What’s That Next Door?
Reading up for our time in Luang Prabang, we’d heard of an organization called Big Brother Mouse dedicated to educational causes, including helping locals speak English. While we were eating breakfast on our first day, we noticed a bunch of activity after a couple of high school aged Laos boys said hello to us through a hedge.
Turns out, Big Brother Mouse was right next door!
We stopped by after breakfast to learn more. They had a few different options to contribute, one of them going to a local school to help the students with their English studies. We were in!
The next day, we were departed at 9:00am for the school. It was the four of us, plus a young American couple. We came to learn that they had just graduated college and were in Luang Prabang for 4 months to volunteer at the Big Brother Mouse foundation. With fresh degrees in education, they were primarily helping out with curriculum development for the program. Turns out we learned a ton about the organization, as Henry’s Uncle started the program in 2006.
Big Sister Mouse
We arrived at Big Sister Mouse school 30 minutes later and were greeted by a teacher. She gave us a rundown of what we’d be doing for the day, the students we’d meet and a few tips. First, a bit on Big Sister Mouse....
the school was started a few years ago through private money raised through the Big Brother Mouse foundation
there are approximately 400 primary grade students
it is a private school
students pay $20 USD/monthly tuition
the goal is to make the school 100% self funded
original plans were to just have Kindergarten and 1st grade, but a few days before it opened the government informed them they could only open if they had through 3rd grade. A couple of days later they were told it had to go through 5th grade. A mad scramble ensued and they made it happen.
Nerves
Paige and Sadie were not excited for the day in the slightest, the apprehension definitely driven by nerves. Paige quickly got into the groove and was working with the kids in breakout groups, running them all by herself. Sadie was much more shy, picking and choosing her moments to contribute. At one point there was a smaller group working together and Sadie participated, saying that she found it easier with a small group.
Time With Classes
We spent the morning with three Kindergarten classes and afternoon with three 2nd/3rd grade classes. When we were with the students, we started off in the circle playing games like “touch your toes” to work on vocabulary and sang some songs. We then broke into smaller groups to either read books, work on numbers or other exercises.
Time with Teachers
Aside from students, we spent time with a few aspiring teachers in training. They were taking the opportunity to work on their English. We generally chatted and also played a few games to get the conversation going.
Deaf Teacher
There are three deaf teachers at the school. We learned that they have a partnership with a deaf school not far away where their students frequently visit. We had a chance to sit down with a deaf teacher and he taught us a few signs, including how to sign each of our names.
Recess
A couple of times we were out in the yard during recess. Paige and Sadie ran around a bit and we had a nice time watching kids play. The playground was quite spartan, but given the dearth of public playgrounds in this part of the world it was welcomed.
When we set out on the trip, we made it a goal to take days to contribute to the local communities we would be visiting. We weren’t sure exactly what that would be, but this certainly hit the mark.
Hopefully we helped these young Lao children just a bit in their educational journey!
PS...there was a photographer shadowing at certain points to potentially put together an advertisement for an in flight airplane magazine. Perhaps we'll be celebrities on Lao Airlines!
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