Luang Prabang

We have been three days in quiet Luang Prabang, the holy city and ancient capital of the Laos kingdom. There are more than 30 amazing Buddhist temples here and many monks live and study at these places. You can see them in their bright orange or yellow robes there and sometimes walking around town. In the early morning, the local people offer them sticky rice in their baskets. Many young people, usually boys, spend a couple of years studying in the monasteries.

Yesterday evening I visited an English class held at one of these temples. I had met a young man at one of the internet places who contacted one of the teachers, a young man about 22 years old. The teacher invited me to visit the evening classes held on the grounds of one of the Buddhist monasteries. There were about 10 students between 10 and 15 years old. I taught part of the class. The lesson involved practicing expressions having to do with introductions, greetings and saying goodbye. We did some role play and it was fun. One of the students was a young monk.

Today a young man who works at our guest house gave me a ride on his motorbike to his evening English class. Again the teacher let me teach part of the class. It was a high beginning class and we worked on a dialogue that used the past tense to communicate personal information about one's background, how long they have been in living a place, what they have been studying, and what they are doing now. After I taught for about 40 minutes first answering personal questions and then going over a dialogue, the teacher took over. Not surprisingly, he spoke mostly Lao in communicating to his English class.

At this private school, the students pay the equivalent of about 40$ a year in tuition fees; the salaries are extremely low in Laos. My friend the hotel manger/clerk makes about $40 a month and has to work about 70 hours a week. Yet, his English skills are pretty good.