Over a third of teachers in Lao PDR teach multigrade classes with students from two or more grade levels learning together in the same classroom. It can be a difficult task, requiring teachers to adapt their lessons and divide their attention across different grades, while ensuring all students are engaged in the learning process and can achieve targeted learning outcomes. Multigrade classes can also be rich and rewarding learning environments as students of different ages and levels share in the learning experience based on their individual knowledge and experiences.

For the newest episode of the Role Model docuseries, the TV, radio and newspaper teams from the Information Media Center (IMC) of the Research Institute for Educational Sciences (RIES) travelled to a remote village in Sing district, Luang Namtha province to meet a dedicated and talented multigrade teacher, Ms Syvone Seirsoualy. Ms Syvone teaches a multigrade and multilingual class. In the documentary, she explains her passion for teaching and her strategies to ensure her students can participate fully in all learning activities.

Associate Professor Dr Anoulom Vilayphone joined the production team during the filming “I was very impressed by Ms Syvone Seirsoualy. Her story is inspiring and shows how committed teachers can really make a difference in the learning of young students. Multigrade teaching is a reality in many schools in Laos. It is important that teachers know how to prepare and manage teaching more than one grade with students always being engaged and learning.”

Ms Syvone has been a teacher for eighteen years and a multigrade teacher for half of that time. In the docuseries episode she shares her experience and advice for teaching multigrade. Her first tip is lesson planning, she carefully prepares each lesson for both grades and notes in her lesson plan how she will adapt class activities for each grade level. She explains that it is key to keeping the students busy at all times. “I prepare special warm-up and ‘holding’ activities, so that the students from one grade are not waiting and getting bored or distracted while I teach the other grade. To achieve this, I carefully read the teacher guides for both grades and adapt the activities to suit my class group.”