Let Laos Learn

Some pictures of our activities last week.

Sabaidee everyone!

Last week we participated in several Temple festivities in Vang Vieng!

During the weekend, our students celebrated a village festival in Pakpor where we volunteered to make sure everything went smoothly. The local villagers and monks were very grateful of our students. Our centre is a community place for the entire village. We provide free education and also support our local community in any way we can, like volunteering during certain events and organizing annual village clean-ups.

Not much later, another Temple festival was celebrated, this time all over Laos. Every villager went to their local temple to pay their respects to the monks and to give alms. Later that day, as per Lao tradition, the children could come and 'grab' as many food baskets as possible to take home and share with their families. Our students also participated and brought home a variety of baskets, filled with fruits, vegetables, snacks and much more. We took all of this the house of Kham, our principal, and enjoyed a delicious lunch together with many of our students.

Fun fact! Food inside the basket is often covered with banana leaves. Before you open your banana leaf food package, you have to guess what you will get and see if you were right or wrong. It adds an element of surprise! Sometimes, you think you have some amazing sticky rice and pork, but once opened, you find out you were served with 2 pieces of spicy chili!

Like what you see? Join us! We are still looking for volunteers to assist us at our project. Unable to join, but do you share our vision? You can support our cause by becoming a sponsor. Take a look at https://www.letlaoslearn.org/ for more information. Don't hesitate to contact us for further information.

Sabaidee everyone!

Today, our operations manager Sai and our volunteer coordinator went on a trip to the remote village of Keo Kuang, located in the area around Vang Vieng.

In Keo Kuang, our team visited the local schools that Let Laos Learn built several years ago. The construction of these classrooms was essential as many children weren't able to travel to the public schools in Vang Vieng. The road is too dangerous and too far for them to make this journey every day. Fortunately, our organization was able to provide the funding to construct several classrooms in the village of Keo Kuang and HuayNgam Yen, enabling the local children to go to school in their own village after all.

Since the new school year recently started, it was a great opportunity to revisit the classrooms that were built by our volunteers and reconnect with the local community.

Like what you see? Join us! We are still looking for volunteers to assist us at our project. Unable to join, but do you share our vision? You can support our cause by becoming a sponsor. Take a look at https://www.letlaoslearn.org/ for more information. Don't hesitate to contact us for further information.

Wow! It's been a while!

Summer class of 2022 is over! Our students had exam this week to determine their level for our next school year, marking the end of this years summer class. We've been super busy past week taking exams and organizing our final activities for this summer. However, we had a blast. Next week, public schools open again. For the remainder of this week, we stay open for our students whilst our local team prepares for upcoming school year.

We would love to share some highlights from each week of our summer class with you and recap what has happened past summer.

Throughout the past few months, we taught English, organized reading activities and provided basic computer classes. Whenever we had the chance, we took our students on an excursion in the area of Vang Vieng, discovering and learning new things about their home, the environment and much more. Important subjects have been covered each week, teaching our students valuable life skills such as health & personal hygiene, traffic safety, successful farming and the environment. We took some time to cover traditional Lao dancing also, combined with drawing, movie days and swimming parties!

All in all, we can conclude that past summer was a major success. As a genuine non profit, we firmly believe in free education for all. Together, we can build a better future. With our centre, we aim to provide a fun environment where the local children of Vang Vieng can gather, learn, meet new people and play whenever they want. All for free. Whenever possible, we raise funds to build new classrooms in remote villages in the area of Vang Vieng, further providing access to education for everyone.

Like what you see? Join us! We are still looking for volunteers to assist us at our project. Unable to join, but do you share our vision? You can support our cause by becoming a sponsor. Take a look at https://www.letlaoslearn.org/ for more information. Don't hesitate to contact us for further information.

2 months have already passed since the summer class of 2022 started. It's been fun!

Past week, we were met with torrential rain all week, even flooding some parts of Vang Vieng! Fortunately, except for some wet shoes and clothes nothing bad has happened.

Because of the heavy rain, our principal Kham decided to dig a small ditch behind our sports field to keep the water and mud from flooding our field and potentially our school. After a typical rainy day, the mud from the hill behind our centre often covers our entire sports field, making it impossible for us to use it. Our students came to help Kham, knowing that the maintenance of the centre is also their responsibility.

In the future, we plan to plant small trees and bushes with our students to prevent the hill from eroding further. At the same time, it creates a valuable learning opportunity for our students, teaching them the consequences and dangers of deforestation and erosion.

Throughout the week, classes were taught as usual! Whenever we teach, we try to make it as real as possible. Creating realistic scenarios when teaching a language makes it easier for students to remember and implement what they've learned in their future life. This week, we used a teaching method called 'speed dating', in which students have to complete a given exercise in just 30 seconds. They had to introduce themselves in English, even shaking hands to add that touch of realism.

Want to support our cause? You can! Become a volunteer or sponsor at our project. More information at https://www.letlaoslearn.org/.

That's the end of week 7!

Last week, we experienced very hot temperatures in Laos with little to no rain at all. Teaching in these temperatures was quite challenging as our classrooms would warm up significantly throughout the day, often being too hot to teach in.

To solve this problem, we taught our reading and English classes in the morning when it was cooler. Whenever necessary, we organized our classes outside underneath the canopy of the trees surrounding our school, enjoying the soft breeze.

In the afternoon, when the temperature was at its highest, we took all our students to the local river to cool down and enjoy a nice picnic all together.

Last week, our students brought used bottles, onions and garlic to class for a new project. We started growing our own plants as part of the farming topic we taught two weeks ago. This way, children experience firsthand how nature provides food for them and how we can recycle used bottles and leftovers to create something new. At the same time, our students are responsible to take care of their own creation, teaching them valuable skills throughout the process.

Want to support our cause? You can! Become a volunteer or sponsor at our project. More information at https://www.letlaoslearn.org/.

Week 6 was once again filled with activities!

Everyday before class starts, our students take out their toothbrush and brush their teeth all together, a fun and healthy habit to start the day with! Meanwhile, Kham sits down with the parents of all our students to raise awareness around personal hygiene and a healthy body, making it easier for our students to continue this habit at home.

As per usual, the days were filled with English classes, reading, fun activities and much more. On Thursday, we took our students to the local farms & gardens to teach them about the importance of farming in Lao society. In Laos, farming is widespread as more than 80% of the people have their own farm. Every household also has a small garden in which vegetables, fruits and more are grown for their own consumption.

Since farming is such an important aspect in the life of every Lao person, we taught our students which safe techniques can be used and how we can take care of Mother Nature at the same time. With more access to newer technology and products, many farmers are unaware of the long term hidden dangers and consequences of these newer techniques. Access to pesticides for example leads to short term higher yields, but have long term consequences for both the people and nature.

During our excursion, we also let our students experience first hand why it is so important to take care of Mother Nature. With activities like standing underneath the canopy of the trees & bushes, we could feel how nature can protect us from the scorching sun in Laos. With quests for plants and vegetables in the forest and local gardens, our students discovered how nature provides us with food.

To conclude our week, our students wrote ideas & made drawings on how they would like to improve our centre and their own house with what they'd learned during our excursion.

Want to support our cause? You can! Become a volunteer or sponsor at our project. More information at https://www.letlaoslearn.org/.

At our centre, we start each day with a big smile (and clean teeth😄)!

Since many of our students never brush their teeth in the morning, they all bring their toothbrush to school and brush their teeth all together before class starts. With this initiative, we try to create long term healthy habits for our students. At the same time, we visit the parents of our students at home to create awareness around personal hygiene, hoping they too will pick up this habit and share it with their children.

Besides, it's fun! Those smiles don't lie 😄.

Want to support our cause? You can! Become a volunteer or sponsor at our project. More information at https://www.letlaoslearn.org/.