An international school in Laos

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33869, 14 June 1975, Page 12

An international school in Laos

The International School in Vientiane draws its pupils from an astonishing range of nationalities. It is a private school, hence the children of only the comparatively wealthy can afford to be enrolled.

Typical pupils are those of ambassadors who represent their countries in Laos, and the more affluent Lao — inevitably with military connections. We three teachers at the time (an American, and Australian and myself) were responsible for the

They were dominantly Lao and American, but in one group of 15. I might be teaching children of Lao, Thai, Chinese, American, Australian, German, English, Japanese, Korean and Indian origin. All subjects were taught in English medium. The difficulty of teaching children at vastly differing stages of> mastery of the English language was overcome by grouping them for instructional work according to their progress in English.

Some Japanese children at first could speak not a word of English. For other children English was their mother tongue. As well as English, Lao and French were taught at the International School.

The school was not typical of Laotion schools, which are quite primitive in style, buildings and equipment. Asian children know how fortunate they are to be

attending school. They appreciate their education and have the utmost respect for their teachers, and also for their elders. Discipline problems are rare and the children are very responsive to any projects the teacher introduces. Their upbringing makes Asian children responsible and able to work well independently. Some unusual projects resulted. For example, we observed the appearance of the comet through a telescope and expressed the experience in the form of dance movement to music, made puppets and designed an open-air puppet show

for the children who lived along the Mekong. The children became so enthusiastic that we found difficulty in dissuading them from staying at school in the evenings and reappearing in the week-ends. Eventually, they were planning arid organising their own programmes and our function was properly reduced to that of directing and coordinating. In general, it was fascinating .to observe these children of such a mixture of nationalities working harmoniously together.

education of 45 children, with an age range of 8 to 14 years.

In a second article on Laos, ROBYN FRYER, formerly of Christchurch, who was teaching in Vientiane last year, discusses her experiences at the International School there.