Big Brother Mouse: Teaching English

The office of Big Brother Mouse

On our last day in Luang Prabang, we decided to do something a bit different.

Not that our usual of eating food, drinking local beer and meeting new people is boring, far from it, but we had decided as soon as we got to Laos, that we wanted to help out where we could, especially if the opportunity arose.

And, the opportunity really did come up.

Allan and I had walked past a little business called Big Brother Mouse a few times on our adventures.  After looking into it in more detail, we realized that they are needing English speaking tourists to come in and help the young monks and students with their English, both conversationally and grammatically.

We arrived early, 8:30 am, to a fairly empty building.  Inside were about three young monks.  We had been assured that by 9 am, the place would be completely full with students and tourists alike.  And, by 9, it was absolutely packed.

Allan and the young temple monk

Allan and I spent the majority of our time with two different kids: One was a young temple monk while the other was a young student.  Allan and the young monk really hit it off and spent their time talking about mountain biking (Allan even showed him a few biking videos) and I spent a good two hours with the young student, helping him with his English exercises.

Me and my English student

The company, Big Brother Mouse, was actually created by a Laos monk shortly after he finished school.  See, up until a few years ago, the majority of the Laos people didn't read any extracurricular books.  They didn't read them because they weren't available.  This man started this company to give other children and people in Laos reading materials.  The company creates it's own books, written in Laos, and distributes them to village towns by means of book parties.  Some of the kids that receive these books have never owned a book before, ever.

The cutest little dog who reminded me of our dog, Salsa

In addition to book clubs, they also host English classes.  Hence why we were there.  It was one of the most humbing experiences of my life, and one of the most rewarding.  To be honest, it made me really think about moving to a different country to teach English and live a simpler life.....hmmmmmm.