Khmer440.com's light-hearted and perhaps outdated website page on English language

teaching begins: "If you can't hack it as a teacher anywhere in Asia there is

a special place for you: Cambodia."

However, it appears standards have risen, and that teaching is turning increasingly

professional.

A former teacher at Paññasastra University, who preferred not to be

named, said schools have started to refuse the less-than-experienced backpacker itinerant

who wants to make a quick buck from teaching.

There is now enough demand for good English teaching for IDP Australia to stage Phnom

Penh's first workshop on Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL),

at the Hotel Intercontinental on September 4.

Paul Mahony, chair of the steering committee, said: "There is a much higher

level of English here than there was ten years ago. So now people are getting more

serious. People want concrete qualifications, like the International English Language

Testing System."

He said he wants to see "a commitment by English language teachers to professional

development and active participation. I think there's a greater interest in standards

and benchmarking."

The theme of the workshop is "Practical Issues in Teaching". It will be

the forerunner to an annual CamTESOL conference, the first of which is scheduled

for March 12, 2005.