Team VII (18 September 2018 – 22 February 2019)
Team VII (18 September 2018 – 22 February 2019)
Sabaidee,
We are Team VII and very much excited about staying in Laos from September 2018 onwards. As we are spread over three schools in the village Sikeud and the Lao-German Technical College in Vientiane, we will briefly describe what our roles and tasks are within the project.
Sabaidee and hello everyone!
My name is Malin and I am happy to stay and work here in Laos. I am responsible for the pre-schoolers at Ban Sikeud Primary School, where I also offer “Singlish” for Activity Time in the afternoon. At Ban Phang Heng Lower Secondary School, I continue the “Conversation Club”. Moreover, I work with lovely Ms Saysamone to enhance her English skills. Together with Anja, I document our daily life here for also sharing other special experiences on our “Live” pages, the Pageflow. New photos and videos are regularly uploaded.
I am both grateful for all these new experiences and looking forward to everything that is yet to come!
Hi everyone, my name is Meike.
I am responsible for English at both primary schools, which means I get to work with the Lao teachers Ms Mit, Ms Noy & Ms Bounpheng. As they have been part of the project from the start, I am both excited about seeing what they have learned from my predecessors already and curious about finding out what I can help them with still.
Other than that, I set up an English Beginners class for the newly qualified teacher Ms Khamseng, as well as the science teacher Ms Chanmany, and maths teacher Mr Thongsing. For the rest of the time, I teach some pupils of Ban Phang Heng Primary School, i.e. five “Mopsy” groups and in “Singlish” during Activity Time. My “special task” is being in charge of the blog – for this, I distribute interesting articles to the team so there is constant reading material to come for you readers to enjoy!
Hello and Sabaidee,
I am Pauline, or “teacher Pauline”, as the students call me.1 I work at Ban Phang Heng Lower Secondary School, where I teach English to the mathematics teachers Mr Noy, Ms Toukham, Ms Chanpen, and the PC teacher Ms Nalee. Furthermore, I offer several Activity Times: I do the Maths Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and together with Malin I sing various songs during “Singlish” at Ban Sikeud Primary School. On Mondays and Thursdays, I offer the Games Club to help students improve their English in a playful and fun way.
My special task is called “media manager”, which means I have to organise the hard drive and get everyone to upload their documents on time.
Hello everyone,
my name is Jasmin and I teach English and Science in Laos. Besides closely working with the science teacher Ms Khamsee Thanbounhueang, I offer the Activity Times “Science Lab” and “Reading Club”. For my “special task”, I am responsible for the Science Lab and am the housekeeper in the villa. On top of that, I take care of four Mopsy classes at Ban Phang Heng Primary School.
Hello,
I am Natalie and I am 24 years old. I teach English at Ban Phang Heng Secondary School, where I work together with the teachers Ms Souk, Ms Donekeo, and Ms Daovone. In addition to that, I am responsible for the Didactics Room. I enjoy working with my tandem teachers and my time in Laos, generally!
Sabaidee and hello everyone!
My name is Marleen, and together with Jasmin I am responsible for the Science Section at Ban Phang Heng Secondary School. There, we explore the world of science in cooperation with the Lao teachers in charge of science, Mr Sackbong and Ms Khamsee, which I enjoy very much. Jasmin and I also offer additional experiments during the “Science Lab” Activity Time in the afternoon. Furthermore, I am responsible for the Lending Library and teach English to Ms Amphaivone. I am full of excitement about my stay in Laos!
Hi,
I am Anja, 25 years old and I teach maths at Ban Phang Heng Secondary School. My main tasks are helping the maths teachers Mr Noy, Ms Toukham, and Ms Chanpen prepare their upcoming maths lessons, as well as then accompanying them to their classes. I am excited about trying out new things in the “Maths Club” during Activity time, too. Together with Malin, I am responsible for the Pageflow.
LGTC – Lao-German Technical College
Hello everyone! We are Nicole Wiesa, Patricia Hopp, and Dilara Erdogan from the LGTC in Vientiane. In the following three pragraphs we want to introduce ourselves shortly and tell you a little about what we do.
Sabaidee and hello everyone 🙂
My name is Patricia and I will turn 24 in only a few days – I am super excited to spend my birthday here in Vientiane. I work as an English teacher at the Lao-German-Technical College. During the week days, I work closely together with my tandem-teacher Ms Akina. We meet four times a week, either to prepare lessons and teaching materials together or to do tandem-teaching. From Monday to Thursday, I also teach Lao teachers from the LGTC in the afternoon as well as BHS students in the evening and once a week during Activity Time. Both groups just started to learn English and are very motivated and eager to broaden their knowledge in a foreign language, which is a pleasure for me to see. Besides my job as a teacher, I am responsible for the Lending Library and the Didactics Room.
Hello and Sabaidee, my name is Nicole, I am 25 years old and volunteering at the Lao-German Technical College. Teaching the Intermediate class of the BHS students every evening and every Wednesday afternoon is only one of my tasks at the LGTC. Moreover, I teach the teachers of the LGTC in Technical English every afternoon. It is great to see that the teachers are very motivated and attend class on a regular basis. Furthermore, it is a shared learning exchange as the teachers improve their English and I learn more about technical processes by talking with them about technical terms.2
In the morning, I join the regular English classes of my tandem teacher Ms Moukdala Keomixai. Other than that, we prepare lessons together and reflect on lessons held. My “special task” is being the media manager of the LGTC team.
I am looking forward to collecting many great memories, gaining educational experiences, and enjoying living in the beautiful city Vientiane.
Hello everyone!
My name is Dilara and I am 24 years old. I teach the Elementary class and the BHS sponsored Pre-Intermediate student classes at the LGTC. Additionally, I work together with my tandem-teacher Ms Viengkhom Phyathep – I help her to prepare English lessons and we work on didactical skills and pronunciation.
I am excited about the time I am spending here in Laos!
Text & photos by the Team VII volunteers, with editor’s note & photo by I. Martin
Notes
1 When addressing their teachers – no matter if Lao or German – the pupils always use the classifier “teacher” and then the first name. In Germany, we address our teachers by “Herr” or “Frau” (“Mr” or “Ms”) and then their last name. A polite address for “teacher Pauline” would thus be “Frau Faix”.
The Lao word “ad’jan” is not a literal translation of the English word “teacher”, but one of the many Lao classifiers which precede nouns to classify a group or finite number of things. “Ad’jan” therefore does not only refer to teachers, but to any people for whom – in the Lao culture – young people show deep respect, i.e. teachers, older family members, and seniors.
2 This particular learning process only refers to this particular learning situation. We all learn vastly every day – not only from our respective tandem-teachers, but from all Lao persons we get to interact with. This intense and incessant learning-process on our part includes (inter-)cultural, educational, academic, religious, social, and personal matters – to mention but a few.
Editor’s note: A new series on this blog about “Global Citizenship” starting in 2019 will illuminate in detail the many diverse social, personal, societal, and academic learning experiences.
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