Focus Matters
Building connections through language, learning and shared experience.
Welcome to Focus Matters — a shared journey shaped by language, culture, communication and connection. Inspired by relationships formed during a 2025 visit to the School for the Deaf in Luang Prabang, this project brings together students, families, educators and community partners from Australia, Laos and France. Through learning, storytelling and exchange, we celebrate the many ways people connect with one another and the world around them. Across Lao, Lao Sign Language, English, Auslan and French, this journey is built not on a single common language, but on openness, respect and human connection.
Introduced by Julie Tait
Focus Matters begins with language, literacy and access.
Julie Tait is a Teacher of the Deaf, Auslan interpreter and Deafblind consultant supporting communication access and educational collaboration.
Julie has worked alongside Deaf children, families and educational communities across Australia for almost four decades. Her work within Focus Matters brings together communication, language pathways, educational collaboration and culturally respectful resources that support Deaf children and their families in Laos.
An avid traveller, Julie always tries to visit local Schools for the Deaf or Deaf Clubs wherever she travels. These visits have led to important lifelong relationships with people and institutions, fostering international exchange, shared learning and ongoing mutual support.
Connect & Collaborate
Building the next part of the journey together.
Focus Matters welcomes connections with schools, educators, community partners, language specialists and organisations interested in supporting the Laos mission.