This week we practiced teaching students who came to the American Center. I taught a session that lasted for an hour and a half about imperatives (i.e., commands) and adverbs of time. We were busy this week with learning about teaching language, Lao classes, and teaching sessions, so I will offer an overview of my week.

A Lesson on Imperatives

I taught a lesson on imperatives this week. At the American Center, the students who attend classes often vary, so all planned lessons must be a “one-off.” I taught students about living a healthy lifestyle. We practiced forming commands like “don’t smoke cigarettes,” “drink water,” and “lift weights often.” My students seemed to grasp the concept of forming commands, and made progress using adverbs of time with imperatives.

Courtesy of Molon.de

Here is an internet photo of young Buddhist monks if you don’t know what they look like.

I even had a nice monk who attended my class, which was very exciting for me. We had two relay races forming imperatives, and the winning team got to choose their stickers first. (Monks are not allowed to accept objects directly from women, so I had to put the sticker book on the table for him to pick up.) Monks also move slowly around women to minimize their risk of accidentally bumping into them. I put the nice monk on a team of only men to make sure that he was comfortable and could participate in activities like pair work and the relay races without worrying about bumping into women.

Expressing the Present Perfect in Lao

This week we learned about expressing the present perfect in Lao. It is relatively easy. To form a question in the present perfect, you choose a subject and verb (and an object, if applicable) and add “leow bohr” to the end of a sentence. The “leow” is what really indicates the present perfect. The “bohr” is a tag that you add to the end of questions to indicate that the answer is a yes or a no.

Example: Jao hien pha saa gao li leow bohr? (Have you studied Korean?)

To respond in the positive, you put the verb first and then add “leow” afterwards. To respond in the negative, you put “nyang bo” before the verb.

Example: Hien leow. (Yes, I have studied it.) Nyang bo hien. (No, I have not studied it.)

Have you eaten today?

In Laos, a common greeting practice besides “Sabaidee bohr?” (How are you?) is “Jao gin khao leow bohr?” (“Have you eaten food/rice (today)?”). When people ask you this, they are not seriously inquiring about if you have eaten. Instead, this greeting is a way to show that you care about the other person’s wellbeing. If greeted this way, you are always to respond with “Gin leow” (Yes, I have eaten today).

Humorous Cultural Differences

In Lao class this week, our teacher Sonephet (pronounced “Sohn pet”) saw this poster on the wall at the American and told us that the world for turtle in Lao is “tao.” He then said “sep lai,” which means “very delicious!” In Laos, turtles are considered a delicacy just like in China. They are very expensive and frequently sold in markets in Pakse (southern Laos). However, these turtles were not supposed to be delicious since they are endangered! (Notice that the poster is printed in English and in Lao.) I quickly responded with “sep bohr” (“not delicious”) since these turtles are endangered and we should not eat them! Our teacher was a little confused, but maybe next time he will reread the poster and realize that we shouldn’t eat those specific types of turtles.

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

Bicycle Bonanza

Recently some of the other ETAs have been buying bikes, trading in older bikes, or getting new additions to existing bikes. I bought a bike this Tuesday to help me get around Vientiane. (I also bought the nicest helmet that they had in black, grey, and white camo.) So far, owning a bike has been a huge game changer. It took me 30 minutes of walking in the sun to reach the bike shop and only 10-15 minutes of biking to get back to the hotel.

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)

I am hoping to bike to school when the time comes. Drivers here are polite to bikes and do not try to pass them on the road. There are many bikes and motorbikes here, so the drivers are used to driving with cyclists on the road and demonstrate caution around them. I actually feel safer biking in Vientiane than I would in the United States!

Spirit Houses

I was walking to the sticker store this week to get some reward stickers for my students when I passed this store. At these stores, you can buy spirit houses and funerary monuments for the temples. I thought it was interesting to see spirit houses without any decoration ready for sale.

Courtesy of Guerra, C. (2023)