Bi-directional Learning and Teaching: Lao-German Projects and Tandems
We are happy to announce the new page “SKU lecturers” on our “TheLaosExperience” blog, where the lecturers of Savannakhet University who participate in the cooperation between Savannakhet University (SKU) and the University of Education Karlsruhe (KUE) as well as the SKU project leaders and coordinators introduce themselves to our readers.
SKU and the KUE Karlsruhe have been cooperating under the “Erasmus+ Mobility Programme” and a “Volunteer Programme” for over two years now. Regular readers will already “know” some of the people involved in the project through their articles on the blog, e.g. Dr Sitha Khemmarath, Dr Phetsamone Khattiyavong, Ms Phetsavanh Somsivilay, Ms Viengvilaiphone Botthoulath, Mr Napha Khothphouthone, Mr Thaithanawanh Keokaisone, Mr Phongsavang Xaikhongkham, Mr Chanthalakone Souydalay, and, on the German side, Prof. Dr. Isabel Martin, Dr. Martin Remmele, and Jun.Prof. Dr. Bernhard Standl, David Schrep, Rebecca Dengler, and Miaoxing Ye.
However, the project has been steadily expanding since the initial period, and now there are many new lecturers at SKU who joined in the cooperation on-site. All these lecturers wrote a short introduction about themselves, and some of them will participate even more actively in our next Erasmus+ project (2020-2022), which will carry out joint teaching, training, and research in “Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship”. You can get to know them on the new page now.
The partnership between SKU in Savannakhet and KUE in Karlsruhe was set in motion in 2017 when Prof Dr Isabel Martin visited SKU to make a first contact and the leaders of SKU returned the visit later that year. Since 2018 both universities have had an official cooperation under the “Erasmus+ Mobility” programme and students and staff from SKU have come to Karlsruhe to study or for staff training. Mr Napha Khothphouthone and Mr Thaithanawanh Keokaisone were the first from SKU to come to study at KUE in 2019 for half a year on “student mobilities” and Ms Viengvilaiphone Botthoulath visited for two months on a staff training mobility. One year later, in the spring and summer of 2020, Mr Chanthalakone Souvydalay and Mr Phongsavang Xaikongkham from SKU also spent one semester studying at KUE in Karlsruhe.
On the other side, lecturers from KUE have visited SKU within the project. Besides Prof. Dr Isabel Martin (English Department), Dr Martin Remmele (Biology Department) joined the project in 2019 and visited again in 2020, and Jun.Prof. Dr Bernhard Standl (KUE IT Department) spent two weeks at SKU in February/March 2020 for collaborative research and teaching and training. We are hoping our Lao collegues Mr Sompasong Khemmarath (Faculty of Economics), Ms Phetsavanh Somsivilay (Faculty of Linguistics), Mr Sitsanou Phouthavong (Faculty of Education/Physics), and Ms Somsanouk Xayyavong (Faculty of IT) can return the research and teaching/training visits at KUE in the spring of 2021 again, after the forced long Covid-break in 2020.
Mr David Schrep was the first KUE volunteer to go to Savannakhet for a longer period in 2018/19 to work together with the English teaching staff at SKU (cf. his introductory posts part 1, part 2, part 3).
I was the first PhD student to go to SKU to do research, and I also volunteered to continue the “Teaching Methodology” course for the English staff that David had started in 2018. Most of the teachers who introduce themselves on the new page took part in David Schrep’s English class in 2018/19 as well as in the course I conducted at SKU before I had to abruptly return to Germany in March.
I hope to get back to continue working with my Lao colleagues soon in 2021.1 Not only once was I astonished by their determination to improve, learn new things, but also share and exchange experiences.
The global pandemic has made it impossible to travel either to Germany or to Laos since March. However, we finally have reason to believe that the situation will improve next year, with a vaccine on the horizon and certain routines established. Together, Prof. Martin and Mr Saythong Insarn from the Ministry of Education and Sports also found out the 12 (!) steps that need to be taken to complete all the necessary paperwork to get approval from 3-4 ministries, the Lao Covid Task Force, 2 embassies, and finally, identified the person in charge of allocating seats on the government flights in and out of Vientiane.
We therefore sincerely hope the cooperation can be more than online meetings and emails again next year and cannot wait to fill our cooperation with live life again!
Text by R. Dengler, additions by I. Martin
Photos by R. Dengler & an SKU student
Note
1 This time hopefully together with Ms Miaoxing Ye, the second KUE doctoral student and lecturer at Wuhan University, who also hopes to conduct research and teach a class at SKU next year.
On 10 July 2020, we had the wonderful opportunity to follow the invitation of Dr. Martin to come together for the 6th annual Lao-German Friendship Feast. Originally the date was set for 8 May 2020, but due to Covid-19 the feast had to be rescheduled. (In July, when the first lockdown eased off, open-air parties up to 70 people were allowed again in Germany.) Nevertheless it did not dampen the mood of the 55 guests.
The guests consisted of former members of the project from Teams III to X and the freshly-nominated members of Team XI, international students from Hongkong, China, and Pakistan, two doctoral students in the “Laos project”, also their partners and friends. Also, representatives of the International Office of the PH Karlsruhe came, and, to our special honor, His Excellency the Lao Ambassador to Germany Mr Phomma Boudthavong, his wife Ms Amphayvanh Panyanouvong, two of his employees, and their driver, who had driven to Karlsruhe from Berlin for the occasion. Ms Amphayvanh Panyanouvong and Ms Thikhamphone Phomveha, the Ambassador’s secretary, were dressed in very nice traditional Lao dresses. Also Mr Padith Phongpachith, the Vice-President of the German Lao Friendship Society (GLFS e.V.), had come from Bonn to join our celebration, as did Mr Philipp Reul, one of the doctoral students-to-be.
Thanks to the very welcoming and generous gesture of Mr Martin Schoebinger and his sister Elke Hoenig we could once again celebrate the Lao-German Friendship Feast at this gorgeous location in Durlach-Aue just outside of Karlsruhe.
After the welcoming words of Dr Martin and Ambassador Mr Phomma Boudthavong the international buffet was opened.
This wonderful international buffet consisted of hearty dishes and desserts from all over the world and were donated by the guests of the Lao-German Friendship Feast. There were Lao-style dips, many salads, a lentil Dal, muffins, melon, and chocolate mousses, just to name a few. Little surprises were also included in the international buffet for the curious guests, which Ms Amphayvanh had prepared. Very tasty sweet and savoury sticky rice fillings were wrapped in a package of banana leaves and thereby hidden from plain sight. Even though many dishes did not last very long – because they were extremely tasty – the buffet never ran out thanks to the ongoing celebration and more guests arriving all through the evening with new delicious dishes and snacks.
When most of the guests had finished their first or even second and third rounds to the buffet everyone’s attention was was drawn to the top of the barn, where the musicians had set up their equipment. The musicians Ariane Kummetz (Team V) and our two Erasmus+ students Phongsavang Xaikongkham (Don) and Chanthalakone Souydalay (Thone) from our cooperation partner university Savannakhet University (SKU) Laos presented some contemporary hits and then opened the stage to anyone who wanted to contribute to the program and entertainment. After a while even the Ambassador’s wife Ms Amphayvanh and secretary Ms Thikhamphone got on the stage and presented some authentic Lao songs together with Don and Thone.
Now the next highlight followed. More Lao music was played by our guests, but this time everyone was invited to learn and participate in traditional Lao dances. The first dance was a traditional dance, which is danced in two circles. In the inner circle all the men stood facing outside, where the women, who made up the outer circle, were standing facing the men. In very slow motion the two circles proceeded three steps before facing each other again. The steps were accompanied by very smooth and elegant hand movements, which all have their meanings. It was to our great joy that the Ambassador and his wife showed us how to dance this very complicated dance, which they made look so easy and beautiful.
More dances followed which reminded us of line dances also known in other parts of the world, such as the United States of America. In line dances the participants are set up in lines and do not have a partner. A certain amount of steps make up the choreography and then are repeated after changing direction by 90 degrees, which complicates the steps for beginners. These line dances turn to all four sides of a “room”, therefore facing each direction around and around – as long as the song lasts.
Even though our 6th annual Lao-German Friendship Feast took place in July, the weather was not perfect. Clouds were covering the sky later in the evening and a cool wind accompanied them. However, even when it started to rain in the last hours of the day, the atmosphere continued to be lovely and the spirit of the guests was not disturbed. By 11 p.m. everyone had settled for a corner to sit or stand in and partners to talk to, after moving around freely to get to know the other guests. Old friends were once reunited and new friendships started to bond. Between talking and laughing all of the guests even attempted to sing a traditional Lao song (Cham pa muong lao). Most of us probably failed to do so, but nevertheless we all tried and it contributed to the perfect evening and the individual atmosphere created by the guests and the location. This continued up until midnight, when we were able to surprise Dr Martin with a “Happy Birthday” song and little ceremony. It was the perfect ending to a fabulous evening, which would never have existed without Dr Martin and her helpers and their dedication to the project and the evening.
Text by C. O’Dell
Photos & videos by M. Bilger, R. Dengler, P. Lang, I. Martin & C. O’Dell
During the forced (Corona-induced) hiatus of half a year, the project partners have gained more experience in handling this new situation and the Lao Government’s regulations regarding permission to enter the country have also been set down and made known by now.
We are therefore pleased to announce that students, graduates, and alumni from all subjects from the University of Education Karlsruhe can now apply for an internship in the project “Bi-directional tandem-teaching and learning” for spring/summer 2021 (Team XI) by 15 December 2020. The stay in planned for March to May/June (min. 3 months), and there are 4 new places available in Team XI.
Our current cooperation partners are the VEDI (Vocational Education Development Institute), LGTC (Lao-German Technical College), and Sunshine School (primary and secondary) (see more information below). Please note: There is no automatic “match” between your degree and the partner institution. In fact, most of our volunteers at the LGTC were primary degree students.
We mainly tandem-work in the subject of English, but should both tandem-partners discover mutual interests in other fields (food science, physics/chemistry, maths, technics, or German, for example), this is supported and encouraged.
Prior ISP experience is an advantage, but not a necessary condition for your application if you have gained teaching expertise in other fields. EuLA students receive credit for their stay at our schools/colleges/partner-universities. Further information on the creditability of this internship for your studies can be found under Internships. For detailed information please contact Dr. Steffen Wagner of the University of Education Karlsruhe.
Download the new Call for Applications 20201117_Ausschreibung_Volontariat_Team_XI_Frühjahr_2021 and visit the Internships page of this blog, where you find the official application form of the AAA and also more detailed information about our Lao partner schools/colleges/universities.
All documents can also be found on StudIP in the “English Department Bulletin Board”, in the StudIP section of the International Office (AAA), and the homepage of the AAA.
How to apply
Places in Vientiane:
Research
Bachelor and Master theses and also M4/5 and ERP papers can be written within this project. Your research results and papers are published in an edited version in the “Language Education and Global Citizenship” series.
Information and preparation
If you are not a student at the PH but want to enrol, please send a mail to isabel.martin@ph-karlsruhe.de). External applications (from other universities) are considered for any remaining free places. We have had six external students in this project so far.
Successful applicants visit Prof. Martin’s online seminar “Global English(es), Global TEFL & Global Citizenship Education” (Tuesday 12:00 in StudIP/BBB) or watch the recordings for ongoing orientation on teaching internationally and interculturally. Registration is open.
You can also visit the (English) pages of the German Embassy in Vientiane, the Vientiane Times, or the Laotian Times. We will always keep our volunteers/applicants posted re. the current and news.
We look forward to your applications!
Prof. Dr. I. Martin & J. Friedl
Photos & collage by M. Bilger
Poster by F. Stober
Editor’s note: This is the 9th article in our series “Language education and global citizenship“. Ms Celine Victoria Seeger participated in my “Global English(es) and Global Citizenship Education” class last year (winter term 2019/20). Amongst the topics on the syllabus in that term, the concept of Transculturality interested her in particular, as she is a trained tutor for literature and teaches this concept to first-semester students together with her co-tutor Mr Timur Kadic. Mr Kadic and also Mr Nico Eckardt attended the “Global English(es) and Global Citizenship Education” class in previous semesters and then also wrote papers about the relation of “Transculturality and education” and “Intercultural and Global Education in the EFL Context” (which will be published in this series as parts II and III following this post I).
As a consequence of her newly developed interest in Global Citizenship Education, she applied for the “Bi-directional learning and teaching (English) in Laos” project – originally called “Teaching English in Laos” – and then taught English classes as a volunteer at the Vocational Education Development Institute (VEDI) in Vientiane soon after, as a member of Team X.
Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the team (and doctoral student Rebecca Dengler) had to leave Laos several weeks earlier than planned, but Ms Seeger had the idea of bridging the gap between Team X’s departure and the arrival of Team XI by offering online English classes, which she conducted together with Ms Phi Ha Nguyen (Team IX) and Ms Lena Koch (Team X) during summer semester 2020.
Thus, Ms Seeger continued to teach her “Pre-Intermediate Teacher Class” of the VEDI online, which was now a smaller group – not every teacher owns a notebook in Laos, and not every office has WiFi – and also included our two Erasmus+ students Mr Chanthalakone Souydilay and Mr Phongsavang Xaikhongkham from Savannakhet University.
Via ZOOM, they “met” for one hour each week and used TopNotch 1 as their coursebook, next to some other sources and media. Even though teaching online was not the same as in a live classroom, the Lao teachers and students were still very motivated and eager to learn.
Nonetheless, international cooperation projects need personal contact to sustain long-term motivation; so while we wait for this to become possible again, we will continue online classes with our Lao partners throughout the Covid-19 crisis and keep on publishing new posts to bridge the impasse.
This article presents a popular culture concept within the German academic discourse known as transculturality. The reader will also be introduced to a chronological account regarding its origins, earlier concepts, and the latest trends in the field.
Since the 1990s, German professor Wolfgang Welsch has published several articles about a concept which is referred to as Transkulturalität in German. In 1999, he published an article about the concept in an English magazine, translated and labelled as “Transculturality – The Puzzling Form of Cultures Today“. Ever since, this article has been cited in many academic works about English didactics and methodology in Germany; nowadays it is considered to be part of the academic canon that teachers of English should be familiar with.
But why?
Herder’s traditional concept of single cultures
Wolfgang Welsch was not the first academic to write about culture and try to define its nature by developing a concept. Indeed, there have been many before him – the most popular one being Johann Gottfried Herder. Herder, a German intellectual of the 18th century, counts as one of the most important writers of the Weimarer Klassik, a literary period in Germany which also enompasses other famous writers such as Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. In „Ideas on the Philosophy of the History of Mankind”, Herder described what is known today as the “traditional concept of single cultures”. The latter is based on three central characteristics: Ethnic consolidation, intercultural delimitation, and social homogenization (cf. Welsch 1999, 194).
In a nutshell: Herder saw cultures as homogenous and clearly separated from each other, as cultural islands, shaping the lives of its members like a factory its products. According to Herder, every human act portrays the performer’s culture. However, this traditional concept of single cultures is unfit to describe modern societies (cf. Welsch 1999, 194). Taking a closer look at Germany as an example clearly shows that there is not simply one homogenous national culture, but several cultures or, rather, a significant internal variance. (The same also applies to other countries, for example Laos, which is made up of 49 different ethnic groups.) Regarding Germany, this might be the case because the nation as we know it today is only about 150 years old.
Before, it had been a multitude of territories of all sizes ruled by different aristocrats with their own cultures and traditions, which – to a large extent – have survived until today. Again, this is also the case in many other countries. Even without such a specific historical background (compared to the earlier nation-building of other modern European nations), inner variance within one country is still the norm because of spatial distance, regional features, mindsets, preferences, trends, and many other factors.
Nonetheless, the traditional concept of single cultures became a popular concept in the late 18th century and – although mostly considered to be outdated today – it still partly serves as a basis for two newer concepts which once more highlight its dangerous quintessence. With his theory of separate nations and races Herder also provided a basis for cultural nationalism, which he related to the notion of a Volksgeist (“national spirit”). Cultural Nationalism believes in a special native identity that cannot be changed, even if one was to migrate to another country; for example if somebody was born in Laos, he or she could not move to France and become French. This would be considered impossible: To belong to one culture, one has to be born into it.
Eventually, this served all too well as a basis for racism and the gruesome, horrible atrocities of the Nazi Regime (cf. Berggren & Johansson 2019, 13-17). Today, other and more inclusive forms of nationalism are more popular, such as liberal nationalism, even though currently there are still right-wing movements gaining favour across Europe. Such more inclusive forms of nationalism do not believe in some native identity, but allow for people who migrate from one country to another to adopt a new identity; referring to the example above, a Lao person could become French or consider him- or herself as both Lao and French.
According to liberal nationalism, a migrant leaving his or her homecountry would usually have to learn his or her new home country’s language and adhere to its laws to count as a citizen of this country. However, liberal nationalism still is not the norm. The moment in which a migrant is finally seen as integrated or as from when a person is considered to have no (more) migrational background as well as the terms themselves are still heavily disputed (cf. Treibel 2017, 14-19).
While these questions are still under debate, the rise of right-wing movements all across Europe and elsewhere have present a comeback of xenophobic (“fearing strangers”) trends. Such xenophobic trends are extremly dangerous, because they misconceive the very essence of migration. Migration is regular human behaviour that has always existed and will – without doubts – continue to exist as long as there are places in the world which are not safe to live in. What drives people’s xenophobia is the inability to apply social schemata to foreigners or members of other cultures: They do not know how to interact with them or how to think of them or how to categorise them. The solution, however, is not fear, but openness, and the courage to approach the unknown. In this respect, it is crucial to keep in mind that no matter the colour of our skin or specific cultural background, what unifies all of humanity essentially are the same emotions and desires (apart from the same body structure): Love, hunger, the desire for security, and above all the very human longing for relationships and communication. Conclusively, we need abandon the idea of separate ethnical groups, and also identities defined by nationalities are only imaginative.
Interculturality
The first of the two concepts based on the “traditional concept of single cultures” is Interculturality. Based on the main assumptions of the traditional concept of single cultures, it puts emphasis on intercultural relations and can be regarded as a kind of conclusion of the former. The main thought is the following: If cultures are the way Herder describes them – as exhibiting a certain competitiveness and hostility towards everything foreign – cultures eventually must end up fighting and destroy each other (cf. Welsch 1999, 195).
Indeed, the “traditional concept of single cultures” proved to be a very dangerous breeding-place of xenophobia and, thus, the wars of the 20th century in particular (s.a.), which again proved how fatal beliefs such as Social Darwinism can be.
Social Darwinism is based on Charles Darwin‘s famous evolutionary theory. However, it is important to note that Darwin did not invent Social Darwinism himself. Instead, other scientists such as Spencer, Bagehot, and Sumner are its inventors. Darwin’s theory presented a number of laws of natural selection regarding plants and animals, whereas these three scientists believed that they also applied for humans. Accordingly, human societies once more were seen as competing groups, amongst which only the fittest would eventually survive. If this theory was popular still, one might fearfully wonder what the world would look like today.
The goal of Interculturality is therefore to find ways for peaceful coexistence of cultures, bridge cultural gaps, and prevent or settle any conflicts.
Even though the traditional concept of single cultures is outdated, as has been outlined before, the concept of Interculturality, which derives from it, is still referred to as a standard in the academic English didactics and methodology discourse in Germany. For evidence, one must only consult the education plan of Baden-Württemberg (one of the sixteen federal states of Germany), for instance, which teachers have to follow here. According to this plan, the overall goal of English classes is Intercultural Communicative Competence (ICC) (BW Education plan English as first foreign languague 2016, 4). To elaborate this a little further: This competence features certain abilities, attitudes, and knowledge, such as knowledge about other cultures, the ability to relate, positive attitudes towards other cultures, critical cultural awareness, and more, as defined by Michael Byram, who developed a model for ICC.
Ultimately, however, Interculturality does not fully meet its goal; it is too exclusive. Without a doubt, it involves many good approaches, and its goal is important for the future of humanity. If a third world war is to be prevented, which with modern weaponry might erase all humanity, humans need to learn how to peacefully cooperate; tolerance and acceptance alone do not suffice at this point.
This learning progress takes place at a micro-level (e.g. how to peacefully coexist with one’s neighbours and community) and at a macro-level (e.g. international relationships). Furthermore, good international relationships are not only important in order to prevent war and the extinction of humanity, but also to meet the Sustainable Development Goals, which can ensure a good and livable life for everyone (cf. Hoffmann & Gorana (ed.) (2017), 3).
No country can achieve this on their own, nor should any country only fear for itself. Again: Good international networking is more important than ever before. Yet Interculturality it is still based on the idea of cultures as islands, lacks certain dimensions and highlights differences rather than commonalities and thus taints the perception of “self” vs. the foreign or “other”, perpetuating binary thinking and categories.
Multiculturality
The second concept is Multiculturality, which is based on the same conception of cultures as Interculturality, with the same outcome. However, the main difference between Multiculturality and Interculturality is a shift of perspective. While Interculturality focuses on the relations of different cultures (one might say it adopts a macro-perspective), Multiculturality takes a closer look at different cultures living together in one society. Therefore, one could argue that Multiculturality employs a more realistic point of view by studying (one could say heterogeneous) society as shaped by migration, a dimension that is left out within Interculturality.
Still, Multiculturality shares the same goal as Interculturality: Peaceful coexistence. However, it is once more based on a very narrow, crude conception of cultures and still regards them as being clearly separable, which is rather unfruitful (cf. Welsch 1999, 196).
Transculturality
Now that earlier concepts of cultures have been explained in detail, Transculturality shall be presented. Again, Transculturality is in some way based on the concepts explained above and provides a solution for their deficiencies, albeit not without giving rise to new issues of its own.
Nonetheless, it might prove to be an important milestone for future concepts of culture. First of all, Transculturality breaks with the most dangerous quintessence of the traditional concept of single cultures by stating that cultures are not clearly separable. Instead, Wolfgang Welsch, who also relied on earlier visionaries like Wittgenstein and Nietzsche, states that on a macro-level, cultures are marked by internal variance (inner diversity) and interpenetrate and emerge from each other (cf. Welsch 1999, 196). According to him, there are no gaps to bridge.
Cultures are complex, inclusive, interconnected and interwoven networks characterised and shaped by globalisation, human migration and exchange. Furthermore, cultures are also connected simply because they face the same public debates (e.g. climate change, feminism, or decolonization) and challenges, such as hunger and poverty (cf. Welsch 1999, 197).
These debates and challenges have led to the foundation of international movements and organisations such as the early international socialist organisation, the World Health Organisation and many more, which have an enormous impact on international relationships.
A side effect of these trends can also be seen in the rise of the English language as a global language. German and Lao popular culture are good examples for this point: The last decades have seen trends towards Anglicization and Americanization, such as the use of English expressions and words in everyday speech (words like job, internet, club, influencer, chillen etc.), more and more English music being played on the radio and rising popularity of English/American blockbusters and series.
Welsch concludes that “there is no longer anything absolutely foreign” (Welsch 1999, 197). On a micro- level, he views humans as cultural hybrids with several identities shaped by encounters with different cultures. To prove this point, one might refer also to the various kinds of migration such as seasonal migration and mobilities of students via programs like Erasmus+ or the “Bi-directional learning and teaching (English) in Laos” project. All these forms of migration, mobility, or exchange can lead to the creation of new identities or change and blending of identity.
This visualisation of Transculturality, like the previous two, I made by myself. Of course, visualizing Transculturality is far more difficult than visualizing Inter- or Multiculturality. Nonetheless, I tried to point out the most important features by for example making the edges penetrable and choosing circles which include a variety of colours (the colours are supposed to show the blending of different cultures, sub-cultures or simply cultural influences and trends). The overlapping circles reflect Welsch’s statement that cultures overlap or emerge from one another. Lastly, the arrows, the letter, the airplaine, and the telephone are symbols of exchange, migration, and mobility.
It can be said without a doubt that Welsch’s concept of Transculturality presents an important contribution to Cultural Studies and is much more suitable to describe modern societies than the traditional concept of single cultures, Interculturality, or Multiculturality.
By arguing for cultures being interconnected and inclusive, it also provides better grounds for international relations and friendship. However, it also faces criticism, such as being an elitist concept. Statements such as “the global networking of communications technology makes all kinds of information identically available from every point in space” (Welsch 1999, 197) are simply untrue. They ignore the existence of countries with comparatively little or no access to technology and do not even apply to many Western countries, where lower social classes are also often denied the opportunities that the more wealthy enjoy.
Additionally, saying that there is nothing foreign any longer is wrong. Surely, the world is more closely connected than ever before, but unfortunately, there are still big gaps. Another problem (but not a flaw) is the complexity of Transculturality, which complicates the description and study of cultures. If nothing is clearly separable anymore and everyone is part of several (sub-)cultures, how can one analyze and describe any culture at all? Following this difficulty, there has been a shift of focus away from culture and towards individual identities. The term “culture” is therefore interpreted as something individual and subjective instead of something shared by a collective body (cf. Griese 2006, 21).
In conclusion, it can be said that Transculturality is probably not the ultimate concept. Indeed, there are already new cultural concepts such as Hyperculturality. Moreover, it can be said that there can never be one fully satisfactory concept to explain “culture” as the world is changing ever more rapidly all the time and thus theories need to be changing, too.
However, the concept of Transculturality is certainly an important milestone and should not be disregarded because it breaks with older concepts. It claims that cultures are interwoven, interconnected networks, which is the most important point of departure for all future concepts and something we all should keep in mind if we want to live on this planet in harmony.
Text by C.V. Seeger
Illustrations by C.V. Seeger & https://webstockreview.net/pict/getfirst
References
Berggren, Lena & Kalle Johansson (2019). Was ist eigentlich Faschismus? Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung.
Griese, Hartmut (2006). “Meine Kultur mache ich selbst.” Kritik der Inter- und Transkulturalität in Zeiten der Individualisierung und Globalisierung. In: ZEP: Zeitschrift für internationale Bildungsforschung und Entwicklungspädagogik 29 (2006) 4, 19-23.
Hoffmann, Thomas & Rajeswari Gorana (eds.) (2017). Teaching the Sustainable Development Goals. Bonn: Engagement Global GmbH. https://www.globaleslernen.de/sites/default/files/files/education-material/teaching_the_sustainable_development_goals1.pdf (last accessed 14 Nov 2020)
Ministerium für Kultus, Jugend und Sport Baden-Württemberg (2016). Gemeinsamer Bildungsplan für die Sekundarstufe I. Englisch als erste Fremdsprache. Villingen-Schwenningen: Neckar-Verlag GmbH.
http://www.bildungsplaene-bw.de/site/bildungsplan/get/documents/lsbw/export-pdf/depot-pdf/ALLG/BP2016BW_ALLG_SEK1_E1.pdf (last accessed 14 Nov 2020)
Treibel, Annette (2017). “Wann endet der Migrationshintergrund?” Dialog Nr. 7. Bildungsjournal der Pädagogischen Hochschule Karlsruhe (1): 14-19. file:///C:/Users/NB/Downloads/17_05_DIALOG_7_Diversitaet_und_Bildung.pdf (last accessed 14 Nov 2020)
Welsch, Wolfgang (1999). “Transculturality – the Puzzling Form of Cultures Today.” In: Featherstone, Mike & Scott Lash (ed.). Spaces of Culture: City, Nation, World. London: Sage. http://www.westreadseast.info/PDF/Readings/Welsch_Transculturality.pdf (last accessed 14 Nov 2020)
List of chapters
Invitation to the Crowne Plaza Hotel
Meeting new Lao friends (who study German!)
Movie night turned into Halloween adventure
My first dance competition — not an easy task!
A Phoenix has to share its light
It was Halloween, 31 October 2019, exactly a year ago, when I had my craziest day in Laos. I was not sure whether Halloween was celebrated in Laos, and if yes, which subculture[1] would take part in it. My guess was that it would be probably more interesting for teenagers and young adults, who tend to be influenced by Western (social) media: YouTube, Instagram or streaming sites like Netflix. I was able to confirm my theory after my Halloween night, but more about that later.
The only thing I knew about Halloween in Laos was that Team V set up a Halloween party and held one of their English lessons in a “witchy” style to showcase the main features of this event for their students. To do this they used a host of fun activities and lots of classic spooky Halloween-themed songs which could also be used in a special school lesson on this day (follow the link if you want to read about this event and the historical roots of Halloween).
One difference between Team V’s approach and mine was that they celebrated Halloween in their “safe” classrooms at the LGTC, whereas I went out on my own adventure to search for a spooky and fun Halloween event at night in a beautiful, dimly lit Vientiane. If you are ready for a wild ride, do not hesitate to continue reading — at your own risk!
So how did it all start? It started like most encounters in Laos: You meet a new person who introduces you to a variety of other new people who then invite you to certain events where you — again — meet a lot of great people. One small encounter or meeting can bring about the biggest surprises and lead to many new experiences (which reminds me of the butterfly effect). One also never knows what will happen in the near future: In Laos, life happens when one is busy making other plans!
Furthermore, this way of “social circling” and forming connections can continue ad infinitum — if you are willing to take the risks, which means to deviate spontaneously from already set plans and jump into unknown situations. You do not have to know what exactly will happen or where you will end up. In my experience, everything turns out beautifully in Laos; obstacles are merely temporary challenges and overcoming them only leads to greater happenings, as was the case during my Halloween night.
Invitation to the Crowne Plaza Hotel
In my case, the whole chain of experiences started to unfold on 23 October in 2019 at the Crowne Plaza, a beautiful new (five-star) hotel in Vientiane. The German Embassy team had invited us (Ms Yvonne-Jacqueline Dyck and I, Mr David Trendl) to join the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which happened on 9 November 1989. Not only the unity of the Federal Republic of Germany and the preceding restoration of peace were celebrated, but also the honouring of the long-standing Lao-German friendship and the fruitful relations between the residents of these countries, were exclaimed.
As mentioned before, the Crown Plaza is a noble hotel with a huge lobby by boasting high, gleaming marble walls and an interior that looked very modern while at the same time creating an atmosphere of a natural wooden touch. Throughout the evening, the conference room was visited by many people of different origins: We met Mme Gerlinde Engel (the German co-founder of Angels for Children), a French businessman who works for the marketing section of a Lao café chain and presented some interesting facts about Lao coffee production and distribution, as well as various Lao government officials. Moreover, we encountered a group of students of the National University of Laos (NUOL) who study German, which includes not only the German language but also several other fields, such as tourism, culture and politics.
Certainly, I must not forget to mention His Excellency Mr Jens Lütkenherm, the German Ambassador in Laos, who gave the main speech on the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Furthermore, he both praised and encouraged Lao-German cooperation in fields like business, diplomacy and education to foster sustainable progress and support the continuation of fruitful relationships between both countries and their residents.
After the speech a great buffet was served that contained Lao and German specialities. There was something for everyone: Traditional Larb, gently cooked fish (Mok Pa), spring rolls (the fried ones are called “cheun yaw” and the fresh ones carry the name “Pun yaw“), fried rice salad (Naem Khao Tod), very sour sauerkraut, creamy mashed potatoes, crisp asparagus-broccoli salad (my personal favorite) and tenderly cooked ham. Lao sausage (Sai Gok) and German sausages paired with pretzels were provided to fulfill the needs of guests who were looking for a very savoury and traditional German meal.
I was certainly happy that I had not eaten before we went to the event. In my opinion, this mixed Lao-German buffet was one of the best buffets that I ever had the pleasure of enjoying. Mme Engel did not have to tell me twice to eat as much as I could. My teammate Jacqueline (the nickname she introduced herself with was “Jacky”, as it was easier to pronounce for Lao people) liked the dessert very much, which consisted of a plethora of different fruits and pastry such as a tasty mousse au chocolat served with a little flower on top called Asian pigeonwings. I had seen this flower being used in plenty of beauty products like shampoo and skin care products before. All in all, we were utterly and comprehensibly spoiled by the professional and very attentive team of chefs and waiters of the Crowne Plaza.
Meeting new Lao friends (who study German!)
While we were eating and drinking some champagne served by ever-moving and relentlessly attentive waiters and waitresses, the aforementioned group of Lao students approached me. They asked me where I was from, which initiated our small talk. I was really thankful that they treated me with such friendly directness, because I had wanted to approach them before but was not sure about the right way given the typically more cautious social behavior of Lao people. To their question I replied that I was a volunteer from Germany who teaches English and German at the LGTC. This comment made one student answer with the German sentence “Mein Name ist Lucas” (my name is Lucas) and some other sentences that I am no longer able to recall. The only thing I am still certain about is that all sentences were pronounced almost perfectly – I was thoroughly impressed.
In the meantime, Jacqueline had returned to the buffet on a mission to get some more fruit during which she was stopped by a friendly elderly Lao couple who asked her how she liked the German food prepared by Lao chefs. They wanted to know if it had the same taste that she was used to in Germany or if she could taste slight differences due to nuances in flavors or other changes made by the cooks. She did not return for a long time, because, as I found out later, she had further met and then had another longer chat with a Malaysian woman who works for the International Red Cross. She and her both being Protestants, they had a talk about their Christian faith and shared their views on this topic with each other.
Just a moment later, the other students also introduced themselves to me: This is how I got to know Jiro, Melinda, Memmy, Noumnim, Seangdeat, Lucky and Lucas, who all study German at the National University of Laos (NUOL has just launched a new cooperation with the German department of the University of Education in Karlsruhe. Sadly, this project had to be postponed to 2021 due to the Covid 19-pandemic). In the meantime Jacqueline acquainted herself with Melinda and they had a brief conversation in German. Melinda was wearing a traditional Bavarian dress, which is called “Dirndl”, and Jacqueline was dressed in a sinh (a traditional Lao skirt) which she had been able to borrow from a Lao friend. As the invitation to this event had been quite spontaneous and we received it only shortly after our arrival in Laos, she had not yet had the time to buy one of her own. The two of them instantly made a connection and on top of that, their outfits were a wonderful representation of Lao-German friendship and intercultural exchange. While they talked, plenty of people pointed at them smiling and a person unknown to all of us insisted that they should take a photo together, which they did.
