Interview with a participant from Vacation Training in Kayan area this summer

Interview with a participant from Vacation Training in Kayan area this summer 
On Oct 27^th, a number of members of the Eastern Burma Community Schooling Project (EBCSP) visited villages and schools in Phal Khone district in Southern Shan State. Teachers from the area attended this year’s summer vacation training (SVT), which was delivered by Kayan Mobile Teacher Trainers. In a village called Saung Nan Shan village, a member of the Project team interviewed a local Kayan teacher who had attended the workshop.

She said, “I have been teaching in this village for nearly 4 years since I got married, and this last SVT broadened my skills and taught me new activities which have greatly enhanced my teaching. My students enjoy the activities I learned from SVT. One of the most useful and interesting ideas for introducing new topics to children was brainstorming; this is new for teachers from Burma and of course for the students as well. So, when I brainstorm some ideas relating to a topic, the children are very curious and interested to know more about it.

She continued, “After brainstorming, I use other activities to develop the topic. For example, before I taught about different types of plants, I took the students outside and did an activity of naming plants by taking a sample”. Then, she found out that the children really enjoyed this, and they were eager to know more about the topics.

Then, one EBCSP staff asked, “What would you like to suggest as an improvement for next year’s SVT from your experience of applying skills and knowledge in your teaching?”  She suggested, “It would be better to focus more on practical learning rather than theories because local teachers like me need more practical teaching and learning styles. Also, during the training, I would like to recommend doing more activities because they are so useful for us and for the students”.

Finally, she said, “I really appreciated the SVT and I would like to give a special thanks to supporters, organizers, leaders, trainers and everybody who initiates and implements the SVT. I encourage all these people to continue to support our areas and teachers in the coming year.”