Cartoon logo of Big Brother Mouse, which publishes books and runs schools in Laos
 
Big Brother Mouse
You won't just see – you'll help
A woman holds up a large card with animal pictures, showing a group of Lao children the names
Preschool is the best age for children to learn English sounds that don't occur in Lao: the 'sh' and 's' at the end of a word, for example. Not with language drills, but by imitating your pronunciation of 'fox'.
A man and four Laotian children sit on school floor with map, playing a geography game
For primary school, we have games that are fun for everybody – both you and the students – as you help them learn math or English. Or geography. Believe it or not, we have several games that make geography fun.
A woman reads aloud and shows pictures in a book to four Lao schoolchildren, all sitting in a small hut
Some students have learned enough English that they can understand a story that you read aloud, and perhaps carry on a simple conversation about the story. Or you can ask and answer questions about life in your country and theirs.   

Spend a memorable day with us!

See our active approach to learning – and help us make it a reality for Lao children.

All of our schools welcome visitors who want to come for a full day to see what we do, and help us do it. In most cases, getting there may be an obstacle. Our first school, Big Sister Mouse #1, is about seven kilometers from our shop in Luang Prabang, and we offer a package that includes transportation and lunch.

At the school, we have eager Lao students, age 3 to mid-teens, learning English and much else. They'd love a chance to practice English with you through conversation, games, and other activities.

What will you do?

Here's what is typical day may include:

• Ask a small group of kindergarteners about some pictures. What color is the buffalo? Which animal has a long tail? They learn new English words quickly and are eager to use what they've learned. By pointing to pictures, talking about what you see, and asking simple questions, you'll help them learn English in the way that children naturally learn a language best.

• Can you understand Lao sign language? You may be surprised. We have a full-time teaching assistant who is deaf. Children enjoy learning sign language from him, and it helps them learn to think about how sentences are formed from individual words. You'll enjoy learning a few words, too; some are very intuitive.

• Play a board game with fourth-graders. We've got a wide assortment of activities and games. Children will improve their English from the questions and brief conversations that come up while playing, while they also improve numeracy, spatial thinking, geography, and other skills.

• Have a 15-minute conversation with a young teenager whose life is probably quite different from yours. Tell a bit about your country, and find out about his or hers.

• And then, discover the nuances of Lao! The Lao word mai can have 4 different meanings, depending on the tone in which it is pronounced. Can you distinguish them?

Details:

Depart from the Big Brother Mouse shop in central Luang Prabang (map) promptly at 9:00 a.m., get back late afternoon.
Schedule: No reservations are needed. Typically we go every weekday, Monday to Friday, except holidays and occasional weeks we are closed. The sign in our Luang Prabang shop will announce any changes.
• Please dress appropriately, with shoulders and thighs covered.
• It is fine to use a camera or phone to take a few pictures, but please keep your focus on the children, not on photography. We do not allow students to have phones in school. If you need to make a call at some point, that's no problem, but please do not use it to show pictures to students. Help us show students that there's an exciting life outside of the phone. Mostly these days, they are getting the opposite message.
• Vegetarians: We get lots of you! Just let us know when we depart.
• We ask for 200,000 kip (U.S. $10) per person for food and transportation costs.
• No experience is needed, we've got a range of activities, and our staff will help you match up with children at a level that works for everybody.

Mouse Math

Lao children and a visitor play Mouse Math, in which they try to make equations from 9 cards on display.

If you volunteer for a day at our school, you'll enjoy a number of activities with students of all ages. Here is a favorite game you might play.

The dealer puts out 9 cards, in a 3x3 array. The standard deck has numbers 0 to 99; we also have decks with lower ranges.

Then each player looks for a way to make an equation using at least 3 of those cards, plus the standard math operations: Plus, minus, times, divided by.

When you have an equation in mind, say one number, representing what each side of the equation is equal to. Then explain the equation. If it only uses 3 cards, you can point and say what you're doing: "3 times 7 is 21." For more than 3 cards, pull them out and arrange them. Give other players time to be sure you're right.

For example: In the game shown above, the numbers are 40, 6, 7, 9, 24, 37, 8, 24, 18. One answer: 7-6=24/24. There's also an equation that uses all 9 cards. Can you find it? The answer (below) should make you smile.

If they agree, you collect those cards. If you're wrong, you pay a 1 card penalty from cards you've already collected.

It's fun, and there's never a dull moment. Everybody is always thinking, mentally racing through math sums. It's an exciting way to improve basic math skills, and it's effective.

Math game answer: (7-6) - (9-8) = (37/18) x 40 x (24-24)

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Education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire.