Joyful early childhood learning in classrooms of Laos

Children reading from 'My Village' storybooks in Ban Nadou pre-school

Three stops, three classrooms. Arriving at the gate of Ban Doub School, our first stop, in Ta Oi district of Saravan province, we hear a clamour from within. The children are laughing, clapping and singing, “My village! My Village is beautiful! My village is fun! My village has a lot of colourful flowers!” We are surprised how quick children remember and learn to sing this song. The Early Childhood Education (ECD) TV team and the ‘My Village’ Claymation series from which the song comes from is from visited this school months earlier in December 2015.

The art of storytelling brings learning to life for Lao pre-school children

Mr Savansay Kyong (25) practices storytelling to a group of pre-children in Ban Nalek Kindergarten.

He holds a colourful book in front of a group of expectant children in a classroom at Ban Nalek Kindergarten. The young man from a rural village of Saravan province looks nervous. Around him young children – mostly 6 or under – look at him, curiously waiting for the man’s next move. With a big smile, he raises his hands and says “Sabaidee” or hello and the room responds in kind with a warm welcome in friendly, eager voices, “Sabaidee teacher!”

From ‘Sesame Street’ to ‘My Village’

A shot from one of the final videos © UNICEF/LAOS/2014

"Remarkable” is a word ‘Sesame Street’ director and producer Lisa Simon uses many times during her two weeks in Lao PDR. Lisa and ‘Sesame Street’ writer Luis Santeiro were invited by UNICEF to support and share ideas with local talent to help plan ahead for season two of popular Lao children’s television show ‘My Village’.

“What these people have achieved in only five days is amazing. To think that on Monday 80 people were brought together, many for the first time, and five days later they will have a short film scripted, shot and edited is really, really remarkable,” says Lisa, clearly buzzing from the experience.

Community teachers in remote villages

Pheomeo teaches her class. (c)UNICEF/2013/S. Nazer

17-year-old village-teacher Pheomeo smiles when she was asked how she felt when her former pre-school students started primary school: "I was very proud and happy. When my children started there I went to watch them. I saw they knew how to sing the Lao songs, and I saw how much more confident they were than the other children who hadn't come to my class."

Most community based pre-schools claim similar outcomes. When entering primary school, children from pre-schools were emotionally and socially more developed than those who had no attended.

Community preschools: Reaching out to the most vulnerable

Saphieu, 5 ©UNICEF/2013/S. Nazer

Five year-old Saphieu, in a remote Akha-speaking village in far Northern Lao PDR, beams at her teacher when she is congratulated for the tower she has built with brightly coloured building blocks. The teacher has to make sure Saphieu is looking directly at her as she is deaf, and never speaks.

"I have to pay extra attention to her," explains the community teacher, 17 year-old Pheomeo. "I have to make sure she sees everything, and often I write things down for her. But she is very smart and picks everything up very quickly. Often, when I demonstrate something on the board for the children to repeat, I turn around and she's already completed it."