Lao Youth Learn to Read and Write for the First Time!
Now We Can Read and Write!
For this blog post, we offer an account from our partner, World Concern, in Laos. This post was written by Anne Thomas, director of the Lao Literacy Project.
2009
Imagine you are Laotian. Everyone in your village is busy from dawn to dusk, farming the steep mountain slopes. Women and girls twirl cotton spindles as they hike to distant fields, making homespun cotton thread as they go.
There are no books in your house, and no books in your village. Even if there were, no one could read them. Only a handful of men in your village can write their own names.
2010
The Lao Literacy Project comes to your village. The village chief signs people up for the new evening classes. Teenage girls are reluctant at first, afraid it will be too difficult. But the new book teaches literacy step by step, with one new word and one picture per lesson. Slowly, people in your village learn to read.
2011
Students gather to show their skills, their faces glowing with excitement:
“We can read!,” they say. “We can write our names!”
They eagerly tell their stories:
“My name is Nang Lou Ja, and I am 19 years old. Last year the village chief signed me up for literacy class. I was afraid to try because I could not read at all. But once I started, I found that I really love to learn. Now I can read and write. The more I learn, the more I love learning.”
“My name is Thao San, and I am 21 years old. My dream has come true. I can still scarcely believe it. I never held a book or a pencil until I was 20, and now I am reading and writing. I never thought any of us would have a chance to learn. I still can hardly believe that this is really me, reading and writing.”
For this blog post, we offer an account from our partner, World Concern, in Laos. This post was written by Anne Thomas, director of the Lao Literacy Project.
2009
Imagine you are Laotian. Everyone in your village is busy from dawn to dusk, farming the steep mountain slopes. Women and girls twirl cotton spindles as they hike to distant fields, making homespun cotton thread as they go.
There are no books in your house, and no books in your village. Even if there were, no one could read them. Only a handful of men in your village can write their own names.
2010The Lao Literacy Project comes to your village. The village chief signs people up for the new evening classes. Teenage girls are reluctant at first, afraid it will be too difficult. But the new book teaches literacy step by step, with one new word and one picture per lesson. Slowly, people in your village learn to read.
2011
Students gather to show their skills, their faces glowing with excitement:
“We can read!,” they say. “We can write our names!”
They eagerly tell their stories:
“My name is Nang Lou Ja, and I am 19 years old. Last year the village chief signed me up for literacy class. I was afraid to try because I could not read at all. But once I started, I found that I really love to learn. Now I can read and write. The more I learn, the more I love learning.”
“My name is Thao San, and I am 21 years old. My dream has come true. I can still scarcely believe it. I never held a book or a pencil until I was 20, and now I am reading and writing. I never thought any of us would have a chance to learn. I still can hardly believe that this is really me, reading and writing.”
Stories like this are inspirational in a number of ways, not the least of which is the perspective the experiences in Laos can provide to American students when they become apathetic and fail to appreciate the real gift they have been given when they receive a book.
ReplyDeleteThis is the absolute beauty of education and the reason why I am drawn to this work. This is an amazing example of how literacy education impacts the growth, development, and well-being of individuals and communities. Learning is a transformational process.
ReplyDeleteOh my, this almost brought a tear to my eye. This is great. Funny, how, just like with the rest of us, we never want to change or learn something new and then when we do, it excites us to the point we want more. This is fantastic and I hope the knowledge continues and spreads to others. This is, as Kristucker stated true transformational learning.
ReplyDeleteKathy
@kristucker @kathy We agree with you. Learning is transformational -thanks for your comments!
ReplyDeleteI am interested in knowing what kind of follow through there is with these children. How long does proliteracy follow these events/children? Does the learning continue, are these long ventures over there to help these individuals? Or is this just someone running a camp for a short while, teaching them how to teach each other and then they are gone?? Are there efforts to teach them to teach each other?
ReplyDeleteKathy
Wow! My students definitely take reading and writing for granted. This was an amazing story. I wish American students could get that excited about reading and writing. Imagine never having read a good book a the age of 20. Is it this way in all the villages in Laos? Surely there are some schools in different areas.
ReplyDelete@kathy we contacted our partner in Laos to get some detailed information so that we could respond to some of your questions. The following post below is from Anne Thomas, the Field Coordinator that works with the Laos Literacy Program:
ReplyDelete"The literacy materials and classes are sustainable and not short term ventures or camps. The materials are specifically designed to be user-friendly by local villagers who are trained as teachers from among the village members. Developing local teachers is key to the project. In addition, the local and provincial government education staff are trained to provide follow-up. Yes, a lot of peer education goes on, the students are helping teaching each other since their parents are illiterate and cannot help them learn to read.
Classes continue throughout the year, with the busiest season being after the annual rice harvest and before the new planting cycle, or December through May. Then they continue in the hamlets the other months of the year. ProLiteracy is partnering with non-profit organizations already well-established in Laos. Thus the classes are part of well-established ongoing integrated development projects (including health, agriculture, and food security) which now have added literacy to their project. "
@cj morrison ProLiteracy contacted our partner in Laos to get some detailed information so that we could respond to your questions. The following response below is from Anne Thomas, the Field Coordinator that works with the Laos Literacy Program:
ReplyDelete"This is the typical situation for the remote mountain villages populated by the ethnic groups who do not speak Lao well. Yes, the situation in the towns and cities is better, partly due to the Education for All initiatives which are focused on helping all developing countries. However, as in other developing countries, there is a big gap between the education services in the towns and the remote areas. This project is focused specifically on meeting the needs of those who do not have access to education services. About 75% of the country and about 50% of the population is comprised of socio-linguistic ethnic groups who speak languages other than Lao. In Thailand they are called the 'hill tribes', but in Laos they are called 'ethnic groups'. Laos continues to be one of the poorest countries in Asia, with some of the greatest challenges to access to health and education."
It is exciting that organizations (e.g., health, agriculture, and food security) are working together to address the needs of the people groups. Are medical and nursing schools involved from the States?
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to do a longitudinal study with this group and see how achieving literacy changes them over the years. When it feels like the world is opening up, a lot can happen, especially with the women, and the younger Laotians in general.
ReplyDelete