Lao PDR Sabaidee!

(This highlight was written for  and uploaded to the Department of State's English Language Program's Community of Practice Web platform)   The Certificate Ceremony on June 30th Talo gets a well-earned certificate  Instructors from each of the six faculties at Champasack University were invited to participate in an intermediate-level English class designed to develop communicative competence, with a focus on speaking and listening. The course was developed and taught by English Language Fellow Julie Dean, who was asked to create a curriculum grounded in communicative language teaching methods and tailored to the needs of university instructors. Faculty members from departments such as Engineering, Law and Public Administration, Economics and Management, Agriculture and Forestry, Natural Sciences, and Education frequently attend international conferences in the region, where English is often the primary language used for presentations, discussions, and conference materials...

(This highlight was written for  and uploaded to the Department of State's English Language Program's Community of Practice Web platform)  Titled “Negotiating Cross-Cultural Challenges of Fellows in Asia,” this panel discussion took place during the East Asia Pacific (EAP) English Language Fellows Midyear Conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, in the week of January 26, 2025. The panel featured three Fellows—Merryl Kravitz (Cambodia), Maureen Rooney (Philippines), and Julie Dean (Laos)—each of whom shared personal missteps or challenges encountered in their current fellowship or past posts abroad. Despite being experienced educators and seasoned travelers, the Fellows highlighted how cultural differences can still surprise and challenge even the most prepared professionals. The discussion was framed with research on individualistic versus collectivist cultures to provide context for the stories shared. These academic insights helped illuminate the deeper dynamics at play in the Fel...

  From Syllables to Songs: A Pronunciation Project for First-Year English Majors (This highlight was written for  and uploaded to the Department of State's English Language Program's Community of Practice Web platform) For a first-year “English for Communication” major class at Champasack University, English Language Fellow, Julie Dean, led a 16-week course in “Phonetics and Pronunciation.” The course followed the university’s textbook and curriculum, enriched by the “Color Vowel” system and exercises from the COP (Community of Practice). Students systematically reviewed all English consonant and vowel sounds, building a strong foundation for clearer, more confident speech. To wrap up the term with energy and creativity, each of the 40 students across two classes selected a favorite English-language song to share. Some students gravitated toward the same songs, with popular choices including Christina Perri’s A Thousand Years and Die with a Smile by Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga. I...

As I wrap up my last month and a half as an English Language Fellow (ELF) at Champasack University (CU) in Pakse, Laos, I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude. I was placed here by the US Embassy and my host, the Education and English Department at CU , who assigned me last fall to teach pronunciation and phonetics to first-year English majors and to run a sustained schedule of workshops for faculty aiming to improve their English for participation in international conferences. Some background: It was December 2024 when I applied to the ELF program. It was a last minute, end- of-year personal challenge—I was hoping for another overseas English-teaching adventure, after a gap since I taught overseas in Slovakia in 2012. It had been eleven years since I earned my Master's of TESOL from Eastern Michigan University and first taught English for Academic Purposes (EAP) in Michigan at the Michigan Language Center in Ann Arbor. Living and teaching abroad, immersing myself in a new c...

 Well, the last I wrote, it was Thanksgiving, just two weeks into my Pakse teaching assignment.  What happened after was my intense focus on understanding and fullfilling my assignment, day-by-day, nose to the grindstone, falling into coma-style sleeps at nighttime.  And at the same time, the program had committed me to preparing 2 presentations each for 2 conferences.   Weeks at school were full, and weekends in December and January were taken with this preparation. I probably got more anxious about the work than I needed to, but at the time, it was, for me a huge endeavor which could only be worked on in a steady slow fashion. I'm now two weeks past not only that work but the travel to Jakarta, Indonesia for the mid-year ELF (English Language Fellow) conference and the TESOL (Teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages -- trade group for my profession).  For those of you interested in my topics, they were :   - Preparing Students for a Mult...

 At its best, when organized around generosity and kindness, Thanksgiving is such a great holiday -- it has as much gravitas and gravy to suit each appetite.  A built in community "living gratitude journal" practice.  It can be religious -- or not.  And if religious, it can honor any deity, individually or collectively.  How cool is that? And so ours suited our group just right. The fledgling Pakse group, only 2 weeks arrived, barely settled in 2 country-side homes surrounded by roaming cows and dogs (for the 4 Fulbright English Teaching Assistants, ETAS) and 1 guest house (for me the English Language Fellow). We hosted 3 others arriving from Savannakhet by crammed bus, complete with stools inserted where knees were supposed to be, and 1 from Vientiane by plane.   I don't remember our Pakse peeps, especially myself,  planning that much for this Friendsgiving weekend. It kind of emerged. Food is always a huge topic of conversation -- anytime, all t...