LAOS
REI partners in medical training and medical English teaching, providing access to global research and
enhancing medical development.
In Laos, REI’s resident staff live and work alongside medical professionals in Vientiane, teaching both general and medical English at the city’s major hospitals. Their work helps medical students and clinicians gain the language skills they need to engage with international research and support the growth of healthcare throughout the country.​
​Together with Laotian partners, the REI team has helped build a three-year medical English curriculum at the University of Health Sciences. The REI apprentice program brings recent U.S. graduates to Laos for two years – or as a meaningful gap-year – where they teach medical English and invest in the next generation of healthcare leaders.
“Steam trains, printed books in schools, assembly lines” – what do all these things have in common? An English lesson comparing the past, present and future included these as things that were in common use a hundred or more years ago. But in Laos, many advancements like these were only seen in the last 30 years as this country has focused on development, in terms of electricity, healthcare, transportation and education, raising standards to compete in the global marketplace more effectively.
An advanced English class of radiologists has struggled with some of the challenges their nation faces as they strive to improve and modernize. One student described it, “On the outside we are smiling, but not on the inside.” This describes the tension, as these motivated and educated students face the reality this nation faces and work to lead their communities into better futures.
Training Lao Medical Students in English
REI has been working with Lao English teachers since 2014 to create English language curriculum for medical students. Until recently, Lao medical personnel did not need to know English, as Lao and French were used in the region. But soon English proficiency will be required in order to graduate from the medical university. And English is now being incorporated throughout departments in the hospitals, for presentations and conferences, and in research and advanced education. As the vice-dean of the Lao medical school explained to Doug Erdmann, REI’s president, “You can’t be a good doctor unless you are good at English.”