After that we continued our lively conversation — mostly in German — and learned plenty about each other. Some of our new friends told me they would like to work for the German Embassy or the Goethe Institute in Laos after finishing their studies. The later the evening, the funnier our conversations became — we started to joke about Lucas’s outfit, which was made up of a pink shirt and a black tie with white trousers. It certainly looked great but had some similarities with the outfits of the waiters. This became our running gag of the evening: Whenever we had finished our drinks, we said “Lucas, could you serve some more champagne, please?” Certainly, there were enough opportunities to repeat this joke until it grew familiar with everyone. As the evening went by, we continued to crack many jokes and generally had a great time.
Our new friends speak German very well and were very eager to get to know us. They asked us a lot of questions about German culture, our tandem-teaching project and — in general — about our stay in Laos. I told them that we are involved in a research project of our university, the University of Education in Karlsruhe, our main goal being to advance our own professionalization as intercultural teachers and learners.
When they asked me about the challenges that I encountered and what my own experiences of the project had been so far, I tried to summarize the points I viewed as most important: The chance to visit Laos not as a tourist, but as a teacher of English who can learn something about other kinds of teaching styles, expectations of students, attitudes, and my own mental preconceptions (habitual ways of behaving, judging and concluding) of people from a culture different from one’s one, was immensely beneficial to my own growth — as a teacher and as a human being — that I would never want to have missed out on[2].
I also explained to my friends that we work and cooperate closely with our tandem-teachers to plan lessons and try out new methodological ways of presenting our classes’ content in a way that is easily accessible for students and leads to sustainable long-term progress. I concluded my short elaboration with telling them that these procceses were not only beneficial to the Lao teachers and students, but also immensely valuable for my own development as a teacher in a highly globalized world. After, the group of Lao students told me about their university and provided me with a closer look into the different fields of their German studies: Linguistics, culture, tourism, politics, and history. I was surprised about the broad spectrum of their studies, including basically everything related to Germany and its culture.
After the more work-related discussion with Lucas, I wanted to engage in light conversation and started to speak with Noumnim about movies. I asked her about the cinema culture in Laos because during my time there I had not seen a single one in Vientiane and all my students told me that they mostly use Netflix to watch movies or series. This led to us finding out that we both like anime (Japanese animated cartoon movies that are usually based on on hand-drawn comics, called manga). She seemed quite curious about my knowledge of anime and we were able to exchange a lot of fun facts about our favorite ones. The fact that I took part in some cosplay events and competitions, where you dress like one of your favorite characters surprised her even more. I told her that Germany has quite a large subculture of people interested in Japanese anime and cosplaying; It is certainly not only an Asian phenomenon anymore. We both agreed that dressing as one of your favourite characters from movies or computer games is a creative and fun thing to do and that it is really not easy to create your own costumes, or make-up, which is even harder if you are aiming to match it with the original. If one wants to take it even further, one has to act in the way the chosen character acts, which requires specific knowledge about your character’s behavioral nuances as well as the ability to use your facial expressions and body language to their maximum potential — a task that any good actor has to master.
I am telling you this to share with you my passion for acting and movies, which hopefully helps to illustrate why I was so eager to join the Halloween event that I am going to talk about now. By the way, Noumnim’s favorite anime is Naruto, which is one of the most famous and most-cherished ones by long-standing anime fans. I cannot recall every conversation because we talked about a lot of different topics. Only one thing I know for sure: It just took a few minutes of talking and couple of glasses of champagne (we felt like it was the weekend, even if it was Wednesday!) and we became good friends; We got along very well from the beginning. Jacky and I are very grateful for the invitation we received and the opportunities to meet so many wonderful people.
After this evening many meetings that would deepen our relationship with our new found friends were still to come. This included a volleyball game, two Karaoke nights, a visit to the That Luang festival, an invitation to a Christmas party at the NUOL and many more. It was this friendship, especially with Lucas, that would lead to my great Halloween night.
Movie night turned into Halloween adventure
Jacqueline, Phi Ha (our friend and Team X member who had arrived in the meantime) and I were asked by our Lao friends to join them for a movie night at the German Embassy. This movie night was set for Halloween, 31 October, at 7.30 p.m. The movie was called “Bornholmer Straße” and would be shown in German with English subtitles — a perfect opportunity to meet our friends, have fun and practice speaking German together. The movie tells the story of Colonel Schäfer, who works at the border checkpoint “Bornholmer Straße” in Berlin that connects East and West Germany. It shows the events of 9 November 1989, when the collapse of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) began by the opening of the border.
We thought that this movie was a worthy continuation of our first meeting at the Crown Plaza Hotel where we had celebrated the German reunification. In addition, we were able to celebrate our own small Lao-German reunion. Even if it sounded like a great plan; Like so often in Laos, things turned out differently in a spontaneous manner. I did not watch the movie that day because life had something else in store for me.
A few minutes before we were going to meet Lucas, Melinda and Jiro, to our surprise, they told us they had moved on to the Vientiane City Center to do some shopping. They had not found anyone at the Embassy and thus got the impression that the movie night had been either cancelled or postponed. Afterwards, we still wanted to go there to see for ourselves what had happened. At the same time, Lucas texted us in our WhatsApp group saying that they had heard of a Halloween party featuring a dance and costume competition, which they wanted to visit.
When I read this message, I was standing in front of the entrance of the Embassy while Jacqueline and Phi Ha were already walking through the door and passing the metal detectors, which had been installed for safety measures. I had to make a quick decision: Do I enter and watch the movie or do I leave and wait to see how the plan for the Halloween party would turn out? Actually, it was not a thought-out plan yet — just an opportunity, as they were still unsure about what to do and where to go. I knew myself, which means that I once I decided there was no going back. I would not enter the Embassy again, even if our friends went home and I were to end up alone. Meditation has taught me to listen to my heart (or gut instinct) and decide without paying too much attention to the my mind, which sometimes holds me back with its endless pondering. I just like to go for things without much hesitation and see what comes of it.
So, I did precisely that, and what first came of it was that I did end up alone in the street, not knowing what to do and with no one answering my messages on WhatsApp about tonight’s plans. Great…!
As I had not received an answer and it was too late to go back to the Embassy to watch the movie, I decided to go to the night market and look for some presents for my family. Deep inside, however, I was still hoping for a message from Lucas about the Halloween party. I really wanted to see how this festivity is celebrated in Laos and what one has to do during the dance and costume competition Lucas mentioned because I had never heard, let alone taken part in anything comparable.
As I have described before, my interest in cosplays and acting made me more than willing and ready to have such an experience in Laos. At the time, I was, however, still just walking down the street, looking to give the next TukTuk driver a sign to pick me up. It was already dark, and a beautiful Vientiane, dimly lit by streets lights and glowing signs of shops and ATMs lay in front of me. A small breeze of cold wind greeted me, and the big bear statue in front of the Embassy was still smiling its big smile. “It was a good day for Halloween,” I must have thought.
The streets were filled with big cars and scooters, which always try to use every inch of free space to squeeze through the traffic and make room for the cars behind them. Also, there were a lot of dark alleys that seemed to stretch out endlessly into the darkness. This phenomenon reminded me of side river channels that break off from the main river, just to flow back into it again after taking a little detour. In this night, Vientiane seemed like a beautiful dazzling labyrinth with so many paths and secret corners that my mood turned adventurous. Also, I should mention that despite all the noise coming from the streets, everything seemed strangely peaceful. Until, suddenly, a loud sound interrupted my thoughts. I was startled…
…by the ring tone of my own mobile phone. I picked up. “Hallo David, wo bist du?” (“Hello David, where are you?”), I heard a voice say. Then, I realized that it was Lucas. I told him I was about to get a Tuktuk to the night market. He asked me if I still wanted to go to a Halloween party with him and I replied that I had been waiting and hoping for him to call me and ask this question. I became very excited. “Wo soll ich hinkommen?” (“Where should I go?”) was my response, which I burst out with such energy and relief that my joy pervaded the air.
He answered, “ich hole dich mit meinem Roller ab, in zehn Minuten” (“I am going to pick you up with my scooter, in ten minutes”). This filled me with delight because it was the first time I would ride on the back of someone’s scooter through Vientiane.
A few minutes later Lucas pulled up right in front of me on his black-and-red scooter. The moment I swung myself on the back seat our little tour began. He told me that he needed to buy some cigarettes for his aunt, so we drove to a shop to do so. Our drive reminded me of the times when I was a teenager driving to school on my own scooter. It was a time when I felt cool, free, but also fortunate because not many students had an expensive scooter at the age of sixteen. Here in Vientiane virtually every student seems to have a scooter or motorbike and even a lot of the teachers at the LGTC use scooters and motorbikes as means of transportation. I guess it is the vehicle of choice because it is less expensive than a car, easier to park and, most importantly, in lots of situations it might actually be faster than a car because you can get past certain obstacles that cause traffic congestion, which has become notorious in this town. It is certainly a pratical ride if you want to stop fast and easily park in front of one of the small food stands by the street to grab a pineapple shake or some sliced watermelon before you continue your ride.
In our case, however, we did not pick up a pineapple shake but cigarettes for his aunt. After that we drove to Lucas’s house because there was still more than enough time until the party was to start. Having reached our destination, we were standing in front of a wooden door that had beautiful carvings on its surface, which I was not able to decipher. Although the door looked very impressive, what impressed me even more was the person that had been standing behind it after it was opened: Melinda greeted me with a big knife stuck in her head, painstakingly dividing her head into two halves (pun intended). Shocked, I rubbed my eyes in disbelief. Then, luckily, I remembered which day it was: It was Halloween!
After the initial shock had subsided, I entered Lucas’s house. I met his father, who greeted me very kindly and asked me to take a seat. Lucas offered us soft chocolate-vanilla rolls that tasted delicious. Water and Pepsi were prepared to quench our thirst and sugar cravings. We were sitting on the floor around a small table that served as our playboard. Lucas asked me if I knew a fun German card game and I suggested a simple classic that I have always liked playing: It is called “Mau-Mau”. The German word has nothing to do with the Lao word “mau”, which means “drunk”, but there might be an unintentional connection between these two words in the way that the card game can be played as a drinking game — or is at least often accompanied by the consumption of beer amongst young people.
After I explained the rules, we started to play our first test round. It was tremendous fun because the game is so easy but, as most good card games, does not fully depend on luck or the advantage of a good hand of cards, but also on a good memory and a bit of cunning. Lucas and Melinda really enjoyed the game and even played the longest round I have ever witnessed. Both of them so often had only one card left, just about to win, when the game took a full turnaround because the last card never matched the number or colour needed to secure the much-needed win.
I think their game lasted about 20 minutes. We had to reshuffle the cards three times to have a new deck to draw from. In case you are curious who won, I have to admit that I have forgotten. Nevertheless, it did not matter because we had so much fun and laughed a lot!
After the card game was finished, Lucas informed me that it was time to put on our make-up for the Halloween party. “Our make-up” sounded strange to me, as I did not expect that I would have the opportunity to take part in the process because our get-together was so very spontaneous; I had thought I would be going as a bystander and remain undisguised. In the end , I was very happy that I was given the chance to put on some make-up or even a costume appropriate for Halloween.
No sooner said than done, I knew precisely which kind of make-up I wanted. My choice fell on Heath Ledger’s Joker from the Batman movie “The Dark Knight”, which is my favorite Batman movie of all the ones I have seen so far (meaning all of them). The make-up is easy to do — it needs only three colours: White, black, and red to create its scary effect. This was later confirmed by another Lao friend who told me I looked like a “frightening ghost”. (In retrospect, I think I looked pretty funny!)
I was standing in front of the mirror working with the make-up that Lucas had given me when, suddenly, his mother appeared – in a zombie costume. It looked both funny and scary at the same time. The scary figure brought us tasty muffins with vanilla and chocolate cream. At the same time, Lucas was doing something I could not figure out: He was soaking bits of paper tissue in water and putting it on his mouth, chin, and cheeks. I was curious about the effect that it would achieve. While I was doing my own make-up, I was watching Lucas for several minutes repeating this process layer after layer. Finally, it became clear to me that he was creating a wound or some kind of a monstrous-looking mouth. After the tissues had dried up he used red make-up to give them a bloody look.
I was very surprised by the end result because it looked quite real and disgusting; exactly the effect he had aimed for.
Speaking about make-up: Melinda was the only one who did not use any make-up, Halloween-related make-up that is to say. She was dressed in a long red cape that made her look like Wonder Woman — with the only difference being the knife that jutted out of her head. All in all, we looked great and were ready for the party!
After we left Lucas’s house and got into his car, we began to drive around in search of a good club where we could celebrate Halloween. I thought that they already knew where to go, which, was actually not the case. Lucas informed me that there were a lot of clubs with Halloween parties, but only a few that had a competition like the one we were looking for. After a few minutes of driving we arrived at a club called “Gold Star”.
It looked really nice with a big stage and lots of fairy lights, but we figured it might be too classy for the Halloween party we were searching for. Also, the clientele seemed to be too old to be interested in Halloween; This was a place where you could eat good food and listen to relaxing Lao, Thai or Jazz music — not so much a place for the younger party generation, who made every effort to look as frightening as possible on Halloween.
Although it was a nice first impression and we could have celebrated there, we only stayed for a few minutes because Lucas found out that they would not be holding our much-desired competition. After we left, two more disappointments would follow until finally we found a different club with a small dance floor where live music was performed. Its name was “Phoenix Club”, a name that was certainly promising. I felt that this was the place we had been looking for the whole time.
There were plenty of people and a few of them were dressed in Halloween costumes, whereas the majority of guests were just wearing normal outfits. The club’s lightshows and the colourful interior created a nice atmosphere. Pink, blue, and yellow were the main colours bursting out of the crystalline–looking disco lights. These colours reflected on the surface of a giant spinning disco ball, which was a beautiful phenomenon that all of us witnessed with delight. After entering and looking around, Lucas asked the bartender if this place was going to hold a Halloween competition, which the friendly girl confirmed. We finally arrived at our much-desired destination. As we had been slightly discouraged before, having found this place, we were really happy. Our rebirth was yet to come!
The club was packed, thus we were lucky that a few people were just leaving and we could get a vacant table. The atmosphere was electric: A live band was playing Lao and Thai songs (and two or three English songs in between). A lot of people looked at us — some looked surprised, and others smiled. I took both reactions as compliments: Either they were scared or they liked our make-up and costumes. I enjoyed the live band because they were engaging the audience by encouraging everyone to sing along.
Speaking about Thai songs, this is the perfect time to tell you about Team IX’s favourite song “Mau touk kuad” (the male singer’s version), which is played almost everywhere in Laos. Every time this song was played, no matter where we were, one of us recognized it and we started to sing — or hum — together, and our mood lifted instantly. It changed from happy to euphoric (despite the song’s sad lyrics). We heard this song at least in ten different places and thus it became a kind of running gag to spot this song everywhere — every time strengthening our bond as a team.
Back to the Halloween night in the Phoenix Club: I was standing on the left side of the club next to a table with Lucas and Melinda. When Melinda and I got in the mood to dance, we made our way through the crowd of people that was dancing and drinking in front of the stage. Next to us there was a group of people who offered us free beer and asked us if we wanted to take some selfies with them — a wish that we happily fulfilled.
Everyone was happy and cheerful and we kept dancing and having fun. This went on until the music suddenly stopped and a young man with a microphone jumped on stage to announce something in Lao. Lucas told me that the Halloween competition was about to start. Thus, I asked him what we had to do and how the procedure would unfold. His answer followed straight away in a rather unexpected manner: He pulled me on stage and told me to start dancing as soon as the competition host told me it was my turn. I have to admit that I had no clue what to do and “which steps to take” (literally and metaphorically speaking).
Once again, it was time just to relax and be spontaneous, just like my greatest teacher, Laos itself, had taught me multiple times up to this point. Five seconds later a microphone was thrust into my hands and I told everyone my real name and as well as my nickname, “The Joker”. Lucas and Melinda followed the same procedure, as did the other five people on stage. The people watching us were really happy and smiled and cheered for us. A group of people had already shouted out the name “Joker” before I announced it.
As I had expected, the people who celebrate Halloween in Laos were mostly young adults. This subculture is influenced more strongly by social media and Western values and traditions than older generations. This group of people, according to my Lao friend and my hair dresser Toni, are a big part of the “opening up[3]” of Lao culture and bringing new fashion trends and body art such as earrings for men, tattoos, and different styles of clothes to Laos.
While I can think about these things in retrospect now, there was no room in my mind for such thoughtful reflections when I was on stage. The show started and I still had no idea what to do. Thus, I thought the best decision was just to have fun and do whatever would feel natural to me. After all, Halloween is not too serious of an affair.
My first dance competition — not an easy task!
All of us started to dance. We did a lot of funny moves to entertain the crowd, which was constantly cheering us on. After what must have been about a minute, the person next to me was given a big large amount of fluorescent plastic bracelets. I wondered which purpose they might serve.
