Enjoy varied activities with young Lao people

World citizens need diverse skills and knowledge.

You'll have a great time, as you help broaden the knowledge, skills, and horizons of Lao students

In 2006, Big Brother Mouse started publishing "Books That Make Literacy Fun!" By now, we've published more than 400 of them.

But we found that many Lao children couldn't read these books. They couldn't read anything, often not even their own name. Public schools were failing to teach basics such as literacy, and also failing to nurture vital broader skills: Communication, problem-solving, numeracy, handling responsibility, and much else.

We opened our first school in 2016, seeking to provide the next generation with the skills they will need to be happy, productive citizens not only of Laos, but of the world. Parents and children liked our approach. Today we have a network of 9 affiliated schools, with 3500 students.

These schools succeed because we take advantage of children's natural instincts to learn, to play, and to be active. We use games and activities that provide fun challenges, while also developing a diversity of real-life skills and knowledge about subjects ranging from geography to math to science to English.

Twice a day, seven days a week except major holidays, we offer 2-hour periods in which travelers and Laotians can meet to engage in some of the activities that have proven their value at our schools. We have a wide variety of activities to choose from.

Many young people are particularly focused on learning English. Previously, these sessions focused on English conversation. But we found, especially after the Covid-related shut-downs, an increasing number of Lao youth who wanted only to learn English. They had learned little else; and they had no interest in learning anything else. English will not be the magic pill that they are hoping for, and that led us to change the focus of these sessions. Here's more about why we changed our English conversation sessions.

Times and details

Morning, 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.
Evening, 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m
• We request a 100,000 kip (about US $5) entry fee to cover our overhead costs. That covers the whole day, morning and evening both if you can come twice. Or 500,000 kip for as many visits as you like in a month.
• Please note that mobile phones and other electronic devices are not permitted; this time and space is for person-to-person interaction.

What are some typical activities?

We've got dozens. Here's a sampling. We'll offer several at each session, based on interests of those who come.

Several people play a math game with numbered cards — Mouse Math: Nine numbered cards are dealt out, face-up. Everyone looks for an equation that can be made by combining three or more cards with the four standard operations: + - x /

Three young women play a geography game, with a map and cards on the table — Country Statistics: Two topics often considered dull, combine into a popular game, as you try to guess which of several categories (population, median age, etc.) is relatively high for your country.

A small group doing origami - paper folding — Origami: Fold squares of colored paper to make animals, lanterns, and other shapes. We've got instructions, and visitors who know other shapes are invited to teach them.

A young British woman and several Lao children play an English-learning board game — Funny Birds: A game for students learning English: An English speaker reads a question about a picture, such as "Which bird has long legs?" Then the student moves ahead, if they answer right.

Two Lao monks talk with a woman — Meeting visitors from abroad gives Lao people an opportunity to improve their English and learn about other countries, while the visitor learns about Lao culture.

A visitor and Lao student solve a puzzle on the Turing Tumble game — Turing Tumble: How do computers do complex calculations? Turing Tumble helps students understand. A few simple levers and balls can be arranged to do varied and complex tasks. Enjoyable for 1 to 3 people working together.

A Scrabble board with letters spelling out Big Brother Mouse, World Citizen, and other words — Scrabble. When native or fluent English speakers are playing with Lao learners, we have ways to adjust scores to make it more even. For example, the Lao might get a 20-point bonus for making a 5-letter word.

Cards with word pairs, such as ship-sheep, that may sound alike when spoken by a non-fluent English speaker — Ship-Sheep: A English speaker with good pronunciation says one word from a pair such as "bus-buzz" or "mouse-mouth", others try to guess which word was said. Or swap: A student reads it, then a fluent speaker tells them if it came through well.

A group plays What Am I, using yes-or-no questions to guess what animal is on their forehead. — What Am I? Everybody gets a card on their forehead, then asks yes-or-no questions in English as they try to determine what animal they are.

Instructions, protractor, and ruler for a game about using compass directions — Orienteering: You'll get a ruler and protractor, directions for a zigzag route, and a sheet of paper with a grid. Can you follow the directions and arrive at the right spot?

A Monopoly-style game board and cards, in Lao language with Lao names — Lao-style Monopoly, Clue, Risk: These widely-popular games usually take more time, so when we play one, we'll start at 9:00 a.m. or 5:00 p.m.

Lao young people play a board game with a visitor at the Big Brother Mouse shop — Mouse Artist: One player draws a picture so teammates can guess the secret word. Players have fun, as they develop skill at focusing on what features are most important to communicate.

May I come even if I don't speak much English?

Certainly. There are some activities that involve picture cards, or math, and don't require English. Please ask our coordinator if you need help to find something suitable.

Can I reserve a place?

There's no need to reserve anything, just come by.

Thank you! We expect you'll join the many others who say this was a highlight of their trip.

Lao sign language

When we opened our first school, in 2016, we already had two people on our staff who were deaf and we taught children some basic sign language. "It's fun!" was the nearly universal response.

The book Dancing With Words, tells about the use of sign language in certain U.S. schools. There, too, children consistently described it as fun, and researchers saw educational benefits.

We're now developing the curriculum with the goal that children can carry on a full conversation by signing. They learn a few words, get practice using them in sentences, then learn a few more, and practice with more sentences.

Visitors sometimes ask why we teach sign language. Lots of reasons – more than may be obvious at first.

• If they meet someone who uses sign language, they'll be able to communicate. That's a good thing for everybody.

• In the countryside, many people who are deaf have never had an opportunity to learn sign language. Often they're dismissed as not-too-bright. (Remember that "deaf and dumb" was once a common English term. And it still gets used.) A wider awareness of deafness and sign language is one step toward addressing this. Some of our students may one day create initiatives to help make sign language more widely taught to children who will benefit most from it.

• Children like using their fingers and hands. At times it seems that they are instinctively driven to do so.

• Learning any other language brings many benefits. This is even more true of sign language than a spoken language, because the physical component activates other areas of the brain.

• Studies in the U.S. (reported in Dancing With Words) have shown that learning sign language helps small children learn to read. Several dynamics seem to be at work. One is that it helps them grasp that speech consists of individual words.

• We're not sure, but it seems that because people look at you more closely when you're speaking with sign language, it can help children gain more self-confidence about speaking or performing in front of others.