Welcome to our new “Didactics Room” at Ban Phang Heng Secondary School

Posted on 06/03/201720/09/2018 by IMartin

After conducting our first workshop on 20 November 2016 on teaching materials we faced the problem that our Lao tandem-teachers wanted to spice their lessons up with self-made teaching material, but they didn’t have the possibility to simply produce it at home or at school.

Thanks to the Angels for Children Foundation, the school is already equipped very well, compared to normal Lao standards. Nevertheless, things like a copier, a computer with Internet access, or a laminating machine, which seem basic in Germany, were missing so far. So we came up with the idea to set up a new “office”, where our Lao teachers can prepare lessons and produce self-made material.

First, we set up a list with different items which seemed useful or necessary to us. Second, we asked Prof. Martin as well as our Lao tandem-partners if they agreed with our ideas and if they had something to add. With the finished list, we started thinking about a room where we could set this up. Helpful as always, Mr Khamsing Nathavongdouangsy offered half of his Angels for Children office. Then he helped us translate our plans into Lao so that the director Mr Khampeng Boun Tha Lavong agreed and we were ready to put our plans into action. In a final step, we went to Madame Gerlinde Engel and showed her our list. Generously, she gave us the necessary funds so that we could go shopping. One day after, together with our project leader, Johannes Zeck, Anika and David went to Patuxay Computer, a computer shop in Vientiane, to buy the equipment. Honestly – we felt like children in a toy shop, so very happy were we to finally see the results of our work of the past few weeks.

As soon as we had bought the equipment, everything went very quickly. Together with our new “Didactics Room Managers”, Ms Saysamone Singhalath and Ms Noy Sibounheuang a.k.a “Noy Laptop”, we set everything up. Our Didactics Room now features a photocopier, a computer with permanent Internet access, a printer, a laminating machine, a paper cutter, and a lot of stationary to work with.

So on 7^th January, 2017, we conducted an introductory workshop to this new material for our tandem-teachers. Feel free to click through the photos from that workshop: We had a lot of fun together, working with the new equipment.