Sone: From library user to staff to America!

Latest news: Sone is now working at the Sun Valley Resort in Idaho and will stay for 18 months for his second internship through the International Hotel and Tourism Industry Management School in Bangkok. He has travelled a long way from his roots in the village of Nong Khiaw!

When Emile was here from London he taught the staff how to use Adobe photoshop. Their assignment was to make a poster introducing themselves by using a cutout of their photo on another background picture then writing about themselves in simple English that library users could read. This is Sone's poster. Nong Khiaw is in the background.

Sone is the most prolific reader I have met in Laos. It is hard to keep enough new books in the library for him. He also has some of the best study habits I have seen. He makes up sample sentences for all new words to make sure he understands them correctly then compares and contrasts them with similar words to clarify the differences. He has come a long way from when he was in high school and used our small library in Nong Khiaw.

In Nong Khiaw he lived next door to the guest house where I stayed. For the longest time I didn't even know he liked English...his English was quite limited and his pronunciation wasn't clear so he was too shy to speak. Instead, he played his guitar and watched.

Once he overcame that hurdle he would read me books from the library each time I came, to work on his pronunciation. A real breakthrough in his language skills came when his grandmother died. He learned the words for what he wanted to talk about and thus began real communication in English.

After he finished High School he stayed in Nong Khiaw and studied English on his own for a year then came to Luang Prabang and tested for entrance into Special English Course, a 3 year evening program run by the Teacher Training College. He was one of about 150 students selected from the 1,000 who tested.

When the Listening Library opened in Luang Prabang, he worked downstairs as a guard, so he had a lot of time to study and listen to cassettes and CDs. Now he works upstairs, helping library users. Of all of the staff, he takes the most advantage of having a native English speaker nearby. He, like most of the staff, often shows up early, stays late or comes in on his time off to get in extra study on the computers, and always borrows books for study at home. He loves to study, but he also knows that English and computer skills are his ticket to a well paid job and a better future.

Update: Where is he now?

His English skills have recently paid off, helping him along his way to a brighter future. While working at the library he translated for a foreigner who aids development work in Laos. The donor was so impressed by his language skills and his cross-cultural skills that he  sponsored him for a 2 year program at the International Hotel and Tourism Industry Management School in Bangkok. www.i-tim.ac.th.

Sone has finished his first year internship at the Banyan Tree Resorts on Phuket Island., and is hoping to do his next internship in America. He has come a long ways from the village of Nong Khiaw.