Just some of the 40+ students who worked together to paint a map of the world on the outside wall of our school’s library. The students came in shifts of 2 hours each to draw a grid, draw the countries, paint the first coat, paint a second coat, make the edges look nice, and label the countries. One of my students came every day to help. He lives in the pagoda nearby, and with no classes, I guess he had nothing else to do! I’m sure he really enjoyed the process too.

The hardest and most tiring part for me was to not freak out. I was able to hold my OCD together, and let the students paint, sometimes quite poorly, and have fun.

After the map was finished, we had a World Map Small Party! We played the following games:
Slap the World Map – I called out a names of countries, and the students raced to slap the location of the country on the map.
Label the World Map Relay Race – I taped up a plastic wall map in our classroom. The students were divided into teams. Each student was given a name of a country. One person from each team had to run to the world map we painted on the library, find the country he/she was given, run back to the classroom, and write the name of the country on the appropriate place on the plastic map. After they finished, the next person in their team went. To make things even more complicated and make the students think hard, the map we painted on the library has the Pacific Ocean as its center. The map I hung up in the classroom is Middle East centered. Oh, the confusion.
Where Am I From? – I printed out photos of places and people from around the world, such as the Sahara Desert, the Niagara Falls, and the Great Barrier Reef. The students tried to guess where the photos were taken.

Then, we samples food from around the world. The students tried to guess where the food was from. Their favorite was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Their least favorite was cheese.

Cost of the project: $50, funded by the U.S. government which alloted the money to Peace Corps Cambodia in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps.

Student work time: 3 8-hour days of drawing, painting, and labeling.

Comments by students and teachers:
Cambodia is so small.
There’s so much water.
America’s so far from here!