The Giving Tree School

Each of our caring international and local practitioners brings unique knowledge and experience to The Giving Tree. In addition to their education and training in early years learning and their extensive experience working with young children, our practitioners and assistants bring with them skills in music, theatre/costume making/role playing, dance, and gymnastics, among others. We believe that sharing our skills with each other will benefit all of our staff and the life of The Giving Tree in general. Please scroll bellow to view our team.
	Senior Teacher Marie-Line - Monkeys 3 Originating from France, Marie Line has a wide experience in teaching young children. She taught the French curriculum to Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten in immersion in the US, New Zealand and Dubai. She completed a degree in Education with the University of Rouen, France, as well as a certificate in Early Years settings with the Institute of Dubai/Scottish early years 's association. For the second year in a row, Marie Line will be teaching our Monkey class as well as taking on the role of The Giving Tree’s Senior teacher this year.
	Teacher Simix: Bunnies 1 Simix started her career as a nanny for expat families seven years ago. She worked for two different families where she was responsible for the daily routine of the children and the afternoon activities. The last two years Simix has been working at The Giving Tree as a teacher assistant. The first year as an assistant in the Owls class and the second year in the Elephant class before being offered a teacher position in the Bunnies class. Simix is joyful, patient and a creative teacher with a focus on each child's needs.
	Teacher Sophy: Bunnies 1 Sophy comes from Phnom Penh and earned her high-school diploma from Preah Sysovath highschool . She also earned a certificate of English from Olympic School, Chao Ponhearhok School. She is married and a mother of two children, one boy and one girl. She speaks Khmer and English. She loves to read, dance, swim, sing songs, play sports, paint, go to the seaside, do artwork, play with children and have fun. Her work experience includes being a nanny for 11 years (ages 0 to 8), teacher assistant at Gecko and Garden and a teacher assistant at The Giving Tree for 3 years. She is conscientious, hard working, honest and pleasant and considers the needs and safety of the children at all times, She has a great deal of imagination to keep the children occupied constructively. She is very excited about teaching the Bunnies class. She finds the children very cute and enjoys working with them.
	Teacher Srey Peou: Bunnies 2 Srey Peou has been working at The Giving Tree since 2009. She has experience in teaching general English program for adult Cambodian students since 2002 at two local private schools. Meanwhile she volunteered as an English Teacher at COHRFOR NGO where she accompanied foreign volunteers for youth education and community field visits. She completed an English Course at ACE in 2000 and received an English High Diploma Course at COHRT NGO. This includes additional qualifications and trainings for example short courses like Teacher Intensive Training Course in English, hospitality, general management and human resource. Moreover, she extremely enjoys working at The Giving Tree. She’s a passionate and creative teacher and is looking forward to teaching the Bunnies.
	Teacher Makara Bunnies 3: Makara has been with the Giving Tree since the very beginning. She has years of experience as an early-childhood educator. Before she joined the Giving Tree, she worked as a private childhood educator for expat families, managed private playgroups with structured, educational activities and worked as an English tutor in an international preschool. Makara brings her wide experience into the Bunnies classroom.
	Monkey 1: Teacher Charlotte Charlotte was born and raised in London, England. She moved to Cambodia last year in 2010, and instantly fell in love with the country and decided to stay here long term. Previously Charlotte taught kindergarten at an international school, Cambodia International Academy. Before this she worked as a volunteer at a local Montessori school where she is still volunteering. At the Montessori school she learnt that learning through play is an important part of a child's development. Laura is passionate about teaching young children and very excited to be a part The Giving Tree and join the team!
	Monkeys 2 Teacher Susan Susan is a trained Montessori teacher for children eight months to seven years of age. She received her training from the North American Montessori Centre. Her 7 years’ experience in teaching pre-school children includes work at Christian International School and The Giving Tree Pre-School. She loves children and has a passion for childhood education. Her desire is to see each child happy and to ensure their needs are met while teaching them self-reliance skills, respect for oneself and others, as well as care for the environment. Over the last two years Susan has gained experience with special needs children, especially in the areas of addressing speech and language delays and behaviour management.
	Teacher Smitha - Owls 1 Smitha is from India. She moved to Cambodia in August 2010. She is a law graduate and has done teachers training course from Modern Montessori International, London (India branch). She has teaching experience with 3 to 6 years old. Before coming to Phnom Penh she was teaching in an international school in India. She has a strong passion to educate young minds and help them blossom into well-rounded responsible, and successful individuals. Her greatest strengths include inspiring and motivating students. She can actively engage their eager minds by incorporating a variety of enjoyable activities, and cooperative learning projects. She is excited to be a part of TGT team.
	Teacher Anna-Mari - Owls 2 Anna-Mari comes from Finland. She is a Bachelor of social services and also holds a degree in pre-school teacher studies from Finland. She has worked with children since 2005, both in Finland and in Cambodia, as a kindergarten teacher and a pre-school teacher in several kindergartens. She also worked in an integrated special group for children with special needs. Anna-Mari came to Cambodia for the first time in 2008 to work as a volunteer in a Cambodian orphanage (CPCDO) and has been back several times since. She was teaching English, playing games and giving the children personal attention and care. In September 2010 she took the international kundalini yoga teacher training program in Phnom Penh and is now a certified kundalini yoga teacher. She also did the Radiant Child yoga course and studied the basics of dance movement therapy.
	Teacher Jessica - Elephant class Jessica grew up in New Mexico where she earned her Master's Degree in Elementary Education from the University of New Mexico. She has a TESOL endorsement (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and has spent 12 years teaching in the US and in Ecuador. Her passio is teaching early literacy skills and is very excited about joining The Giving Tree team.
