the formula to solve this problem which is (n+1) x (n/2), we could solve other problems that have the same goals so easily. We can take 200 which indicates n + 1 which is 201 to multiply with 100 which gives us the result of 20100.

Another algorithm that we have learned is divide and conquer. It is an algorithm used to solve problems by breaking it down into smaller pieces until we can manage to find the exact answers by following the same patterns of dividing over and over again. This is one example of a problem that can be solved using the divide and conquer algorithm:

In a museum, there is an ancient sculpture that has lasted since the very first centuries of human existence. Since it is a really important sculpture, there is a camera that takes a picture of the sculpture once every five minutes. One day, the security guard found it was missing during 8 am off Monday and 8 pm on Tuesday. Find out the exact time that the sculpture was stolen.

If I am not introduced to algorithm yet, I would find this problem as a days-long riddle in order to be solved. However, by using the divide and conquer algorithm, we can easily solve the riddle by using a simple pattern. First of all, we would divide all of the possible time for stealing the ancient sculpture into two. Then, we will ask for a photo from the camera that has taken during 8 pm on Monday which is right in the middle of 8 am on Monday and 8 pm on Tuesday. The next steps depend on what the photo shows; if it shows that the sculpture is still there at the time that the photo has taken, then it means the stealing happened later after that and if the photo does not show the sculpture, it obviously means that the sculpture was already stolen before this photo is taken. Then we can ask for a photo in the middle of each possible moments and continue the dividing until we find the exact moment that the sculpture has been stolen.

 

 

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Khmer Poem (Khmer Literature Competition)

Khmer literacy contains a diversity of genre that evolves through many historical periods. In our Khmer class, we have been writing different types of poems, educational and creative stories, etc. We are working toward publishing a Khmer poem book that contains all of our junior cohort works.


Because of my love for writing poems and literature, I attended a delightful competition during the Khmer Literature Festival, 2018. There, I went up and read my poem ( Sot Komnap) in front of three judges including Mrs. So Phina (One of the organizers of the event as well as an author), Ms. Romdoul Lichtek (A model in Cambodia) and another Author in Cambodia. As a result, another Liger student named Vutha and me shared the first place together in the competition. Here is the Khmer Poem I wrote and shared during the competition. It is about the Kingdom of Cambodia and Battambang:

អាណាចក្រសុវណ្ណភូមិកម្ពុជា ដោយ ចលលី


ឪ!​ ប្រទេសខ្មែរជាតិមាតុភូមិ                      ​ ដែនដីភិរម្យល្អគ្មានពីរ
បុព្វបុរសប្តូរជីវី                                                 អ្នកប្រាជ្ញសំភីមិនធម្មតា។
សុវណ្ណភូមិខ្មែរមានតម្លៃ                               ​​ ពូជមារយាទថ្លៃតាមតម្រា
អរិយធម៌វប្បធម៌ដ៏អស្ចារ្យ                             កេរឹ៏្តពីដូនតាដំណែលមក។
ប្រាសាទនៅពាសពេញទឹកដី                         រូបចម្លាក់ក្តីទាញភ្ញៀវមក
ទេសចរណ៏បរទេសតែងនឹកភ្នក                  សរសើរជម្រកធម្មជាតិខ្មែរ។
ស្ពានថ្មស្ថាបនានាមាត់ស្ទឹង                           គង្គារសន្ធិឹងហូរឥតល្ហែរ
លោកតាគ្រញូងសូមជួយថែ                          ដងស្ទឹងសង្កែរបាត់ដំបង។
យើងជាកូនខ្មែរត្រូវរក្សា ​                                វប្បធម៏ដូនតាជាចម្បង
​សម្បត្តិធម្មជាតិទាំងនោះផង                      ជាការតបស្នងដូនតាយើង៕​

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Writing Through Poem

In the first week of the third year,  there is a writing workshop that gives student a chance to write creative poems and stories. This workshop has inspired many students around the globe in Literacy field focusing on writing. Here is a poem I wrote: 

Angely Rose                                                                       Teacher: Camilla & Michael

Date: 8/21/2018                                                                Writing Through

                                         A Risky Life, For A Daughter

She had faced a thousand thorns

a thousand rains

a thousand storms

 