Suddenly, a group of people directly in front of the stage began waving rapidly to call me over. They were holding some of the bracelets in their hands and it seemed like they wanted me to pick them up. I was confused and did not understand what I was supposed to do with five or six of the yellow and pink bracelets. Hence, I just took them, thanked the people and continued my performance. It was at this point that I finally understood the function these bracelets served: They were the currency with which the people showed their support!
The performer who collected the most of these liquid lights would win the competition. Having understood this, I just saw the person next to me earning a huge bunch of these bracelets. He danced like crazy and made a lot of funny movements; It was clear to me that he wanted to win and put all his energy — and wit — into his moves. Before, I had been oblivious to the fact that a vital component of the performance was not only one’s dancing skills or costume, but entertaining the crowd. Our job was to entertain everyone — I realized that we were the live act of the moment. Thus, one thing was for sure: I had to step up my game.
This was easier said than done. The other dancer next to me, who was wearing purple makeup and had long spiky hair, was doing a good job: Hhe did everything from spinning around at a high speed to twerking in a funny way that made the whole crowd laugh and cheer him on. Actually, I was enjoying his performance the same way everyone else was and it made me smile multiple times, too.
Another dancer, a girl dressed like a zombie in a skirt, was doing some slightly erotic movements resembling the Indian belly dance. This hilarious and great performance got way more intense as time went by, in ways that I cannot fully describe here. Now, imagine me standing between these two full-body, high-energy performers. All I can say is, I could not keep up in intensitiy, or eroticism. They were really great. Nonetheless, I wanted to do some fun moves, too! Thus, I started to do some Tecktonik moves I learned some years ago. This style of dance is a very quirky way of moving your arms and legs, mostly used in combination with Electronic Dance Music (EDM). This kind of music is also played in the night club “ZEUS” in Vientiane, where I had a great night meeting Lao and Korean people who invited me and my Lao friend to dance and drink with them, but that is another story.
So there I was, on stage and doing some rapid moves with my arms with a crowd of almost 100 people laughing at me. Now if I think back, I see how ridiculous it must have looked: A foreigner wearing an improvised Joker make-up waving his arms and legs around in this manner certainly looked hilarious. I must have looked like a crazy clown! (Wait. I was a crazy clown!)
On top of that I was not performing to an electronic song, but to a funky Thai song, which was being performed by a great live band that supported us in every way possible and got everyone in the mood to party. Sadly, as we were all on stage, no one of us could take a picture or record a video; Also everything happened so fast that it still feels like a dream even now.
It was a great experience because everyone was just having fun dancing, smiling, and, obviously, cheering us on. I was happy that it was not a serious affair. After all, it was Halloween, which I almost forgot during the performance. Everyone supported us with clapping and their beautiful smiles. My friends Lucas and Melinda were also having fun and dancing in their own way in a more unflashy style, which was especially fitting to Lucas: His slow moves were actually perfectly in accordance with his scary zombie outfit!
Moreover, Melinda received some sparkly neon-bracelets and accepted them in such a graceful way that would have made Wonder Woman proud. We continued dancing for what must have been three or four minutes and got more and more glow sticks. I was especially happy when I received around twenty bracelets from another group of Lao people standing around a table right in front of the stage. I thanked them and did the traditional Lao greeting called “Nop” to express my gratitude, all of this while trying to hold the glow sticks in my hands without dropping a single one of them, because they were the currency needed to win and this friendly group of locals also had paid for them.
After I accepted my reward and placed it carefully on the floor of the stage, so as to have my hands free to continue my performance, I witnessed an unbelievable thing. I could not believe my eyes!
The guy dancing next to me had received what must have been a shocking 200 glowing sticks. He had to use both of his arms to form a kind of bowl to hold them and carry them to the side of the stage. It was an unbelievable amount of glowing sticks glow sticks — one for every person in the bar (actually, enough for every cheerfully clapping pair of hands I saw during our performance). Right at that moment the music stopped and a loud voice echoed through the room, saying something in Lao, which must have been something along the lines of “The competition is hereby finished, please clap for all the participants”, which encouraged everyone to give us a huge applause.
We were all breathing heavily and smiling, a sign that all of us had given their best. After that we were provided with water bottles (the Tigerhead water that is typical everywhere in Laos) and emptied them like we had not had any water in days. I did a “Nop” to everyone and patted the shoulder of the guy who I was sure would be declared the winner. He smiled and thanked me, too. I hugged my friends Melinda and Lucas and told them how much fun I was having. I was really grateful and told Lucas that it had been a good idea to push me onto the stage.
In the meanwhile, two members of the awesome staff were counting the number of glow sticks every participant had received. Obviously, the winner was already decided: No one could possibly beat great co-competitor with more than 200 glow sticks. Nonetheless, they counted the sticks for every single person. I did not think that I would stand a chance of getting second place, because the girl who had performed her unique belly dance boasted a collection of what seemed like close to a hundred bracelets. Nonetheless, I was hoping to finish third, which I figured was still possible after I took a quick look into the round at the other participants. I had not been able to keep an eye on the other participants during the event, but now I saw that their heaps of sticks looked pretty similar to mine. To me it seemed that one or two glow sticks would make the difference and “decide” the winner — by a hair’s breadth.
I still remember that time was passing very slowly then and I continued chatting with Lucas and Melinda (all of us were still on stage).
Lucas told me that the first place would get three million Lao Kip (roughly 300 USD), second place one million LAK (roughly 100 USD) and third place still 500,000 LAK (roughly 50 USD). I was really surprised because I did not expect such a huge sum to be awarded to the winners of this short but intense Halloween competition. I am certain that all of us could feel that the air was full of suspense because the race for third place was very close.
We were hoping for the best, but knew that the great experience was the most valuable thing we were taking home. Suddenly, we heard a loud voice that interrupted our chatting. The winners were to be announced.
The first place went to the person we all knew would win. If I remember correctly, he had collected more than 250 glow sticks and had won deservedly due to his funny, over-the-top and highly energetic dancing. Next, the second place was announced. As I expected, the girl who had danced on the left side of the stage won with 84 fluorescent sticks. She received a huge round of applause and seemed very grateful.
After that, only the third place was left to be announced. I felt the tension rising rapidly, not only in myself, but in all of the remaining performers, because the third place was the only chance we had. We were all waiting. Who would win?
After a brief pause, the announcer finally cried out: JOKER! The presenter waved me over to where the two other winners were standing. I received a huge round of applause; Everyone was smiling at me, and I felt both humbled and grateful. The presenter handed me my 28 glow sticks and thanked me for my participation. After that, when I was about to to leave the stage, he gave me a sign to stay for one more moment.
All three of us received a huge card board bill with a Phoenix on it and a number indicating our placings. It was the first time I had held such an oversized cheque in my hands that, up to now, I only had only known from TV shows or charity events. It felt great.
I thought that the Phoenix was a perfectly fitting symbol for the transformation and revival of a not-so-promising evening into one of my most cherished and fun experiences in Laos. It was certainly the most memorable Halloween experience of my life.
Thank you, Laos.
“A Phoenix has to share its light“
Shortly after my excitement had worn off, we headed to the main bar. I gave my card board bill that proved I had finished third to one of the bartenders. He left and came back twenty seconds later with my reward: 500,000 LAK!
I had just had the best Halloween experience of my life and additionally received roughly 50 USD for it. I could not believe it and felt so tremendously happy that I had to thank my friends again. Ultimately, it was them who had made it possible for me to take part in such a wonderful event, and thus, it came to my mind that they should be rewarded accordingly. I made up my next plan. Obviously, everyone deserved its share of the spoils!
Two weeks later, on a Saturday, I invited my fellow team members of Team IX, Phi Ha, Jacqueline, Annabell, and our friends Lucas, Melinda and Jiro to a wonderful dinner at one of our favorite Indian restaurants in Vientiane, the Nazim. This way, I wanted to thank everyone and considered it a good way to spend the money I had won to create another memorable experience — and fill our bellies with delicious food. Jiro told me he would like to try out Indian food and since we had already gone out with them before to eat traditional Lao food, it seemed like a great idea.
Furthermore, we already had some favourite dishes at the Nazim restaurant, e.g. tomato chicken curry and potato and cauliflower curry (Aloo Gobi). Our list of favourites also included garlic naan, which is a soft aromatic bread with ghee and pieces of garlic on top (I think of it as the Indian version of herb-flavoured butter baguette). Garlic naan was one of Phi Ha’s all time favorite foods, which was evident by her dedicating a small song to this Indian gem of a bread, which became another running gag of Team IX (and Phi Ha’s happiness and enthusiasm about the garlic naan made it taste even better!).
Being a group of seven, we had to order more food than usual and wanted to try out some new dishes. One of these was spicy prawn curry and a savoury curry with chickpeas as a vegetarian alternative. I also have to mention Jacqueline’s favourite drink: The one and only Mango lassi, which is a yogurt-based milkshake with, as you can guess, tasty mango pulp. It has a creamy texture and a sweet taste with a touch of sourness due to the yogurt. Needless to say we all loved these dishes![4]
We had lot of fun and continued our habit of making jokes and running gags that we picked up on our first meeting in the Crown Plaza, with the most memorable one coming from Lucas: Whenever we asked him a question for which he could not provide a fitting answer, he happily replied with the sentence “frag meine Mama, die weiß das!“, which means “ask my mommy, she’ll know“.
It was such a pleasant feeling to be able to crack some jokes with our Lao friends using German — and them being able to understand everything and laughing with us. All in all, we had a great evening and I was really happy that I could express my gratitude for the invitation to the Halloween event.
Obviously, lots of other invitations, meetings and activities were about to follow, which further cemented our friendship. To this date, we are still in contact with Lucas, Melinda and Jiro and exchange pictures on social media in reminiscence of the great time we spent together.
I hope that my article has showcased how every (unexpected) incident or encounter — no matter how minor it may seem — can lead to great and surprising outcomes.
One lesson I surely learned having had these experiences was: If you are open-minded and ready, Laos always has an ACE up its sleeve.
Text by D. Trendl
Sub-edited by B. Martin
Photos by Y.-J. Dyck, L. Jakob, L. Koumphaphan & D. Trendl
Notes
[1] A subculture is a cultural group embedded in a larger culture, which has other values, beliefs, and interests than the main culture it belongs to. Nonetheless, the subcultre has enough similarities with the larger culture to be still considered part of it. It is like a little branch which is still connected to the bigger tree (“offshoot“).
[2] For the interested reader: Obviously, this intercultural experience confronted me with my own preconceptions, attitudes, and behavioural habits and has taught me how to adapt to a new environment and its various challenges sucessfully. It was certainly not easy to work around the language barriers, but, as I stated, I was completely sure that all of us did the our best and worked to the best of our abilities. While, sadly, I only learned some Lao words and sentences, I explained to my friends that I had learned a lot about cultural differences on multiple levels, be it in topics like politeness, traditions, and ceremonies, belief systems or values, such as having a benign and laid-back attitude towards life and the beauty of true humility (which can probably not be learned, but mostly occur naturally).
[3] Toni told me that, to his mind, Lao culture should try to slowly welcome influences from other cultures inasmuch as they enrich Lao culture with a greater diversity of styles, trends, and products. I had the same impression as Toni, namely that the Lao youth would welcome these additions. Furthermore, we both agreed that this “openness“ to the “foreign“ or the unknown should obviously count for every culture, the Western world included. He said that Europeans could learn something from Buddhist wisdom. I think that, while this “openness“ sometimes requires cultures to let go of concepts held dear, it could help to reduce ethnocentricity in our highly globalised world and increase acceptance of foreign modes of expression.
[4] Fun fact for curious readers and travellers: Here is the list of the numbers of the dishes we ordered in case you want to check it out: 22, 27, 29, 31, 44, 49, and 66. We love to eat our dishes with steamed rice and garlic or butter naan.
Travelling in 2019 – by Thaithanawanh Keokaisone
Hello People Internet Users!
I am Thaithanawanh Keokaisone, I am from Lao D.P.R. Last year, I was an international student in the current Erasmus+ Mobilities programme of Karlsruhe University of Education, Germany, and Savannakhet University, Laos, together with my colleagues Mr Napha Khothphouthone and Ms Viengvilaiphone Botthoulath.
I heard that many of you have been homesick very much during one semester abroad. I have had experiences for six months in Germany. I spent my time to study and also to travel around the European countries. I scheduled the time after studies for relaxation in other places as travelling during the weekends time.
Friends and professors of mine asked me to travel with them at the weekends, near and far, and the International Office also organized day-tours. For me it was great, I could even travel to Zurich in Switzerland and Paris in France.
There were so many tourists coming from Asia, they were Chinese group tour. For the European tourists, they liked sunning bath. Zurich city is more expensive than Paris. I bought some bread for lunch, in Paris, it is more cheaper than Zurich, if you buy things in the market.
I have been to Black Forest and Speyer city. Speyer Cathedral is more than a thousand years old with pilgrims from Germany.
The International Office of Karlsruhe University of Education (Pädagogische Hochschule, “PH”), it was really nice to organized the tour for the international students as visiting Heidelberg Castle, Turmberg in Karlsruhe city, Strasbourg in France. There is a big church, and it is very old.
I am never feel lonely, and I never forget the places where I have been to, and people who are very kind with opening their minds. This will remind me forever.
Travelling in 2020 – by Chanthalakone Souydalay
My name is Chanthalakone Souydalay (“Thon”) and I was almost 7 months in Germany for Student Mobility under scholarship of Erasmus+ until one week ago, together with my colleague Phongsavang Xaikhongkham. When I was a young I always dreamed to get on plane, travelling and studying abroad.
Luckily, I got opportunity during Bachelor’s degree that I have been on agriculture training in Israel for a year, Youth conference in Singapore, and English Camp in Thailand. While I trained in there I also traveled a lot.
I am very proud and impressed all my life to have been exchange student in Germany because I got new knowledge, experiences, lifestyles of European and culture, even in Covid-19 pandemic. Moreover, after the lockdown gradually lifted after 2 months in Europe, I finally traveled in my dream’s places of Europe, and Prof. Martin encouraged us also because travelling is part of intercultural learning and education in the Erasmus+ programme to broaden horizons and take on new challenges.
I am really fond of travelling and to meet interesting people (Foreigners), because it certainly allows me to learn about myself, know worldwide and open my mind to become more international.
Here comes a guide to the best destinations that I visited in European countries. I could travel in July on day-trips at weekends and in the holiday-month of August to France and Switzerland and Berlin. I could not go to Italy as planned because of Covid-19 danger increase again in September.
Maybe Lao or other readers who cannot travel to Europe can get an impression this way.
A special trip with German family
In July, It was last month for my Summer semester in PH-Karlsruhe of Erasmus+Mobility. I planned to visit some places in European counties after I finished all my courses’s examinations and traveling was possible again. Besides, I love learning, I also like to explore the world by traveling a lot.
I am deeply indebted to Rebecca Dengler and her family who organized and took us on an impressive trip. Moreover, they were very kind and friendly to me, as they provided the comfortable and nice room, yummy foods, tour guide and warm welcome. We arrived at her hometown (Nagold, Southern of Germany) in the evening of 3 August 2020, she picked us up at the tram station. As soon as we got her place, she introduced her parents and get to know each other by corona greeting procedure. After that, we had a great dinner, small talking and planned about journey of the day after.
I got up early in the morning to see the view of the village that it was located on foothill, instantly I felt homesick because it is quite like my hometown surrounded by the trees. In that day, the weather was very cloudy and a little bit cold.
After breakfast, we got ready, prepared some stuffs, indispensable drinks and some foods. We traveled by her father’s luxury van that there were with 5 co-travelers as her parents, my colleague, and me. While we were traveling to the first place (Hohenzollern Castle), I looked the way sides that I saw very beautiful natural and varieties of plants. When we arrived closely the castle, it amazed me because I have never seen ancient site like this before. I couldn’t imagine how do they build. It was located in atop of the mount Hohenzolern, in central Baden-Württemberg state, Germany.
The palace was know as one of the most beautiful in the world, besides that it is very unique architecture. It was a place of German historical significance and in 1945, it briefly became the home of the former Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany, son of the last Hohenzollern monarch, Kaiser Wilhelm II. Nowadays, It is now a museum of Germany.
On that day afternoon, there was a drizzle and a bit cold. While we were walking down the hill, my colleague said: “Unluckily, the first time in Europe but didn’t see the snow.” As soon as her father heard that he offered somewhere as where he been, the Säntis mountain, Switzerland. After that, he checked the weather app on phone and then he said: “two of you were very lucky because there were a little snowing in there because it normally didn’t have on this month.”
I was very excited and so happy, because it would be first lifetime experience to see the snow. When we arrived that place, I was excited by seeing spectacular and amazing place with its snow-berg (Säntis). The snow had cover the mountain, but there was still some at the top. That it is the highest mountain at 2,501.9 metres above sea level of northeastern Switzerland.
Hence, we had to take the cable car, exactly I was a bit frightened while I was getting cable-car because I am afraid of heights. I decided to let my fear go away to touch the real snow. When I got on top, it is very fantastic and pleasurable place. I felt like I was standing in the space without land. It is very nice view and amazing place even though it is quite cold for me. I would not hesitate to say that it is the best trip of my life.