	Hanna - Support Teacher Elephant Hana comes from the US and recently joined The Giving Tree as a support teacher in our Elephant class. She holds a BA degree in Graphic design and a TESOL Certificate and before joining The Giving Tree she taught English and Math to Pre-K children at Raffles Montessori International School. Hana is very creative and eager to teach our Elephants.
	Yen - Chinese Teacher Yen is The Giving Tree’s new Chinese teacher. She is a Chinese Malaysian and speaks Mandarin and Cantonese. Yen taught in an International School in Malaysia for 3 years and has also managed a private day care for 2 years. She is looking forward to teaching Mandarin at The Giving Tree School for the coming new term.
	Julie - French Teacher Julie is a native French speaker. She studied Psychology at University of Strasbourg and obtained a Master degree in the field. While studying, she had a lot of contacts with children (by teaching, helping with their homework and babysitting), and worked in different domains in a hospital, such as maternity and paediatric services. Julie decided to come to Cambodia to discover another culture and to teach her mother tongue and share her own culture with the children. Julie’s French program will offer activities adapted to the children's abilities and will be focusing on developing transversal skills in an immersion setting (use of French language only). The aim is to introduce and/or extend French vocabulary and conversational skills through play based activities.
	Tierney McCourt - Afternoon program Tierneyis originally from Perth, Australia and has been in Cambodia since early 2011. Coming from a family of teachers, Tierney focused on early childhood studies through highschool and incorporated the subject in to her University Studies. She taught at a preschool/daycare for year out of university and lectured older students in subjects such as maths, science and history. She was also a part-time teachers assistant for 3 years. She beleives greatly for catering for an individual childs needs and giving them the motivation and opportunity to succeed and learn at their own pace. Tierney is very excited to join The Giving Tree team!
	Chenda: Teacher Bunnies - Toul Kork Chenda started out as a nanny for expat families and has been working as a teacher assistant for six years. She has been part of the Giving Tree Team from the very beginning and has worked as a teacher assistant in the Bunny and Monkey classes in our BKK branch, before being promoted to a teacher position in Toul Kork. Her professionalism, creativity and love for children made her an obvious choice when we decided to split the classes in Toul Kork and we are very happy to have her teach the Bunnies class!
	Loralie – Teacher Monkeys - Toul Kork Loralie is originally from the United States, though she has lived in Cambodia for the past 19 years. Over the past 11 years, she has taught preschool-aged children in a variety of settings, and she has set up and managed several pre-schools. She is also a mother of three young children. She is excited to join the Giving Tree Team!
	Stephane – Music Teacher Stephane discovered music when he first took some private piano lessons and after learning how to play the saxophone, music became his passion. He studied music at ‘Le Conservatoire’ in France for 7 years. After this he specialized in Jazz and improvised music and today he plays in different bands. Stephane came to Cambodia to teach music in an NGO and uses his free time to work with children in learning centers, schools and hospitals where he introduce them to music, painting and theatre.
	Sokuntear – Swimming & PE Teacher Sokhuntear is The Giving Tree’s swimming and physical education teacher, teaching gym, yoga, swimming and a healthy lifestyle to our young learners . Before she joined The Giving Tree she worked at the AusFit fitness club. She is a certified ‘Radiant Child’ Yoga teacher for children and a certified CamSwim swimming instructor with a First Aid training certificate from The Cambodian Red Cross
	Annina – Teacher Owls - Toul Kork Annina is a graduate from the University of Helsinki in Finland with many years experience working with children After her studies she worked as an Early Education teacher in an art kindergarten in Helsinki. After some years she continued her studies and got a master’s degree in education. During the past four years she has taught 1st to 3rd graders in primary school. She says; “I love children and find my work very interesting and exciting! Every day is different and inspiring. “Learning by doing” is one goal in my work and another important issue is to let children do their most significant work- play!” Anina is very excited to join the TGT team for the new school year!
	Lean - Admin Officer Lean was born in Villaba Leyte, Philippines and lived in Legazpi City until she graduated to get a Bachelor of Science and Business Administration at Aquinas University of Legazpi, Philippines. She worked a few years in the Philippines until she tried her chances abroad starting with Lebanon and then Cambodia. Lean is our Admin officer but not only that thanks to her well organized, loyal and lovely personality she is also a steady help to supervise the good functioning of the school. She is also well versed in working with kids as she was a teacher when she first arrived in Siem Reap, Cambodia. She speaks English and some French.
	Helen - Manager - BKK1 Branch Helen Dolling came to Cambodia for the first time in August 2008 and spent almost two years in Phnom Penh. After being away for one year; six months in her native Sweden and six months in Bangkok, she is now back in Phnom Penh and happy to be part of the Giving Tree Team. Helen holds a Master degree in Business Management and Organization.
	Yulia - Manager - Toul Kork Branch Yulia Baranova come from Russia where she studied and graduated in Psychology at the Saratov State University and started is career in Human Resource Management. She have more than eight years experience in Human Resource Management. She arrived in Cambodia in 2010 and started teaching English at a pre-school in Phnom Penh and she love working with children. She is very happy to join The Giving Tree team and she is looking forward to all the new projects and challenges.
	Anya - Co-Founder of The Giving Tree Anya is U.S. Certified KRI Kundalini Yoga teacher with over 8 years of experience teaching in the United States and to the expatriate communities in Russia (Moscow), Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and now Cambodia.
	Anna - Co-Founder of The Giving Tree Anna and her family moved from France to Cambodia in 2007. Her background as a director of a trilingual center for preschool-age children, and her certification in the Radiant Child program, as well as the arrival of her baby boy, logically brought up the idea of creating a quality education center for young children in Phnom Penh. Together with Anya, the ladies gave this idea life, and now are very proud to say that they have created The Giving Tree for their own kids!