When the second lockdown started in April 2021, the Ministry of Education and Sports, with support from Australia, was preparing the writing of the new Grade 4 English textbooks and teacher guides for the school year 2022-23.
The Grade 4 curriculum writing team is composed of three writers from the Research Institute for Educational Sciences (RIES), National University of Laos and Sathit Primary School and is supported by technical advisors from the Australian funded BEQUAL programme. The development of teaching and learning materials is a very collaborative process; the lessons are created during workshops where the writers jointly plan and share ideas while producing the materials.
With the lockdown, the writers had to find new ways to work collaboratively using online tools to follow COVID-19 prevention measures.
“Working online kept us moving forward in this challenging COVID situation. We could continue working properly according to our plan and stay safe at the same time. It taught us this new way of working with technology that will be very useful in the future. It also gave us the opportunity to exchange ideas and help each other to write – we were able to participate not only in our own lessons but also in other writers’ lessons,” said Ms. Manoly Dongvan, English curriculum team leader from RIES. In a face-to-face format, the team would usually plan out each lesson and design the textbook pages together. Then they would work individually to write the detailed lessons and instructions for the Teacher Guide. The writers used to specialize in writing different lessons, e.g. one writer focused on the vocabulary lesson, one writer focused on the grammar lesson, etc. In the online format, they found it was better to work in a more collaborative way on the Teacher Guide content.
“The writers had a better overview of all the content of the lessons in Grade 4. Previously, they did not get this because they worked on the lessons individually. Having an overview of all the content was very fruitful for the planning process – in terms of what to include next, which activity types to include, how to develop progression, what vocabulary or language to recycle, etc. This more collaborative approach also meant the writers gained experience developing a broader range of lesson types. We are also writing the new Grade 4 Lao Language and Sciences and Environment through online workshops with technical and financial support from the Australian Government,” explained Ms. Sengngeune Wayakone, Director of the Curriculum Development Centre, RIES.
“With this higher level of collaboration, the team came up with better ideas and solutions to challenges we faced in writing the curriculum,” said Ms. Chanthajorn Chanthapanya, Grade 4 curriculum writer and lecturer at the National University of Laos.
“One of the biggest challenges was that in a face-to-face format, it is much easier to demonstrate or try out activities that we are thinking of including in a lesson. But in an online format this is much more challenging, so we had to find new ways of explaining our ideas to each other. In a face-to-face format, we are all in the same room, we have a white board, we have resources, we can see each other. In an online format, the only visual support for mapping out our ideas is the screen share option on the video call so this can be challenging. The workshop facilitator from BEQUAL helped recording all of our ideas in digital documents so we could follow along on the screen,” added Mr Phonesavanh Hongsomboun, Grade 4 curriculum writer and teacher at Sathit Primary School.
The team is very proud of the results as the English Grade 4 materials are now in the layout stage to be designed with colourful gender balanced and inclusive imagery. The team is also discussing how this collaborative online experience could inform the writing process for Grade 5.

Source: Lao News Agency

The Government of Japan has decided to provide grant assistance worth USD 118,000 for Mine Risk Education (MRE), vocational training and income generation for socio-economically vulnerable people in Xieng Khuang.
The grant contract was signed on Oct 28 between Mr. Iwampto Keiichi, Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission of the Embassy, and Mr. Iimura Hiroshi, Representative of Terra Renaissance Laos Office, a Japanese non-profit organisation.
The grant will fund activities for the twelve-month “UXO Risk Education and Economic Support Project”.
The project aims to help MRE to prevent children between 3 and 5 years of age from being injured in UXO accidents.
Additionally, it will offer livelihood support for their family members through vocational training and sales support of their sewing and agricultural products. This will assist the poorest and most socio-economically vulnerable children living in Xieng Khuang who are in particular need of support.
Through this project they will have the opportunity to receive higher education. This project commenced in March 2020 and is intended to finish in October 2022.
Terra Renaissance has been active in the Lao PDR since 2009. The organization has implemented many projects to empower people living in UXO hazardous areas, in collaboration with the Government of Japan. Through their activities, Terra Renaissance has contributed to improving the living conditions of these people.

Source: Lao News Agency

A study by Monash University researchers in Australia has found that moderate drinking of alcohol is associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and a lowering of death from all causes — when compared to zero alcohol consumption.
More than 18,000 people over the age of 70 in the United States and Australia took part in the research. It is the first study to investigate the heart health implications of drinking alcohol.
It found that the consumption of modest amounts of alcohol was associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. Robyn Woods is an associate professor in the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine at Monash University.
“Taking or consuming five to ten alcoholic beverages a week, which is quite modest gave better outcomes than those who were completely teetotal. It seemed to be associated with a reduced cardiovascular disease risk and also of all-cause mortality,” Woods said.
Researchers have said their findings should be interpreted with caution because participants in the study were healthy with no previous heart or other severe diseases.They could also have been more physically and socially active than the wider ageing population.
Exactly how modest alcohol consumption can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and other causes of death is unknown.
Associate professor Woods says more research is needed.
“There is some evidence that modest alcohol intake has vascular properties that could be beneficial. But there is also the potential for social benefits. So, you know, consuming alcohol with friends, family, etcetera may well have a benefit,” Woods said.
The Monash University, Melbourne, research is published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
Guidelines from the Australian Drug and Alcohol Foundation, a leading public health organization, advise that both men and women should consumer no more than 10 standard drinks per week. A standard drink in Australia contains 10 grams of alcohol.

Source: Voice of America

The U.N.’s food agency said Monday the number of people on the edge of famine in 43 countries had risen to 45 million, as acute hunger spikes around the world.
The jump from 42 million people earlier in the year was largely down to a food security assessment that found another 3 million people facing famine in Afghanistan, the World Food Program (WFP) said.
“Tens of millions of people are staring into an abyss. We’ve got conflict, climate change and COVID-19 driving up the numbers of the acutely hungry,” WFP Executive Director David Beasley was quoted as saying.
“And the latest data show there are now more than 45 million people marching towards the brink of starvation,” he said after a trip to Afghanistan, where WFP is upping support for almost 23 million people.
“Fuel costs are up, food prices are soaring, fertilizer is more expensive, and all of this feeds into new crises like the one unfolding now in Afghanistan, as well as long-standing emergencies like Yemen and Syria,” he added.
WFP said the cost of averting famine globally now stands at $7 billion, up from $6.6 billion earlier in the year, but warned that traditional funding streams were overstretched.
Families facing acute food insecurity are being “forced to make devastating choices,” marrying off children early, pulling them out of school or feeding them locusts, wild leaves or cactus.
“Meanwhile, media reports from Afghanistan point to families reportedly being forced to sell their children in a desperate attempt to survive,” it said.
Multiple droughts in Afghanistan were combining with an economic meltdown to push families to the edge, while some 12.4 million people in Syria do not know where their next meal will come from — more than any time during the decade-long conflict, it said.
Increases in acute hunger are also being seen in Ethiopia, Haiti, Somalia, Angola, Kenya and Burundi, the Rome-based agency said.

Source: Voice of America