Strasbourg trip
After I just finished the examinations of summer semester for a week, our best friend Phi Ha organised for this trip for us in 25 July 2020. When I got her message that she provided and planned for us to visit Strasbourg, France, I was very excited to hear that. She is a person who always willingly assist us when we need some help.
There were 5 co-travelers on this trip, we drove her friend’s car that it took about one hour from Karlsruhe to Strasbourg. The trip took only the day-time, and we had a cool time. We enjoyed the conversation along the way and listened to nice music. When we arrived the downtown, it was strange for my eyes because we parked in a high building. It is normally in my home country that we can only park in the front of own house or park in sidewalk. And then she explained it if we park in an unauthorized place we will have to pay for fine.
After that, I and my co-travelers spread a map to mark where we want to visit. For the first feeling that I have seen the city, it has typical German features as house designing. It is the capital of the (Alsace Region) which located in the east of France, bordering Germany. And it also had been occupied by Germany for a while in the history. For the most of the tourist attractions are concentrated in the old town area called “Grande Île” which means big Island. I think it is probably the L’Ill river flowing around the island. Nowadays, this area is also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We started to walk along the bank of the L’Ill river, I took the pictures without stopping because of its very beautiful view and the weather was very nice. There was a historic old town known as la Petite France (“Small France” = Second Paris) and beautifully landscaped with houses set on either side of the river. In addition, It is also a point to get off the river cruise that the boat will cruise along the river through the city center.
I usually like to buy the souvenir when I visit tourist attractions. It is very wonderful here that there are a lot of souvenir shop. I did not hesitate to buy it as a gift for my family and friends in my home country. Every shop here had to have the stork pictures or stork toys because of it is a unique animal of the city.
After we were tired of wandering around the city we looked for a restaurant to recharge our batteries of body. We took about 20 minutes to find the restaurant because each restaurant is full and not allow closely customers in Corona season. Finally, we found the restaurant next to “Notre Dame de Strasbourg”, we ordered the food very good healthy. It is very yummy food and I had great lunch there.
The last place of this trip was “Notre Dame de Strasbourg“, this cathedral was the tallest building in the world from 1647 until 1874, with a height of 142 meters. It is the 6th tallest Gothic church in Europe. It is an amazing thing I have never seen since I was born. I could not imagine how they built it, I only said impressive. I did not get inside of the cathedral I just walked around and took some pictures. And then we had to get back home because while that time was raining. This place is one of the best memories for me that once time I have ever been.
My trip to Paris, France (two days)
Paris is the main destination for many tourists around the world. Because there are many tourist attractions in different styles to choose from as you like. Whether it is a palace, historic monuments including shopping street for brand-name brands or fashion. You can also explore the city on a double-decker bus or take a boat trip. It is a charming and exciting experience.
Because this trip took place when during the Corona was not strong, I traveled from 19-21 August 2020, but still it was a complicated trip. Because, my colleague and friend and I made a mistake of planning. Since before travelling, we planned to go together but he misunderstood me about the day of leaving or I misunderstood him, so he booked the hotel and bus already. He traveled the day before me, but luckily we stayed the same hostel in Paris, France. I was obviously excited and anxious because I was going to travel alone, fortunately my journey went safely. It took me 9 hours from Karlsruhe, Germany to Paris, France by bus.
When I arrived there, the first things that I did as take the “Metro” to the accommodation. It is the first time I take the Metro and first time I lost my way to my destination. Because while I was getting on the train, I used the Google Map to find my place. But, unluckily the Internet signal was very low, hence Internet Map guided the wrong, I obviously got to another place. As the same time, I decided to ask someone in the Metro like how to get to this place and showed the location to him. He advised me how to know stopping of the train in every station and also told me the way back. Finally, I arrived my destination place and I met my friend there.
My first point “Eiffel Tower”
Paris is my dream city that I would like to visit and it is a wonderful city in Europe for many people too. Especially important landmarks like the Eiffel Tower that I am familiar with and have seen since childhood in TV. And until now the dream was come.
I got up early in the morning, the first place I have visited the “Eiffel Tower“. When I got there, I was excited by seeing some spectacular things. It is amazing and in addition to the grand construction with gorgeous arts. I could not imagine how do they build in that time. And then I walked to “Trocadéro” because it is a viewing point for the Eiffel Tower that is known as one of the most beautiful in Paris. You can also take a photo with the Eiffel Tower as well. “Trocadéro” which was built as the site of the 1878 World’s Fair. But nowadays it is a museum and it is also city park of Paris.
This place is usually very crowded, but during my visited there were a little tourists as it might be from result of pandemic of Corona. Moreover, they did not allow the tourist enter the Eiffel Tower, I only took a look and walked surround there. I cross the bridge of “Seine River” it is a nice view for tourists who like selfies. And then I got the bus to next point.
It is the world’s largest art museum and a historic monument in Paris, France. Which was open to the public to visit in the year (AD 1793), it is famous place and should be visited if coming to France. And it is a place that I was impressive and infatuated with the art of creation. But, unluckily I felt very sad, I lost great the occasion to enter inside of the Museum to see famous painting “Mona Lisa” because it was closed. Hence, I walked around the museum and took the pictures with the glass pyramid, which it is very beautiful landmark of this place.
The Triumphal Arc “Arc de Triomphe” is considered a monument to the heroes of the “French Revolutionary War” and “Napoleonic War” with the first intention of creating the French arch that it is coming from the Emperor Napoleon in 1806. But, it took more than 30 years until it was completed in 1836 in the reign of Louis – Philip king. It was located at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the center of the city. The location of the Arc de Triomphe is on a roundabout with 12 confluent streets. I visited here in the day two of my journey in Paris. It is a nice place and it is similar to Lao’s triumphal arc “Patuxai“. It would be great if I could get in side of the arc, because it is a point to see the beautiful city construction’s view.
The final destination “Place de l’Opéra Palais Garnier“
It is last place of my trip in Paris, I spent time a hour in here. Because, it is nearly time to travel back to Karlsruhe. I have just looked around and took the pictures. It is very nice place that the structure of building was Italian style Opera house. One of the most beautiful building in Paris, I felt well worth s visiting. The one thing was the most special as the architecture is very stunning design.
Although it was only 2 days for travelling in Paris, France, and some things closed due to Corona, but I am very impressed and had memorable trip. I was very prideful to make my dream coming true.
Recommendation of Paris visiting
I recommend to you before visit Paris as below (when travelling is possible again):
Trip to the Land of architecture “Berlin”
Berlin is the capital and largest city of Germany. It is also an significance political and cultural centers of the Germany as well. Besides that, Berlin is also a beautiful city of architecture, it has many important places and attractions to visit. Hence, I would like to share with you my experiences during my trip to Berlin as detailed below.
This trip traveled to Berlin in total for 4 days in 24-27 August 2020. One of the reason of visiting is to consulted the Lao Embassy to find the solution for the flight back to my country because all flights got cancelled. We got to know the Lao Ambassador and his staff at the 6th Lao-German Friendship Feast on 10 July in Karlsruhe, and kindly he invited us to come and visit.
Specially, I would like to sight-see and visited landmarks of Berlin city. It was the first trip that I traveled with my colleague Phongsvang in Europe. We traveled by Flix-bus, it took 9 hours from my place to Berlin. We arrived the bus station of Berlin around 7 p.m, and then the embassy staff picked us up to stay at their flat. I was very tired on this traveled by bus, because I had to wear the mask throughout the trip. But when I arrived at the residence, I was very happy to see Lao people. I felt like come back home. It made the tire from trip to go away. They gave us very warm welcome with a comfortable room and yummy dinner with Lao foods. While we were eating dinner, we discussed and planned to visit some of the city’s landmarks next days.
I got up early in the morning of 25 August to get ready in sightseeing historic place. The first place I was visited is Berlin Wall. Because, it is a famous and historical place of Berlin. Generally, I heard from the news, history books and from mouth to mouth. When I actually got there, it made me think back to wall history. According to I have learned that the Berlin Wall was built in 1961 when eastern Germany sealed half of the city with a four meter high wall, which it is 155 kilometres long to prevent citizens from fleeing to western Germany.
Finally, the Berlin Wall was collapsed in 1989, currently it remains only a some point about 1.4 kilometres. It has been preserved as one reminder that once separatist land. The Checkpoint Charlie is an important border crossing between East and West Berlin during the Cold War. Nowadays, the wall was painted with the arts and are remaining cold war memorials of Germany.
In the afternoon as the same day after sightseeing at Berlin Wall, I walked to from there to “Cathedral Church” that I took around 25 minutes. I was interested this place that it is one of the very attractive historical buildings. Moreover, It is the largest protestant cathedral in Berlin, it is considered one of the most popular attractions in Berlin too. The construction is quite large dome in baroque and renaissance styles, it is 75 meters heights. It is very incredible, it was not damaged during the war in Germany.
In the evening, we were taken in the embassy’s car to the Brandenburg Gate, I felt like I was special quest, because it is very luxury car. It is normally car for the embassy staffs , but we were very lucky that they provided it for us. We arrived there about 4 p.m, the weather was really nice. My co-tourists and I were a little bit tired, we ordered some drinks in the restaurant. I had Ice-coffee, but I could not drink it because the taste was very bitter for me. We took the seat for drinks and talked about the Gate. There were quite a lot people in that day, the weather was very nice, it is nearly sunset. It is very suitable for photography. Obviously I took a lot of pictures there.
Getting to know this place
The Brandenburg Gate is one of Berlin’s most famous historical landmarks, it was rebuilt to replace the original Berlin Gate that it was destroyed from the War II. In addition, it used to be symbol of a country was divided between East and West Germany. But, currently it has become a symbol of the unity and peace of Germany. The Brandenburg Gate is beautiful and unique with 12 Doric columns, 6 on each side and 5 aisles, which we can only walk through the left and the right sides. In the top of gate has a figure of a horse carriage drawn with four horses. Nowadays, It is a invaluably historical place of Germany.
On the way back to our place, we went to visit Reichstag Building or the German Parliament park. It is very near with Brandenburg Gate apart bout 800 meters. We did not enter inside of the building because they not allow during Corona season. Whereas, it is popular place for local people who live there, it is a place where they did their daily activities whether sports, jogging, go for a walk and had dinner.
We went for a walk, take photos group as well, and then we drove back our place. In that day, I skipped the dinner due to I was very satisfaction and I went to bed early to charge my body’s power for tomorrow trip.
Potsdam’s Park
The day two in Berlin, in the morning we planned travel southwest of Berlin and cross over to another state as Brandenburg. Unfortunately, the weather was quite drizzle, so we waited until the rain stopped in the afternoon. It is very worth trip because the Ambassador’s wife and Embassy staff joined us that there were 6 travelers. We went by luxury car of Lao embassy to visit Sanssouci palace of Potsdam, we arrived there around 3 p.m. It is very nice place for visiting and has historical value.
The Park Sanssouci is a Rococo-style royal palace designed and constructed by Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff from 1745-1747 in accordance with the purpose of King Friedrich II (Friedrich der Große), the great King of Prussia, to serve as a royal residence. His personal rest in summer It is the origin of the palace’s name “Sanssouci” which means “without worries or carefree”.
Nowadays, Sanssouci Palace is the most important attraction of Potsdam. But, the day we visited not much more people because the palace was closed and we could not enter inside of castle. We only walked surround the park and took nice group photos with my co-travelers. And then we went another place.
University of Potsdam
On the way back after visited the Sanssouci Palace we drove on the Am Neuen Palais street to University of Potsdam (Universität Potsdam). It is a fantastic place whether architectural and designing of building. This place was called Neues Palais or New Palace, a new palace built in the Baroque style that it was built from 1763-1769. It is the last palace built by King Friedrich II, located at the western end of Park Sanssouci. We spent a short time there by looking in the University, because of it was getting dark and we had to travel back to Karlsruhe on tomorrow. But, It is very great that we had the nice picture with my co-travelers there.
I sincerely thank you to Lao Embassy to be warm welcome and guide tour in Berlin.
My special thanks to Rebecca Dengler and Phi Ha Nguyen for taking the time assist us and give memorable trip in Europe. Thank you very much to my friends and whoever was concerned with my exchange student mobility in Germany.
In the future you maybe visit Laos please come and see us! We will be very happy to show you some spectacular sights in Lao P.D.R. in return.
Text by T. Keokaisone & C. Souydalay
Photos by R. Dengler, Ph. Nguyen, Ph. Xaikhongkham, Ph. Dengkhounxay, L. Sivunglath, A. Panyanouvong, C. Souydalay.
Friendship without Boundaries
The 62-year relationship and friendship between Laos and Germany are worthwhile long relationship since 31 January 1958 onward, and Germany cooperated with Laos in a variety of general and particular cooperations. The German Democratic Republic (East-Germany, 1949 – 1990) and after the re-unification of Germany in 1990, the Federal Republic of Germany cooperated in many fields, for example civil engineering, agriculture, medicine and health, or the education system like the collaboration with the institute of education in Laos internal the capital and provinces. The German government sent their expert staff who have good knowledge and experience to come to work with Lao expert staffs, and Laos also sent their expert staff and many students to go to exchange knowledge and experiences with German expert staffs in Germany too. Nearly 2,000 Lao students (and many Vietnamese) got scholarships for studying in East Germany in the 1960s and 1970s. Today some of them are senior government leaders (7 Ministers) who are fluent in German and cultivate the connection with Germany through their “Lao-German Friendship Association” and their partner in Germany, the German Lao Friendship Society.
Now we are the next generation. In the Bi-directional teaching and learning project of the University of Education Karlruhe (KUE), Germany started sending students and graduates again in 2015 as volunteer learners and tandem-teachers, and since 2018 also doctoral candidates to deepen their Global Citizenship Education as future teachers of English in Germany. The process is to globalize and improve the teacher-education system and develop the vision of internationalization in both countries.
Various programs followed and seven new partnerships have been established, and the highlighted project presently is the two Erasmus programs “Bi-directional teaching and learning” (2018-2021) and “Sustainable Development and Global Citzenship Education” (2020-2023) in which this project has scholarship mobilities for sending staffs and students for working and exchanging teaching and learning at Savannekhet and Karlsruhe Universities for the last two years. The two universities also have an own separate partnership, signed in 2018 and had fully qualified German teachers of English come to cooperate with us.
The persons who has had the opportunity to receive the Erasmus+ mobility scholarship for KUE this second time in 2020 and get to Germany before all flights got cancelled is me, Phongsavang Xaikhomkham, and my colleague Mr Chanthalakone Souydalay. In Laos we work at the Faculty of Linguistics of SKU in the English Department and are now studying to get our next degree, a Master in Linguistics.
Being an international student at the Karlsruhe University of Education
The Erasmus+ student mobility is for 6 months or one semester. Although this period is a short time, I get many new experiences, knowledge from the courses that I took because the curriculum, teaching-learning session of this university is more modern and in line with the current society. The one thing that I like for study here is that in every course the professor helps students to find the topic by themselves and makes sure the title presented should be fit with the course subject and defined topics. Students can do their assignment and presentation individually or in group. In the second half of the course, they present week by week, normally only 2 groups to have enough time for discussion. But in big courses with many internationals for example “Global English(es) and Global Citizenship Education” sometimes 3 had to be arranged online as we know that this summer semester is during the time of Covid-19 situation.
(I will write about my studies next in my 14-day quarantine after going home.)
So every course that we took was online, but is not the problem for our learning. Everything was going well and we could finish all courses within the period. Besides that, they also have field study or study tour within the city and outside the city to visit some tourist sites and learn the history, the cultures of that place or get to know the local as well. They also offered excursions and cruises with nature activities like hiking and sailing which was lots of fun.1
Exclusive Boat trip
After I finished my study at KUE this semester I can say I improved myself:
I am more confident and convinced of my abilities,
I know better my strengths and weaknesses,
I am more able to adapt to and act in new situations,
I am more able to think and analyse information critically,
I am more tolerant towards other persons’ values and behavior,
I am more open-minded and curious about new challenges,
I intend to participate more actively in the social and political life of my community,
I am more interested in knowing what happens in the world daily,
I am more able to reach decisions,
I am more able to cooperate with people from other backgrounds and cultures,
I am more aware of social and political and global issues.
I could say that the exchange student mobility for this semester provides me a lot of things including educational and international knowledge, personal growth and good experiences.
It also provide me to get the good opportunity to know so many new friends and some of them are very friendly and very kind to me.
In this article, I will let you know only some special person and some of my Germans close friend that they are very special for me and I could not forget them in my life, because they always kind to help me when I need some help, they provide me a good friendship and relationship.
Who or what is a friend? The differences between Lao and German notions of friendship
There are two kinds of friends: acquaintances and close friends: acquaintances are people who we know at the working places like office, factory, the school, living in the same village or living in the same city. Close friends are people who know each other’s habits very well, know what we like and dislike, are people who always by our side, people who are always finding for a solution and never are aggravated when we do something wrong, but will always give advice in the right way.
In the Lao language such a close friend we called “siew”. “Siew” in Lao culture means two people or more who have a special relationship. Before they come to be “siew” they have to do a special thing like giving a promise together, or some of them do Baci ceremony. When they are “siew”, they will keep in touch all along with a good relationship and they will help and support each other. A good friend should not take advantage of a friend’s inferiority complex for example by bullying or gossip.