In her life, there’s no such joy

there’s no freedom

she can enjoy

 

Dark moments are always there

Accompanied, with tears and fear

 

Everyday, there’s no sunshine

there’s no beauty

her life is blind

 

Time passed by, hopes vanished

dreams are gone

and finished

 

But who knows, what luck can bring

what fate can do.

to make her sing

 

After nights, the sun rises

earth’s turning

but left a gift

Continue reading “Writing Through Poem”

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Community Documentary

Community documentary is an exploration of making different products for four different villages in Kampong Speu (Srey Sompong, Chrok Popul, Prey Onse, Trapaing Leap). It starts from the 20th of August until 5th October. The goal is to preserve the culture and to document the villages for the younger generations by making the podcast, gallery (photo book), video and blog. I was one of the two people who was making the podcast. There is a total of 18 students and two facilitators.
We have gone on three trips to the community that we are targeting. Pre-trip was to get to know the potential of the villages and to interview them about the community. When we came back , we organized the information for the second trip. We officially documented the villages by recording sounds, taking photos and videos during this second trip. Back at school, we took the documentaries that we recorded to edit into real final products.
Talking about podcast team, it requires a lot of technical skills and creative thinking in order to create good podcasts with well-told stories. We have gone through a lot of processes until we can finalize our products. First of all, we brainstormed a lot of ideas and ways to make our podcasts and then we chose the one that we think is the most efficient layout for us. Then, we started recording the interviews of villagers and village chiefs during our trips to get as many stories as possible from the community. After that, we sort all of the recordings and find three themes that indicate the potential and interesting parts of the four villages which are Development, Human Life (the blind and disabled grandma) and Agriculture. When we finished writing our script and translate the interviews into English (we also have to do English podcast besides Khmer), we started to make our product in the recording studio. After all of the recording parts, we started to edit those in Audacity, an efficient application for editing podcasts. That is the technical parts where we cut out the bad noises and mistakes of recordings. Adding background, intro and outro music helps to add more attraction to our podcasts. After all of the hard work, we finally have our final products.
In my experiences, I have never involved in making podcasts before but I wanted to try in this exploration. As in the first time, I made a few mistakes with recording at first but I learned from the mistake and apply it to the future experience and continued recording until the end of the trip. I was satisfied with learning a completely new skill because it provides me with unique experiences.

These are the links to our podcasts : 

 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCgjx7qwkAYkQ6wKhxC5ATQ?view_as=subscriber

  • Farming Leeks
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Lessons in Math Class

Math is an essential part of our lives, no matter who you are. In Liger Leadership Academy, we take the math curriculum from Singapore to study. Mostly, we dive deeper into a certain topic each week or round. Problem-solving and teamwork is the two most important part of our Math class. I like the way we practice our maths in different ways including solving word problems and exercises in our workbooks, doing fun math games and activities, decoding riddles with math, etc. I have access to a wonderful math learning source online which is called Khan Academy which is introduced by our math teacher.

In these last several weeks, we have been reviewing about adding, subtracting and multiplication of fractions and mixed numbers. We did a lot of exercises both in the workbook and textbook to help us practice the lessons that we have learned. Algebra is also a new lesson that has been introduced several weeks ago. It is a new and efficient way to solve math problems that I have never learned about before. I am looking forward to learning new lessons in math class. 

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Studying Etymology

In this first term of my third year at Liger, we are focusing on Root Words and Etymology in the literacy class. We have been learning different root words that originated from Greek and Latin. Those root words include bio, photo, Phil, sci, phon, aud, aqua, etc. This is a splendid opportunity for me to learn more about the literacy of English and it helps me more with my vocabulary skills. We have been reading articles and we had our first official peer discussion about the articles that we have read.
I read about a deaf couple who own an extremely successful business in spite of their disability and discrimination. The morals of this article are that even we are disabled or different from others, it doesn’t mean that you can’t pursue your dreams. Many disabled people gave up their dreams because of discrimination and difficulties. However, the article is an inspiration and I would highly encourage other people to do the same as the deaf-couple which overcame their great difficulties.

The inspiring article I read: https://newsela.com/assignment/8978054