Sommay SHINGPHACHANH

Name	Sommay SHINGPHACHANH
Country	Laos
Year / month of graduation	March 2020
Degree obtained	Ph.D of Mathematics Education
Position / organization as of March 2021	Lecturer of mathematics at Khangkhay Teacher Training College

This article was written in March 2021.

Why did you choose Japan, and Hiroshima university for your study?

I was told by others, when I was a first year student of university, that Japan is one of the best countries in terms of educational quality, justice, honesty, human right, and long history of country development. I absorbed those information and created my own beliefs, dream and hope to study in Japan since then. In 2009, I applied Japanese scholarship called JDS (Japan Grant Aid for Human Resource Development Scholarship) and my dream came true. I got a scholarship for my master in Osaka University.

During my master degree, I had a chance visiting Hiroshima university as a presenter of my research. I also read the profile of Hiroshima University and I realized that this University is the right one for mathematics education and became my dream again for my Ph.D. Later, through my efforts, in 2017 my dear Prof. Takuya Baba accepted me as his Ph.D. student and I was so delightful incomparable with anything else.

What did you learn and study at Hiroshima university?

At Hiroshima university I studied about mathematics education as a big theme. Within mathematics education there are several areas and levels. During my study I had an opportunity to explore Mathematics teacher professional development, Mathematical knowledge for Teaching (MKT), Realistic Mathematics Education (RME), Mathematical Enculturation, Ethnomathematics, Lesson Study, Number sense, value of mathematics, primary and secondary mathematics curriculum, students conception about mathematics, students’ understanding of integer and etc.

Furthermore, my professors and my Lab mates also shared me some important research findings of their interested research area. Those area of studies become background of my knowledge to push me forward when I return home country. At this point I realized that to be professionals in our field we must not only study in the school or university, but also be autonomous learner that is lifelong learning. Learning as like doing research, it is never ended. In relation to the professional learning, the research of my Ph.D. is about lesson study in the title of Identifying Mathematics Teacher Educators’ Professional Learning and Issues in Lesson Study Approach in Laos.

Did you enjoy your stay in Hiroshima?

Besides my study, I also enjoyed very much staying in Hiroshima especially visiting Miyajima Island, Atomic bomb and historical Hiroshima castle for sign seeing. These places are famous in Hiroshima prefecture. By visiting those I enjoyed and knew how Japanese people live, struggle, and develop in the past before becoming Japanese today. During summer time I and my friends enjoyed playing and swimming at the sunset beach.

Around Hiroshima university, there is also very kind house owner who gathered international students to have Barbeque at his house including other kinds of Japanese food. I enjoyed the food and chatting with many international students there very much.

Please tell us your current work. Does what you learned or studied at Hiroshima university help you?

I work at Khangkhay Teacher Training College. I have two main duties teaching and office work. Regarding the teaching, I suppose to teach mathematics or mathematics teaching methodology. Additionally, due to a small number of preservice teachers, I was assigned to teach Lesson Study subject to several levels of preservice teachers. For example, kindergarten level, primary, and secondary level of preservice teachers.

In relation to what I had learned from Hiroshima university, mathematics education, especially Lesson Study, becomes my valuable knowledge to teach my student teachers as well as sharing with my colleagues. To sustain Lesson Study and following the Ministry of Education and Sports’ strategy, I design curriculum of Lesson Study subject and create Lesson Study handbook/textbook for my preservice students. Although I don’t have an opportunity to teach mathematics teaching methodology or pure mathematics, I and my colleagues make a group doing research within mathematics subject. I also motivate my colleagues to make lesson study groups in other subject areas.

Recently, in December 2020, I organized research seminar in the area of mathematics education called KMERG (Khangkhay Mathematics Education Research Group). This is a very good start of academic work in my workplace specifically for mathematics teacher educators. In addition, I continue attending international conferences in mathematics education. For example, I participated WALS 2020 through online. By collecting those documents and continuously doing research, hopefully, I could propose myself to be associate professors in the next 3 years.

My second work is the vice unit of policy and inspection in personnel office of KhangKhay Teacher Training College. Of this work, every year I and my head unit organize a meeting to assess some documents of those who submitted proposing their academic position like lecturer assistants, lecturers, associate professors or professors. After checking those documents at the college level, we invite inspectors from the Ministry of Education and Sports to check again based on their criterion before proposing to ministry for consideration of issuing certificate of the academic position.

Do you recommend Hiroshima university for others to choose?

To those who are considering to study in Japan, I personally really recommend you to study at Hiroshima university because the professors in this university are very knowledgeable in their fields. They will make you become professionals in your interested subjects or area. Besides the knowledge, your professor will make you become a leader in your belonging laboratory or even when you return home country.

More importantly, Hiroshima University provided thousands of books in the library and millions of articles related to your research interest with very convenient facilities. I could say that Hiroshima University is one of the best universities in Japan.

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