Friends in the definition of Lao and German are almost indistinguishable because they both want the same good friendship. It does not matter where you come from, what nationality, what religion or language you speak or how differences in lifestyles but, the most important thing is the friendship and sincerity you give to each other.
Friends could be a part of our life that we could not live without them because they always support us in bad times, improves the quality of life, keeps us active, share secrets, boosts self-confidence, comfort zone, reality check, unconditional love, lots of fun, and makes relationships stronger.
We are the human who was born in the world and would like to have good friends and peers to live because human are social animals who like to stay together as a group small or a big group to do the daily life activities. We often need supporting from the people around us or friends either in society or in any country. More importantly, the desire to be really good friends and have sustainable friendship and talking through everything. When we mention about friendship you don’t have to live near or far away we just provide sincere to each other.
In my life, I have the opportunity to meet with many people but I will not know who the good friend is or not until I spent time longer with them and I will know them as well.
Delicious international foods by Isabel Martin
When I refer to the person whose kindness and work supports me is Isabel Martin. If she did not provide me with this opportunity to study here, I could not get to know all the other good friends and have good relationships with all the other new people. I met her the first time at Savannakhet University in 2017, she came to my university for a workshop about teaching method and I joined the workshop at that time. She often came to Savannakhet University and then I could meet her and work with her. Then she interviewed me about my responsibility and my perspective why do I want to be a teacher – and then I was asked to be part of the Erasmus+ programme with the University of Education Karlsruhe!
During the time that I stay in Karlsruhe she is very kind to me and she often cooks some food for me whenever she feels free. She is very good at cooking and cooks so many kinds of food like German and French foods, Italian foods, Turkish foods, Indian foods, and other Asian foods. From the beginning that I and my colleague arrived here until now, she still cooks food for us and we also cook Lao foods for her sometimes. At home in Laos, I study and work in the city but on the weekends I usually went back to my hometown (I will write about my hometown in another post). When I was at home I like to help my mom to cook, so that is why I can cook Lao foods and now I am trying to learn to cook German foods for my German “mom” too. Sometimes we meet outside for taking a walk or go somewhere by car.
Kindness and help by Katrine, Julia, Sivia, and others in the International Office
The International Office of the University of Education Karlsruhe is very important for international students who come to exchange mobility or study in this university. Every year will have so many students come from the different country around the world come to study. The International Office divided responsibilies for all activities that are related with international students, for example organize the room for study, provide the suggestion and advice when students have a problem, organize field study or study trip inside or outside the country, and provide buddy to help student-specific. The kind people in this office are Katrine, Julia, and Silvia.
Katrine is a student-helper and my buddy and she is always friendly and very kind to me when I have something that I could not understand. I could contact her all the time and she also devises a tutorial for German course for me to help me when I have something that could not understand from the study at University and we will do the session on Thursday at 13:00-14:30 in each week. The German session that she did for me is very helpful with my German course and I can say that she is my best friend in here because she is very hard working as she studies and she works at the International Office of University of Education Karlsruhe, but she also has time to help me.
Julia and Silvia are the responsible staff in the office who organize about the whole documents and finances and flights that related to my study before I came here until now and I can contact them when I have a problem with my study or accommodation or visa.
Invite to visit hometown in Gaggenau by Celine
Celine Victoria Seeger is a student from the University of Education Karlsruhe from Team X and she went to Laos in February 2020 for teaching at the Vocational Education Development Institute in Vientiane capital, but she had to come back to Germany in March 2020 because of the Covid-19. I know her by Dr. Isabel Martin who established the contact between us and the last volunteers. She is a good friend of mine, during my semester in Karlsruhe she devised a tutorial course for me and my colleagues to support and help us with our English skills. The course take place on Thursday at 9:00-10:30 every week, and the session that she did is very helpful for me and I could use the lesson that she teach me with my study in the main course that I took at the University of Education Karlsruhe.
Besides that, she was also very kind to invite us to visit her hometown and her family in Gaggenau (a small town near the Black Forest). So two times when we went to visit her hometown we had dinner together, and her father barbecued chicken and her sister cooked Turkish dessert for us. Her parents and sister are very kind to us too and they very warmly welcomed us the same way that people do when I visit my friend’s hometown in Laos. So they make me feel like I am at my home at that time.
English conversation by Lea
Lea Herrmann is a good friend of mine here; she is a student from the University of Education Karlsruhe. She went to Laos in 2017 in Team V for teaching at Sikeud primary school. She is very kind to me like the other German friends of mine and she also did a special thing for me: she organizes the English conversation for me and other students one time a week at 11:00-12:00 on Wednesday. Sadly we never meet in person because of Covid-19 and we have to do conversation session online. We still have the conversation session until the end of the semester and finally, we discussed meeting in person at the castle park in Karlsruhe, and everyone was so excited to meet in person at that time!
When we can meet in person we also have a lot of things to talk more than we online conversation and everyone gets to know each other more and we did not forget to take group photos, because we would like to keep good memories that we did together, in the future when we are back home or everyone lives far away then we can look back from the photo and the photo can tell us that we use to have good memories with good friends in Karlsruhe.
Lend a bicycle to get around Karlsruhe by Martin
People in Karlsruhe, Germany, or other countries in European, they like to use the bicycle in their daily life. Using a bicycle is very comfortable here, and short time to get to the destination, often faster than using public transportation, and for using transportation you also have to pay. Prof. Isabel Martin established my contact with Mr Martin here, and he provided the bicycle to me for using in my daily life instead of public transportation. It is very helpful for me because I can use the bicycle to go to buy something at supper mark, sightseeing around the city, and for exercising. On the everyday evenings I use the bicycle for exercising, like I am biking to the park or the bank of the river with my friends.
Besides that, Mr Martin sometimes took me and Chanthalakone for biking trips outside the city to see some beautiful places. He drove us to see Calw town for hiking in there and he also provided his house and yard to host the Lao-German feast festival on 10th July.
Invite to have dinner at home by Shirin and Arne
Both of them are kind people and good friends that I have in Karlsruhe. I know them by Prof. Isabel’s connections and Shirin was a volunteer at Phang Heng Secondary school in Team VI and also represented Lao P.D.R. at the Model United Nations in New York last year. I keep in touch with them until now. On 15th July they invited me and Chanthalakone to their house to have dinner together, and on that day they cooked German food for us (“Schnitzel“), it is the traditional German food and very popular. We spent time together that night until the mid-night and then I went back to my place. They both are my good friends and I am so glad to have the opportunity to know them in my life.
Trip to Strasbourg by Phi Ha and Leonard
When I mention a good friend and the friends that I could not forget are both of them Phi Ha Nguyen and Leonard. They really often invite me to have dinner when they are free and on the 25th of July they took me to visit France in Strasbourg. Strasbourg is a town of France that shares a border with Germany; it only takes one-and-half hour to get there. It is a beautiful town and very popular for tourists: it is the top 5 of tourist attractions to visit in France because in this town there are a lot of beautiful places and it has a long history. On this trip, we visited around the town and we spent time for 4 hours there and it made me so happy because it was the first time for me to visit another country outside Germany.
Warm welcoming to visiting hometown and Switzerland trip by Rebecca Dengler and her parents
On the 3rd of August 2020 we were invited by Rebecca Dengler to visit her hometown and her family in Nagold. It is a small town in the Calw region. We were invited to stay one night and sleep at her parents’ house, they are very kind to us, and her mother cooked dinner for us that evening. The day after they decided to take us to visit Hohenzollern castle near their hometown and the border of Switzerland, but on that day the weather got very cold. In the day that we arrived at their home it was rainy, and then Rebecca decided to take us to the castle the next day, but after visiting the castle and us on the way to parking, her parents suddenly told us that they will take us to visit Switzerland next because her father read on the Internet that it would be snowing in there. Snow!
I told them the day before at dinner that I have never seen the snow in my life and it was my greatest wish to one day see and feel snow. So when he decided to take us to visit the snow in Switzerland at Santis mountain, I am so very happy to see the snow and so Switzerland is my dream country that would like to visit because I can see snow there. Thus, Rebecca and her parents make my dream come true.
Good friends are hard to find, one must invest time and effort into making friends with people. Friends stick with you through the harsh and worst times of your life. When one feels completely lost and broken, friends come to aid. Friends see through your smiles and know when you are hurt. They know you better than other people. Not everyone understands the intent and purpose of your actions and words. Friends respect your ideas and thoughts.
The reasons mentioned here are enough to understand the importance of friendship. You should not miss the chance of making new friends. You should always appreciate the love and care they give you.
After school and college days, you will all be heading into different directions in life, but if your friendship is strong then you will always find them beside you when you need them even after years of separation. Friends are someone who is not related to you by blood, but sometimes they are closer to you than your own relatives.
Text by P. Xaikhongkham
Photos by J. Friedl, C. Seeger, P. H. Nguyen, R. Dengler, C. Ke, C. Souydalay & P. Xaikhongkham
Note
1 Actually, when I was in my home country I did not have too much time for traveling or spending time with friends as we do in here because we have more than one job or occupation at home. So I still have one place in Laos that I really would like to visit but I never to visit there before, so after I return to Laos I will try to visit there one day: Louangprabang, the old capital of Laos or the Lan Xang Kingdom (land of the million elephants) between the 14th -16th century. The town was designated a world heritage site in 1995. This place is very beautiful and peaceful, there are a lot of tourist attractions like a peaceful town, temples, natural place, and historical places, there are a lot of activities to do in there such as boat trip, alms-giving in the early morning, tradition morning market, colorful night market, watch the traditional dance performance, what the sunset in the top of Phusi mountain, etc. If you could visit Laos one day I would recommend you that you should not miss visiting this place and you would be happy and impressed when you visit there.
A tree is known by its fruit (ພາສາບອກຊາດ ມາລະຍາດບອກຕະກູນ)
Lao people have used this motto since ancient until now. Which is meaningful and shows cultivated Lao people preserve the cultural, language and traditional. Of course, language is not just used for communication whether writing, speaking, but on the other hand it is also a symbol that indicates the nationality, uniqueness and cultural of country.
Alongside, the etiquette imply attitude and also indicate that received DNA from the parents or parents as model. Moreover, Lao people were mostly taught to be good behaviors, polite actions and speeches person when they were child in the house, school and public. Overall, the apple tree is known its by own fruit the same as the language indicates the nation.
Obviously, Lao and German communication styles are very different because we have very distinct traditions and cultures. I have lived in Germany for 7 months1 and experienced that the communication styles are quite different for example the way of respect to the others and the manner of greeting. German people use their language, and Lao use their language. In each culture, communication is a matter of polite behavior2 that can be found in all cultures around the world. Hence, I am going to guide you through the different ways of Lao and German in communication styles as I experienced them.
How to address a Lao and German person
Normally Germans address the others politely, for example, both addresses the men and women with “Mr” and “Mrs” (“Herr” and “Frau”; Editor’s note: newly also “Divers” for transgender persons) to show respect when you call or in writing. Lao people also do that, but are careful when address the older person with “Sir” and “Ma’am” (ທ່ານ, “Than”) in front of a person’s name to be polite and show respect of age and experience.
Moreover, Lao address other people as family or relative, whether related by blood or not. For example, Lao calls older people “brother, sister, aunt, or uncle”, or on closer contact “Mum” (e.g. Dr. Isabel). This shows that Lao and Germans are very respectful of others. Moreover, Germans mostly call the last name to be polite but for the Lao is classifier plus the first name (“Ms Julia”, “Teacher Rebecca” or “son Thone”).
Eye contact in conversation
Lao people are quite shy and do not dare to express themselves. Because, they really worry about mistake, avoiding to losing face when something was wrong in front of more people. More reason, the students in Laos also have trouble finding an appropriate opportunity to make comment or share idea so it effects them when they are adult. This is why they use less eyes contact during communication with others and generally find it hard to speak up. Besides that, in Laos if you make a direct eye contact with stranger specially or older peoples it is considered to be rude and disrespectful behavior.
But, Avoiding eye contact in Germany might represent being not honest or not interested or hiding something, so it is necessary to make eye contact during conversation or when you cheer to a cup of beer.
Greeting procedures
Greeting someone in Germany generally differs in formality depending on a German knows other person well or not. They greet by the verbal words “Guten Tag” (“good day”) or “Hallo”, the most common greeting is handshakes and hugs. The men always make handshake with the eyes contact when they meet and the hug is common greeting with the close-friend or female friend and commonly done with the lover. Besides that, German guy usually honor by greeting the women first.
Nowadays, Germans represent the greeting during the Corona season by many new ways, for example the right elbow touches the other elbow or the feet crossing to touch with the greeter. But, Lao people always make a “nop” common form of greeting each other. This gesture can be done by putting your palms together in a prayer-like manner and bowing head slightly. When you meet people who are older and have higher status, it is customary to greet with “nop” and say the words “sabaidee”. The higher the addressee’s rank the higher the hands of the greeter.
Pointing to other people’s mistakes
Lao people are very friendly and generous that they always empathize the others. They also avoid pointing someone’s mistakes because they think that it is very rude. Lao usually speak very indirect and in very polite circles with the smiling to imply the point because they quite care for whom they speak to or are scared to upset that person.
But, in Germans speak very directly and straightly to the point because telling the truth to the others means honesty and friendship and also giving them a chance to notice their mistakes. Negative feelings or good comments are released through conversation to find the way to fix the problem and learn each other better as well. Then it is over and there is no face loss, only if you forget to apologize.
Getting to know a German
Smiling
As I have lived in Germany for 7 months, of course I have many friends and I learned from their way life. Germans do not automatically smile to strangers or someone in trouble situation. Because Germans are really serious. Their humor comes out in other ways or when the situation is different. Smiling to a stranger or someone you do not know before might invite an interaction or even be considered flirting.
However, Lao always makes smiling or find the best way to get to know each other even thought stranger people or in trouble situations. Misunderstandings can happen this way.
Be friendly with a stranger
Although Lao people are very shy and show little interest to strangers and outsiders, in fact they are mostly friendly with others. Lao people are very easy to make friends even though they have never known person before. An example is “invite the stranger to share your meal” always happens when the friend or stranger come to house or walk past the house while they are having the meal that people will be invited. Also, if you have lived with or helped them they will see you as a significant person of them and being member of their family.
Once established, Lao people will maintain friendships forever.
Germans have rules for almost everything. For example, if you come to someone’s house without an appointment that can be impolite, you will not be invited in by them although you know them well (they are busy). As I have lived in Germany, I noticed that Germans looks at stranger as stranger and do not much interact to speak with them if they do not have to. Making friend in Germany will take a bit slowly of time to be friend, but their relationship gradually change over time.
Invitations and appointments
Germans are very good planning and punctuality person – I really like Germans that they will plan before doing and everything on schedule. As Germans are known for being organised people and they also respect with others and strict on the rule-following. Moreover, they are on time plays in culture, it is normal for Germans to arrive 5-10 minutes early at work place or when they have appointed with someone. If you are late for the appointment… this may sound excruciatingly obvious from them “BE ON TIME”. The Germans obviously do not like to keep waiting because it will make them lose the value time.
However, Lao people dislike to do on schedule and do not tend to be preoccupied with their use of time because they do not plan much. The meeting or appointment mostly delay and not on time. For example, if they have appointed with someone at 8 o’clock that the time will extend, this was accepted in the Lao culture. Lao are not good at planning, they will only plan in urgent time or the last minute.
If you are invited to visit Germans’ house or going somewhere out, please bear in mind to be on time and check in advance how to get there, whether the nearest car parking and tram stopping is. The being late is always considered uncouth and negligent in the eyes of your German hosts. Only if they tell “come anytime after 4:00” or “around 5:00 o’clock ” it is different. On the other hand, if it is a dinner invitation, this is even more important that all guests will plan to arrive on time setting. It would also be nice for them if the guests bring some food or drinks to share them although they are invited.
Repetition and redundancy
It can be said that it is a communication style of Lao people to repeat the information at least 3 times during conversation. Because, they want to understand clearly information, also saying things several times means honoring the partner of conversation. Lao people have good attention during the discussion, they interact quite a bit and listen in silence. This does not mean that they understand everything exactly, perhaps they cannot get all your meaning especially in English conversation (but they will smile as if they did). They are not fluent in English, it always have trouble and complicated when you are teaching or working with Lao partner.
Germans are quite efficient at discussion, they say something only one time. Germany is the “land of poets and thinkers“. German people are good expressive, good planning and accept others’ opinions. On the other hand, they train themselves a lot to listen clearly meaning, because if asking to repeat the information again during the conversation that means you are not concentrate listening them, especially in an academic situation. If somebody can find themselves in misunderstandings causing irritation feelings in Germany. Germans tend to speak once they have something of significance to say and do not want to repeat everything again. They expect you to remember or take notes or make entry in your calendar.
But professors and teachers are very patient and offer repetition for their learners.
Deadlines
Germans generally purpose to find the most efficient way of achieving the finest quality outcome. They take great care to plan methodically, thus spend much time deliberating and scrutinizing all factors of a decision. They plan in advance at least 1-2 weeks and the time is very valuable for them. Moreover, they are strict on following the rules, doing on time setting and they will show very little flexibility because other people’s work depends on theirs being punctual.
