I finally made it!!! For the next year, I will be teaching a variety of English classes at Souphanouvong University (SU) in Luang Prabang. I will be working for both the Faculty of Languages and the Faculty of Engineering, potentially even the Faculty of Agriculture! Who better for that job than an Iowa girl, right?! As if I know anything more about agriculture than my 100-level Field Botany class at Coe…

Last Friday, my boss handed me the Faculty of Languages’ class schedule for the upcoming semester…

Easy enough to read, right?! I feel bad, because as soon as they handed it to me, I burst out laughing. Luckily, my boss was laughing with me because she knows what level my Lao is at. I asked so many questions, just to translate what this schedule meant! Like where the days of the week were, who my co-teachers are, and what classrooms I need to report to. I mean this chart probably took me 30 minutes to actually understand!

After I received my schedule, the next step was to ask each of my co-teachers if they would like to, in fact, co-teach. Because it’s totally up to each teacher, they can choose if they would like to co-teach with me, or if they would like me to teach, or if they would like to switch on and off. I finally got that answer from each of the teachers… yesterday. Oh, Laos.

So, as it stands, we have just begun the 3rd week of school, however I have just begun my 1st week of teaching full-time! While that seems sort of unorganized and crazy, I’m used to it, and regardless, I’m so pumped to finally be doing something other than sitting in a coffee shop every day! The students should be receiving their textbooks this week and I’ve started creating my lesson plans.

The Faculty of Languages Building! Top right: one of my classrooms, middle right: the administrative office of FoL, and bottom right, the rest of the FoL building

In the Faculty of Languages, I will be teaching a total of three English classes this semester: General English 1 to the first year students, Listening Skills to the second year students, and English for Job Hunting to the fourth year students. I find it incredibly ironic that they gave me that Job Hunting class since it’s my mom’s area of expertise and she has spent the last 8 years of my life coaching me on how to write the best resumes, cover letters, and emails. In the words of the famous Barb, “skills for a lifetime, ready when you need them!” (Thanks, Mom!).

This week, my schedule has been passed along to the Faculty of Engineering to see if there is a class available that fits into my schedule, so I may be adding more soon. They’ve mentioned the possibility of teaching Technical English, which could be really fun! Until then, I’ll be teaching just 14 hours each week and I even have Wednesday’s off!

I share an office with two other women, Somchit and Sisoury. Somchit is an administrative staff member. She’s Vietnamese and speaks almost every language except English, which means I feel a little pressure to learn more Lao! Sisoury is my “boss”, or maybe supervisor is a better fit… regardless, she speaks very good English and has been wonderful, helping me settle in at Souphanouvong! I have my own small desk that I plan to dress up and leave some goodies (and by goodies, I mean succulents, haha!) for the next Fulbright who has the honor of sitting at that desk.

Our shared office: on the left, Sisoury, the middle desk is mine, and on the right, Somchit.

There are two other falang (foreign) teachers in the Faculty of Languages, Adam and Julie. They work through a program called ELIC (English Language Institute/China) and both have already taught English in Laos previously. They’ve been incredibly generous in taking me under their wings and showing me the ropes at Souphanouvong.

The Faculty of Languages’ other office – that’s Julie in the back right corner!

It’s only been about a week, but so far, I am loving my placement in Luang Prabang. The Faculty of Languages’ teachers and staff have been more than welcoming and I’m starting to feel like a member of the community here! More to come as the school year picks up!

ດ້ວຍ​ຮັກ (With love),

Claire