Whereas, Lao people are always doing on last minutes as they do not plan in advance. If one person decides to plan better it cannot work because the others don’t. So they will start doing when it is short time to deadline to show concentration to others at work place. Also, Lao people are very calm, make themselves comfortable other time and they normally chill on working.
Data protection
Germans are so private about their data! It is a fact that is no any place in the world are there stricter requirements for data protection and privacy than in the European Union. Especially, Germany is the home of data protection more than other countries. In addition, Germany strict data protection regulations have been in force in Germany for decades that they are a fundamental right enshrined in the constitution. It is normally that Germans see the importance of personal information, they publish less private detail in social media whether photos, Facebook, Whats App numbers. One more, they do not really like if someone share their private number to third person without asking owner first for consent and it is not nice if someone contact immediately without appointment. But, there are exceptions, so it depends on the occasion and the person that some people might see it as not appropriate and some do not mind.
Whereas, Lao people normally see the significance of personal information too, but they could pass the private number to the requester immediately if it is necessary. It is a token of friendship to pass on one’s number also in a non-private situation, e.g. a hotel manager to a guest. Also, very famous applications like Facebook have a lot of Lao people use it to communicate with each other and publish personal data. It can almost be said that Facebook is the daily communicative life of the Lao people today.
Summary
It has been over 7 months since I came to Germany as a student in the Erasmus+ programme just before the corona pandemic lockdown. I was worried about the day-life and studying semester here quite a lot, but thankfully I was fine. In the summer semester here, everything was a challenge for me because it is first time to study abroad in a Western country so I have adjust to a new life (which?) but cannot go out. Instead, I got new experiences in online-learning on the tools StudIP and BigBlueButton of the University of Education Karlsruhe.
I did not have much direct contact face to face with Germans at first because of the government did not allow to meet or go out more than two people, but our buddies and Erasmus+ supervisor Prof. Isabel and some former volunteers invited us out for “walkie-talkies” so we were not alone all the time. It was still difficult for me to learn communicating by using eye-contacting because I am so shy and I always lose confidence when I talk someone on face to face. Fortunately, When the pandemic was less severe after June, I often went out with my Germans’s friends and also they taught how to live and greeting.
The ability to get to know and be associated with Germans slowly made me feel to become more international, self-confident in English speaking and a more expressive person than ever before. Moreover, I realized in Germany the eye contact is necessary for showing honesty and the communication style is very direct and you do not have to be afraid to show honest feelings or sometimes give negative comments. You may get closer to a German person that way.
For my experienced, I spent time with my German friends that I realized and open my mind to learn the German culture whether greeting, planning in advance, being on time, and eyes contact on conversation. Moreover, I also have a lot of activities here with them, as I adjusted to their lifestyles. I am really punctual now when I have appointment with someone. I also dare to express opinions now and have more confidence in speaking English with foreigners more than before. I am able to solve problems on my own and perform various new work and tasks (like making videos or writing and illustrating this post myself on WordPress).
As October is here now this is my last month of being Erasmus+ student in Germany. My impressive time is going to finish, but looking back I am not hesitate to say my living here has been memorable and valuable time. I feel like I have the best opportunity.
Hence, I am very exited to share experience that I had here with my parents, colleagues, and special students, about the Germans lifestyle, how to greeting in Germany, the culture and other. The most important things that I will take back are the new teaching methods to adapt in my class in Laos, for example Online-courses and other skills, methods and techniques of teaching.
I really like the way of teachers here to give chance to students to express themselves and share the ideas together. Moreover, I will motivate my students to adjust and strictly follow rules, being on time and plan for doing in the future. Finally, I will take the knowledge that I have gotten from here to develop my Learning-teaching at my university in Savannekhet (SKU).
Hence, I am sincerely thank you to professor Isabel Martin who gave a great opportunity and organised the activities in here. I would like to thank you so much to my buddy, German friends invited yummy foods, taught how to realize in German communication and gave me a memorable trips. And also thank you ALL whom concern with my being exchange student here.
You are all very welcome to visit me in Lao P.D.R. one day when travelling is easier again so I can show you Lao hospitality!
Text by C. Souydalay (“Thon”)
Photos by M. Koleczko, M. Fuchs, J. Friedl, P. Luong, P. Xaikhongkham & C. Souydalay
Note
1 Editor’s note: Erasmus+ Student Mobilities normally do not extend beyond 6 months, but the return flights to Laos at the end of August were cancelled by the airlines, and there were no new flights in September. The flight later this week is organised by the Lao government to bring Lao residents worldwide back home via Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia). They will have to go into a guarded quarantine for 14 days as soon as they set foot in Laos.
Erasmus+ extended the time frame for international projects by one year once the travel restrictions caused by Covid-19 became apparent, which means our other SKU partners who were supposed to join Mr Chanthalakone and Mr Phongsavang in April/May will hopefully come over next spring.
2 Brown, Penelope (2015). “Politeness and language”. https://pure.mpg.de/rest/items/item_1719314_10/component/file_2152013/content
References online
Boase, B. (ed.) (2003). “Working with your Lao partner”. A guide to establishing effective cross cultural the Communication and Working Relationships in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. SEAsite Laos. http://www.seasite.niu.edu/lao/undp/wwyLp.htm (last accessed 25 September 2020)
Brown, Penelope (2015). “Politeness and language”. https://pure.mpg.de/rest/items/item_1719314_10/component/file_2152013/content (last accessed 25 September 2020)
Images
https://pixabay.com/vectors/handshake-agreement-business-5522271/
https://pixabay.com/vectors/welcome-greeting-hello-greeter-41467/
https://www.pickpik.com/paper-composition-business-writing-document-agenda-58722
https://pixabay.com/illustrations/timeline-project-management-achieve-3117957/
https://pixabay.com/illustrations/one-day-left-note-day-one-memo-1420997/
A fresh start (Isabel Martin)
In 2017, we started a pilot-project with the Sunshine School in Vientiane with two volunteers from Team III, Ms Julia Kessner and Ms Juliana Kase. Sunshine School welcomes volunteers from all parts of the world and cares very well for them, as you can read in our volunteers’ report on their internship of 2017/2018.
Our 5-year cooperation with the Angels-for Children Foundation (AfC), which began in 2015 and first took us – the University of Education Karlsruhe – to Laos, ended in the summer of 2020. This is why we reactivated our connection with the Sunshine School and established a more official cooperation this time by signing a MoD (Memorandum of Discussion), as a first step towards an MoU (Memorandum of Understanding), which is to follow next year and would mean a long-term cooperation project. Here you can find our new blog page on this cooperation partner.
AfC generously funded the internships of 10 teams (Team I – to Team X) between 2015 and 2020. Starting with Team XI, we needed to find new ways of funding to continue our cooperation with schools and colleges. (In 2018, we already established a university cooperation with Savannakhet University via Erasmus+, and we won another continuation grant for 2020 – 2023.) This is the new arrangement: The German side offers internship and travel grants via PROMOS, and some of the volunteers were also successful with their applications for another stipend of the DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, “German Academic Exchange Service”) for students widening their teaching skills and furthering their Global Citizenship education by doing internships abroad. The Lao side offers free accommodation, transport, and lunches, apart from general support with visa and all other organizational matters.
We now have 3 new volunteers from our new Team XI who signed up to work in the new cooperation project with the Sunshine School: Ms Leona Kemmer and Ms Ann-Sophie Brunold are planning to go in the spring/summer of 2021, and Ms Eleanor Wheeler would like to divide her 20-week internship between the Lao-German Technical College (LGTC) and the Sunshine School during the winter term of 2020/21. We very much hope she will be granted the necessary “Expert” status and given a viable visa to be allowed to enter Laos so she can fly out at the end of the month, together with Ms Charlotte O’Dell, who hopes to start work at the Vocational Education Development Institute (VEDI) at the same time. (No doubt they will tell you themselves in a later post about the ups and downs they experienced over these past nerve-wracking months of trying, waiting, and re-trying in these uncertain Corona-times.)
The following colleagues and partners supported us in this process, and our heartfelt thanks go out to you:
– Ms Julia Friedl and Ms Simone Brandt, my colleagues at the International Office of the University of Education Karlsruhe, and our President Mr Klaus Peter Rippe,
– “Didi” (“sister”) Gaorii, aka Cathy Lee, the Headmistress of Sunshine School,
– Mr Saythong Insarn, our first tandem-teacher at the LGTC and now employed by the Vocational Education Department of the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES), and Mr Somlith Virivong, his superior and my first contact, “supervisor”, interpreter, and partner in Laos, formerly President of the LGTC and now Head of the Vocational Department of the MoEs,
– His Excellency the Lao Ambassador to Germany, Mr Phomma Boudthavong, and his Berlin staff, who honoured us with their visit to our 6th Lao-German Friendship Feast on 10 July 2020.
Sunshine School (Didi Gaorii)
“Sunshine School” (or “Souliya School” as it is known in Lao) is a Lao school situated in the heart of Vientiane, the capital city of Laos. The school was established in 1996 and is officially licensed and registered with the Lao government. In 2019-2020 we had roughly 390 students ranging from nursery level to the end of middle school.
The school is a non-profit, non-denominational institution dedicated to providing a universal, ethically-based education through integrated learning and the holistic development of the child. The school’s guiding philosophy is based on the concepts of Neo-humanist Education as given by Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar, a 20th century Indian philosopher. Many of these concepts are founded in the ancient science of astaunga yoga.
The school aims to awaken each child’s thirst for knowledge while developing their whole personality through:
• creative, child-centered learning,
• integrated learning, encouraging children to make connections between disciplines, knowledge and events,
• ethically-based education,
• awakening each child’s spiritual awareness,
• nurturing a spirit of service and social consciousness,
• environmental education,
• Aappreciation of local culture as well as diverse global cultures.
Sunshine students learn how to be self-motivated, to make constructive choices, to achieve their personal best in academics, and to find a sense of purpose in life.
Sunshine School is the only vegetarian school in Laos. We place a strong emphasis on environmentally friendly practices and encourage our students to respect all living and non-living aspects of the universe.
Along with all the subjects in the Lao national curriculum, English language is taught daily in all the classes. Students also benefit from volunteers from all over the world who come to share their skills. This exposure and the effective English language program give our students confidence to speak English which is a tremendous tool for their success in future life. Recently the school also introduced a Chinese language program.
The school gives the opportunity for students to display their performing talents on several occasions throughout the year. This encourages expression of individual talents, team work, self-confidence and leadership skills. Both students and staff love these shows which are highlights of the school year.
Our students and staff regard the school as their second home. They love the friendly, caring and joyful atmosphere of this unique school.
Text by D. Gaorii & I. Martin
Photos by D. Gaorii & Sunshine School staff
Team XI – Preparation in times of the Coronavirus
Today we are happy to finally introduce ourselves to you. We are Team XI, a team of five students studying Primary or Secondary Education at the University of Education in Karlsruhe.
Team XI includes Anne-Sophie Brunold, Leona Kemmer, Leonie Konstandin, Charlotte O´Dell, and Eleanor Wheeler.
Two of us are still in the Bachelor Degree programme, two are in the Master Degree programme, and one is currently doing her state examination.
We are all new to the project “Bi-directional learning and teaching project” (formerly called “Teaching English in Laos“) and have been looking forward to this adventure since being acepted into the programme. Unfortunately, the Coronavirus situation has made the preparatory process very challenging. Just like our predecessors, Team X, and all other teams before, we also had three 4-hour preparational workshops with Prof. Dr. Isabel Martin. Additionaly, we watched the news on the development in Southeast Asia, read the requirements for entry, and tried (and are still trying) to find flights to Laos. Currently we are still figuring out details regarding our visas, the mandatory hotel quarantine, and the corona rules in Laos.
Still we are optimistic that we will be able to come to Laos and support the project in person.
This is us:
Team XI.1 at the Sunshine School and at the Lao-German Technical College (LGTC), Vientiane
Hello, my name is Eleanor Wheeler, but all my friends and family call me Ellie. I am 24 years old and a student in my 5th semester of my primary school teacher’s degree. The subjects I study and will teach later on are English, history, German, and maths.
I will be working at the Sunshine School until February and then at the LGTC. Further details are still to be determined as the coronavirus pandemic keeps interferring with our planning. Nevertheless, I am already looking forward to getting to know the Sunshine School and LGTC teams very much! I look forward to my stay in Laos and to supporting the “Bi-directional learning and teaching project”. As I have not yet been to another continent I am very excited to experience Asian culture and cuisine.
In my free time I like to do sports such as jogging, cycling, and hiking in the forest. For my last holiday I cycled along the Danube river – 900 km in 7 days. Since 2007, I have been an active member of the local guides group the German Scouts. Scouting is a voluntary non-political youth movement. There I am currently elected to be head of guides of the federal states “Baden-Wuerttemberg” and “Bavaria”. Together with others I organise summer camps and other outdoor activities for different groups of youngsters.
Team XI.2 at the Vocational Education Development Institute (VEDI), Vientiane
Hello, my name is Leonie Konstandin, but I am often called by my nickname Leo. I am 22 years old and studying to become a teacher for elementary education. The subjects I am focusing on to teach later are German and English.
During my stay in Laos, I will be working at the Vocational Education Development Institute with Charlotte. We already know that we will be working with Mr Khonkhame as a tandem- teacher and will go ahead with planning details soon. I am really looking forward to the exciting time at the VEDI that lies ahead of me. When I was in 10th grade, I lived in the USA as an exchange student for a year and after my high school graduation in Germany I volunteered in South Africa as a childcare worker. Therefore, Asia will be the 3rd other continent that I will go to and I cannot wait to experience another new culture!
In my free time, I like to do many things such as meeting friends and doing sports like jogging. I love to cook and enjoy trying new food, which is why I am already curious about traditional Lao food. Furthermore, I love seeing new places. The last trip I took was to Berlin – the German capital.
Hi there!
My name is Charlotte O’Dell, but everybody calls me Charly. I am 27 years old and am currently finishing my state exams to become a teacher for secondary schools. My subjects are music, English, protestant theology, and art.
In my free-time I like to play the clarinet. I am a member of one of the local music club, the “Musikverein Knielingen e.V.”, and I am also part of the PH Big Band.
Additionally, I also teach the clarinet to children, and ever since 2017 I have been the conductor for the youth orchestra in Neuburgweier, Rheinstetten.
Furthermore, I enjoy playing bowling with my team “Fireball Feuerbach”.
Moreover, I have worked for the PH Karlsruhe as a tutor for TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) for the last three years, where my main objective was to help younger students to understand and practise methods and techniques for the English classroom in secondary schools.
I also enjoy tutoring primary and secondary school students in math and English.
In 2015 I was part of Prof. Dr. Isabel Martin’s “Singlish” Band, and we were performing two workshops for school children in the Castle Gardens on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the city of Karlsruhe when the Angels Foundation with their Lao delegation visited Prof. Martin for the first time. This is when I first heard of the bi-directional learning and teaching project in Laos. Ever since then I wanted to be part of this project, but due to my many other obligations I was not able to go to Laos. This is why I decided to use the three months between my last state exam and the beginning of my teaching career as the opportunity to be part of Team XI. I will be ideally working together with Leonie and our Lao partners at the VEDI if the Covid-19 situation allows it.
After 10th grade I spent a year in the United States of America, where I went to high school in Corrigan, Texas. Other than that I have never lived in a different country, so I am very excited to experience the Lao culture and country, especially since my only trip to Asia was an excursion to Israel in 2019, which was amazing, but sadly only very short.
Team XI.3 at the Sunshine School, Vientiane
Hello, my name is Leona Kemmer. I am 24 years old and I am currently in the second master semester, studying to become a primary teacher. My subjects are German, English and mathematics.
In my free time I like to read, meet my friends, and travel. I do athletics and I work as a waitress and babysitter, which is a lot of fun.
Anne-Sophie and I were supposed to be working at the Sunshine School in Vientiane from the end of September until the end of January. Due to the COVID-19 situation, the travel regulations, and the demands in our further studies, we decided to postpone our stay in Laos to the beginning of next year. We hope that the situation will have normalized to a degreee that we know we can enter and leave the country for sure. It was not an easy decision but nevertheless my thrill of anticipation to finally meet “Didi” (“sister”), the headmistress of the school, and her team is even stronger now.
My special task will be to take care of the Didactics room/Lending Library at the LGTC, which were modeled after the project’s Didactics Room and Lending Library in Ban Sikeud. We will bring a few books and items which will be added to the room or donated to our new partner.
I am really looking forward to the time in Laos.
Hello, my name is Anne-Sophie Brunold. I am 25 years old and currently studying in my second Master’s semester to become a primary teacher. My subjects are German, English and mathematics.
In my free time, I like to go to the gym, as well as dancing, singing, or going for a ride with my bike. Besides my studies I work in different theatres, and, due to the Corona Virus, also in video theater projects together with a theatre pedagogue, which is a lot of fun and combines my personal interests in theatre and performance with my goal to become a teacher and work in the pedagogical field.
Due to how things are going worldwide with the COVID-19 virus, Leona and I decided to postpone our stay in Laos. We really looked forward to going, and coming to this decision was no easy choice for us, but at the moment we cannot make any proper plans. We need to plan our next semester (enrolment starts today, on 1 October 2020), and so far there is little chance that we can spend the coming semester at the Sunshine School and experience Laos and its people in the way we hoped and wanted to. This is why we decided to go on with one more regular semester in Germany and hope things will be getting easier next spring.
We hope we are able to go next semester and then can also hopefully plan and prepare properly. We are positive-minded that things will get better and easier by March and look forward even more to really going then and getting to know all the helpful and nice people we got to know only via video calls and emails so far.
In the upcoming months we hope to finally enter Laos and get to work together as a team, do tandem-teaching, workshops, and experience Lao culture. Even though the Coronavirus has put a spike in the wheel also for us, we are sure that Laos and the experiences there will be amazing and well worth the wait.
Text by Team XI (L. Kemmer, A-S. Brunold, L. Konstandin, C. O´Dell & E. Wheeler)
Photos by P. Lang, B. Piorr-Kemmer, T. Wheeler-Schilling, C. O´Dell, P. A. Banfield, A.S. Jauernig
Square Dance Calling classes 2019 and 2020 at the University of Education Karlsruhe with Erasmus+ students
Editor’s note: “Learning Through the Arts” (LTTA) is an approach to teaching which can also be applied to foreign languages. Action songs, dance, theatre, storytelling, and hand puppets (as well as language games) help new learners to overcome their shyness and pick up first English words because their meaning is clearly contextualized and semanticized. This is especially useful and motivating for young learners who cannot read yet or are not familiar with the Latin alphabet.
Modern Western Square Dance Calling is a special LTTA skill for English teachers who want an easy, foolproof ice-breaker (“facilitation”) into teaching English for total beginners. The learners do not need any pre-knowledge, they do not have to speak (yet), only listen to some simple short commands which are demonstrated and “called” by the Caller and then performed by the entire group.
This technique never fails: Every learner group grasps the learning principle quickly, has fun applying it, and in the end is proud to have accomplished their first English assignment – they managed to dance an entire new choreography called in the English language together, just by following the Caller’s commands. After such a motivating achievement, learners develop an appetite for learning and communicating more in English.
Excerpts from my “Square Dance Calling for integrated English-teaching” class at the University of Education Karlsruhe can be viewed in this teaching video. (My explanations are in German, the calls are in English, and the moves are self-explanatory.) With the support of my Caller and tandem-teacher Mr Andreas Hennecke, I started this project in July 2012 as an ice-breaker for the 50th anniversary of our university and – after instant success – established the first Caller class in the following term (subject area: English didactics and methodology).
We have qualified around 100 “Young Callers” since. Most of them are teachers at schools by now, where they continue to call, do integrated projects during project week, and stage Square Dances with their classes at school parties. Some of them use this technique to stop bullying and end disharmony in difficult classes, and this remedial effect has also been researched and documented in Master theses.
When our “Bi-directional learning and teaching” project started in Laos in 2015 (we called it “Teaching English in Laos” at that time), we tried out this teaching technique with our new Lao learners in the schoolyard. While the pupils picked it up quickly, the teachers and officials took more time to accept that such commotion outside of the school building could pass as “teaching”.
In the summer of 2019, about a dozen international students participated in the Caller class. They mainly came from Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Laos, but we also had participants from Greece and Israel. Those who came from teaching cultures centered around textbooks were excited to discover a new artistic way to introduce English new words to young learners which involves movement, music, and lively interaction, and eventually they started planning to try this in their own schools back home.
Here are our first five Lao “Young Callers”: Ms Viengvilaiphone Botthoulath, Mr Napha Khothphouthone, and Mr Thaithanawanh Keokaisone from the 2019 class, and Mr Phongsavang Xaikhongkham and Mr Chanthalakhone Souydalay from the (online) Caller class of summer 2020.
The first group was able to participate in the “Open House Party” at Landau University in April 2019 shortly after their arrival to experience our professional Caller Andreas in action with around 100 dancers. Then, after two practical workshops in May, they did their own Square Dance projects in German schools in June-July together with their German partners. The class ended with presentations about their project results.
The second group was less fortunate because of the Covid-19 restrictions on schools and teaching generally. However, Andreas supplied two amazing theoretical workshops online, I added a “Square Dance Reader” (231 pp.) for background reading, and my colleague at Landau University, Dr Birgit Smieja, toiled through heaps of paperwork to finally obtain permission for a live, small-scale workshop-party on 15 August, outside, with her and my groups of students. At long last, our two Lao guest-students were able to dance-practise, call-practise, and teach-practise with their peers. Spirits were so high that we continued practising calls in the car on our way home.
“Square Dance Calling” class 2019 at the English Department of the University of Education Karlsruhe – by Napha Khouthphouthone
My impression on Square Dancing
When it comes to English learning, sitting in the class, looking at the board, paying attention to the teacher is coming to my head. Because this is the learning-teaching methodology I am familiar with and was taught like this all my lifetime. The first time that I heard about “Square Dance” I had no idea and could not imagine how could it work in the teaching method. I thought it is the only kind of dancing that people dance at some party or other events. Yes because of Its name. But after I took this course I found that there is more to it than dancing. “Square Dance” includes Circle Dances, Line Dances, and Square Dances.
It was full of fun and knowledge at the same time. I think square dancing is an authentic and interactive way to learn English (can also apply to other languages), I could train my listening skill both from music and from the Caller. For me, square dancing is more dancing and learning course.
I would like to recommend the following benefits to it: Fitness training, brain training, fun learning, and team-building.
Physical fitness training
We all know that exercise is good for health. But square dancing is not a form of exercise that is also fun and does not seem like hard work. Square dancing is a very good exercise. It is a low impact activity that helps keep the body in shape. Many square dance movements can strengthen your weight-bearing.
Mental challenge
While I am in the dance I try to react as quickly as I can to the square dance Caller keeps me mentally on my toes. And while concentrating on the moves, I escape from worries, stress, anxiety, and depression. It is very good very of nourishing the soul.
Easy to learn: As I have said I have never heard about square dancing before, but I took around 10 to 15 minutes to catch up my partners and followed the Caller in the basic dances because it is based upon walking in defined directions for defined distances – which is exactly what walking is.
Learning some basic music theory is also part of the mental challenge.
Entertainment
I remember that the first time I joined the “Open House” dance at the end of April, I had a very long day of learning, but the Caller and other friends entertained me to make me forget my worries day. And it worked. No matter how tired I was from a long day’s work, once I started dancing and seeing all people dancing with a very big smile I could absorb positive energy. I become energized again and forget my troubles. I found myself dancing to many different types of music, e.g. country & western, rock, jazz, and pop. I think we can dance this also to Lao traditional songs.
The happy Karlsruhe Square Dance class after the Open House party with Caller Andreas:
Teamwork
All dancers depend on each other to keep the dancing move. As I was a student I took a square dance course with 3 credits point, so I needed to do the assignment. All of my classmates and I were trained to be a Young Caller at first, and then we had to do a school project: Create a teaching sequence of a few lessons, teach and call a few dances for primary school students, and we did it together in the teamwork. We prepared, suggested, and argued with each other.
Our work in the schools one month later:
Another project result from a secondary school (calls by Natalie Staufer):
In our last seminar session, the groups presented their teaching sequence plans for transcurricular projects, showed their project videos and gave teaching tips based on their new Caller experience:
And when I returned home, I called my first Square Dance for my students at Savannakhet University:
I hope that when the next Lao “Young Callers” come back from their mobilities in Germany, we will host a Square Dance party at SKU together!
Square Dance Calling class 2020 – online – at the English Department of the University of Education Karlsruhe – by Phongsavang Xaikhongkham
Square Dance seminar
Square dance is an important course that provides students who took the course to get to know new friends and good relationships as well by learning by movement, to get to know how to work in a team, and the harmony with friends.
The square dance experiment first time at the University of Education Karlsruhe was in July 2012 by Professor Dr. Isabel Martin. It was the university’s 50th-anniversary celebration and Dr. Isabel had suggested to the organizing committee of the Jubilee week to hire professional Caller Andreas Hennecks for an ice-breaking opening act on the final festive night of celebrations in the Jubilee week and took 45 minutes for square dance at that time.
Square dance or learning by movement is the one course that very important and is a course that I like because it could provide me the knowledge and enjoy it at the same time. It could be provided to meet new people and to have known friends by dancing. When I was in my home country I like to dance when I went to a wedding’s Day party or special occasion party and when I come to study in here and took the square dance course could improve my dancing skill after I return to my home country I could be teaching square dance to my students or other people who interested.
The importance of square dance should be learning and practice from the teacher or lecturer in person and for me when I finally did the square dance session with other students and lecturer in person it was very comfortable and easy to understand the rule of dancing more than online learning, and all in English.
In the first weeks of learning this course it was quite difficult for me because I learned by online and I cannot remember the rule of dancing anymore, I do not know exactly the step of dancing, I do not remember rhythm of the song because our feet never did it, only the eyes and brain. I would like to learn in the real situation and practice dancing with the lecturer in person, but unfortunately at first I could not do like that, otherwise it would be perfect.
We saw excerpts of last year’s Open House with Napha and Thaithanawanh dancing:
On the 29th of July, we could go to do the final presentations about square dance at the University of Education Karlsruhe in our group because we were allowed into the building again after three months online. Because we could not do a school project I presented about Lao traditional dance and other students who are German presented about the square dance, and we all also exchange our dancing together. Our German peer-student Nadja Ainetter showed how to square dance in an integrated teaching project about a German fairytale “The musicians of Bremen. So it was the first time for me to meet my classmate for a square dance in person and it was the first time for a square dance session in the real situation too and everyone was very happy to see in person and spent the time dancing together.
Simple circle dance for young learners invented by Nadja:
I taught them how to dance Lao traditional dance “Baslop” and “Lao Lamvong“, both group dances. “Lam” (“singing and dancing”) “Vong” (“circle of dancing”) means circle dance with the couple, the basic idea is a slow dance with a partner around a circular. Lamvong is carried out on special occasions such as guest welcoming, wedding by the groom and the bride, celebrating New Year, at parties, festivals, etc.
The Baslop or “Basalop” dance is considered as Lao traditional modern dance you see in weddings, parties, and ceremonies, it is very popular in Laos right now and Lao people know well how to dance, especially women, around 80% of Lao women know how to dance this. The Baslop dance originated from foreign countries especially France that has Baslop, but Lao people adapted as the Lao style dance. It could be small or a big group of dance by the movement of the lower part of the human body (legs) and also using hands, and the person who wants to dance should make a row as following to Basalop dance rule and use hands for a beautiful performance.
Editor’s note: The meaning of the word is unclear (to us). “Bas” in French means “low”, or “nether part”, but the word was probably loaned from “pas”, which means “dance step” in French. “Slop” according to our Lao colleagues is supposed to mean “moving or movement” in French (?), but probably originated in “saloper” (“do sloppy work”, or, positively: move “carelessly”). The word “bas-a-lop” follows the phonetic rule of placing a vowel between two consonants of a loan word to make it pronouncable for Lao speakers, who expect to follow Lao syllabic patterns, as in “sa-pa-ge-ti” for “spaghetti”. A case in point would be another dance name, “Basaloh” (“Pas slow”), as Michael Schultze pointed out.
Basalop dance practice part1
Baslop dance practice part2
We also taught and danced both dances at the 6th Lao-German Friendship Feast with our guests on 10 July 2020 and you will see the videos in one of the forthcoming posts.
Square dance session in Landau
After the end of the semester on 15 August we went to do the square dance session with other students who took this course at Landau University, but the same teacher-Caller Andreas Hennecke. We spent time the whole day for the workshop, and practice dancing, calling, and teaching with the new friends, there are 20 participants, everyone can share their opinion during the workshop then after that some of them doing the teaching session because in the future they will going to teach square dance for the students at the school, they have to practice they teaching skill before they go.
Square dance course is a course that very useful for the students who study about the education or who want to be a teacher in the future because square dance is teaching about how to use the language, movement, and how to motivate students with the English lesson as well. It could also help students to practice concentration and meditation, make the children assertive to show their talents without shyness. Thus, I can say that square dance is very necessary for the early teaching and learning section, but it could be used in every level of teaching and learning section as well.
Calling practice:
Dancing practice:
Group of Young Callers at the end of the day with teacher-Caller Andreas:
Still practising on the way back:
My plan
Like I mentioned above that square dance is the basic way and necessity of teaching English and other languages because teachers will teach students by calling and counting so it could make students know how to use the words exactly. When I return to my home university I hope that I could use my experience that I have got from this square dance seminar session with my students to know the square dance and I will also work with the alumni (Napha, Thaithanawanh, and Viengvilaiphone) who came here last year to do the Square dance seminar session as well.
The benefit that my students will get from square dance sessions first they will get to know English words by calling and counting and the second thing they will get to know a new culture dance which is not Lao Lamvong or Baslop.
Text by N. Khothphouthone, I. Martin & P. Xaikhongkham
Photos by I. Martin, N. Khothphouthone & B. Smieja
Videos by I. Martin, P. Xaikhongkham & N. Staufer
U-tube video by I Martin & M. Richter (2017)
Reference
Martin, I. & Richter, M. (2017). “Square Dance als pädagogisches Werkzeug in der Grundschule”. (7 min. video.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJmv6MAoRVo (last accessed 25 September 2020)
Two researchers of the Karlsruhe University of Education (KUE) in the field of “STEM” (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) came to Savannakhet University (SKU) for a teaching and training mobility in March 2020 to collaborate with related departments. The framework for this collaboration is the “Erasmus+ Programme” between KUE and SKU.
Jun.Prof. Dr. Bernhard Standl is Professor of Informatics Education and Dr. Martin Remmele research associate in Biology Education. For Bernhard Standl this was the first visit at Savannakhet University while Martin Remmele came here for the third time. (Prof. Dr. Isabel Martin, who was supposed to join up one week later, had to fly home from Vientiane shortly after her arrival due to a bereavement in the family.)
Our work was characterised by a heterogeneous programme. While Martin Remmele’s main focus was on intensifying existing contacts with the Faculties of Natural Sciences and Food Science, Bernhard Standl got to know his colleagues in the IT Department.
Biology Education and Food Science
Martin Remmele’s working partner at the Faculty of Natural Sciences was again Mr Napha Khothphouthone.
This provided the opportunity to continue the research project started in the past in the field of sustainable development. Up until then, the focus had been on the knowledge and attitudes of students – the decision-makers of tomorrow – about and towards amphibians, which, as the exterminators of rice-eating insects, can be an essential factor in the ecological cultivation of the rice fields along the Mekong. The existing sample of the survey was increased by 75 students to now more than 300. The design of the previous study was adapted and is now to be applied to rice farmers along the Mekong River the following year.
Furthermore, Mr Phonesavard Sibounnavong from the Faculty of Food Science and Martin Remmele prepared an abstract on last year’s research project on the ecology of insects in rice fields. The aim is to integrate knowledge from both research projects into teaching at SKU and thus contribute to sustainable agriculture along the Mekong. In addition, a joint excursion enabled us to get a closer look at Lao biodiversity hot spots in the Mekong region.
Informatics Education
Bernhard Standl and Ms Somsanouk Xayyavong from the IT Department at SKU focused on the revision and further development of a course on Linux system administration. The course content, didactics, and course material were discussed in numerous working sessions. The developed adaptations were then jointly applied in teaching in practice. In addition, the course contents were also displayed on a digital learning platform, which was installed and set up jointly on site during the stay. The basis is a Linux web server based on CentOS and Moodle was chosen as the learning platform.
As a final step, a team training for lecturers was organised and the new online learning platform was introduced. In addition to the further specification of joint research in the field of university didactics, the further cooperation also plans to further establish a modern IT infrastructure at the SKU.
Again, our Lao partners were excellent hosts. Ms Somsanouk took Bernhard to some very nice places in Savannakhet, especially to a typical market offering a lot of original Lao products.
Mr Napha Khothphouthone and Mr Thaithanawanh Keokaisone, a colleague from the Linguistics Department, took Martin Remmele on an exciting field trip to the monkey forest and to a Buddhist sanctuary at the countryside. They were also lucky to observe some critically endangered soft shell turtles in a pond by a Buddhist shrine.
At the house of Ms Phetsavanh, our SKU project coordinator, colleagues from Savannakhet University, Bernhard Standl, and Martin Remmele spent a beautiful evening together enjoying a delicious Lao dinner with many dishes.
The whole visit was an excellent milestone for future collaboration.
Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemy destroyed our Lao partners’ plans for their return visit at KUE this spring. However, the Erasmus board prolonged our project by a year so we can hopefully welcome our partners in Karlsruhe in the summer term of 2021.
Also, our new application for a second Erasmus+ application was granted this summer, so we have a budget for 3 more years. The new project will focus on Academic English and Education for Sustainable Development. Hopefully we can catch up on the last mobilities and start with our new ones next year!
Text by M. Remmele & B. Standl
Photos by M. Remmele, B. Standl, S. Xayyavong & I. Martin
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