Meeting at the Ministry of Education and Training
The weather in Hanoi is beginning to stay to its supposed cold. It’s not freezing but comfortably nice – as if I were in an air-conditioned room. The skies are no longer blue though, and have stayed grey since yesterday. We are hoping it stays like this til we leave. Any colder and we’d be in trouble since we won’t have much warm clothes to wear.
The laundry service we tested out turned out to be reliable. For 6000 dong (about S$0.70) a piece, they had my t-shirts nicely laundered.
We started out today meeting the Director General of the Ministry of Education and Training. With the other group from HUT, we discussed issues about education in Vietnam, the problems they were facing and how Singapore could help out. It was an interesting meeting and really, it made me appreciate the education system we have in Singapore. It really isn’t easy trying to reform an education system that affects some 24 million students spread across the whole country. Unlike Singapore, they lack funds to build the proper infrastructure to improve the education system, and so it isn’t just a matter of implementing a policy of change. Nevertheless, I applaud their efforts in still trying to make that step.
The meeting ended around 10.30am and we headed back to the hotel. I spent some time preparing for my other lessons before my team mates called me to ask if I wanted to join them at the Hilton cos they wanted to tap on the WIFI.
I agreed so we headed to the Hilton so we could have WIFI and have lunch at the same time before we heading back to the university for our first afternoon teaching session with our students. All of us really wished we didn’t have to teach in the afternoon as somehow or other, the sleepiness began to set in.
Still, we dutifully headed back to the university as we wanted some materials printed for our lessons. We were told we could make use of the photocopying machine and computer there so we thought it’d be good to be there some 2 hours before our lessons started. When we reached the university, we were in for a surprise as it was really quiet. It seems they have a practice of taking a nap after lunch! And so, we plonked ourselves on the stairs and did some last minute work while waiting for them to wake up…
We eventually managed to use the room. That was when I really appreciated the noisy risograph machine back in school that spouts out one sheet of paper per second. Not only was paper not as readily available (they recycle the use of paper lots there), the machine was incredibly slow – one sheet came out every 10 seconds – and it kept breaking down.
Amongst ourselves we decided that we needed to find a photocopy shop outside and do the printing ourselves. We felt bad that we were using what little resources they had.
I did with my class a few activities today and what really took off were the parts of the lessons when I was teaching them how to pronounce words correctly. I also got them to plan a one-day tour for me and they had to present their tour itinerary. It was then did I realise that some students’ grasp of the language was really basic. Some of them found it difficult to express themselves and would rather remain quiet. It took some of the better student to tell me that some of them found it difficult to understand me.
I was obviously concerned as I sincerely hope that they will gain a lot out of these two weeks. The last I would want to do was to shortchange them. Suddenly, I realized that all the lessons I had planned the nights before could not be used if learning was to take place. So, it’s back to the drawing board, and wondering again, what I can teach them.
I wished I had loaded my ipod and ibook with more songs as my students really could sing. I also wished I had packed in those speakers I bought recently so I could amplify the sound in class. One of my students said he would bring speakers tomorrow for me to plug in my ipod. I sure hope that works!
My students have begun to get used to us. Some of them are bringing us out on Friday to shop at the weekend market – and they are going to bring us on their scooters! (God bless me!) Today, the brought one of my team mates back to the hotel on his scooter, much to his anxiety! Well, he came back safe and sound so I guess it’s not that bad??!
My team mates have gone out with their students to eat ice-cream. I decided to stay in to do my work and have some time alone so I can come out with ideas of how to teach my students tomorrow. It will be a greater challenge tomorrow since I have some 6 hours with them instead of 3! I hope inspiration strikes at the Hilton!
Photos of me taken by my students in class...
This photo is for my brother who wants to know if Huggy Bear is doing work at Hanoi... :)
The laundry service we tested out turned out to be reliable. For 6000 dong (about S$0.70) a piece, they had my t-shirts nicely laundered.
We started out today meeting the Director General of the Ministry of Education and Training. With the other group from HUT, we discussed issues about education in Vietnam, the problems they were facing and how Singapore could help out. It was an interesting meeting and really, it made me appreciate the education system we have in Singapore. It really isn’t easy trying to reform an education system that affects some 24 million students spread across the whole country. Unlike Singapore, they lack funds to build the proper infrastructure to improve the education system, and so it isn’t just a matter of implementing a policy of change. Nevertheless, I applaud their efforts in still trying to make that step.
The meeting ended around 10.30am and we headed back to the hotel. I spent some time preparing for my other lessons before my team mates called me to ask if I wanted to join them at the Hilton cos they wanted to tap on the WIFI.
I agreed so we headed to the Hilton so we could have WIFI and have lunch at the same time before we heading back to the university for our first afternoon teaching session with our students. All of us really wished we didn’t have to teach in the afternoon as somehow or other, the sleepiness began to set in.
Still, we dutifully headed back to the university as we wanted some materials printed for our lessons. We were told we could make use of the photocopying machine and computer there so we thought it’d be good to be there some 2 hours before our lessons started. When we reached the university, we were in for a surprise as it was really quiet. It seems they have a practice of taking a nap after lunch! And so, we plonked ourselves on the stairs and did some last minute work while waiting for them to wake up…
We eventually managed to use the room. That was when I really appreciated the noisy risograph machine back in school that spouts out one sheet of paper per second. Not only was paper not as readily available (they recycle the use of paper lots there), the machine was incredibly slow – one sheet came out every 10 seconds – and it kept breaking down.
Amongst ourselves we decided that we needed to find a photocopy shop outside and do the printing ourselves. We felt bad that we were using what little resources they had.
I did with my class a few activities today and what really took off were the parts of the lessons when I was teaching them how to pronounce words correctly. I also got them to plan a one-day tour for me and they had to present their tour itinerary. It was then did I realise that some students’ grasp of the language was really basic. Some of them found it difficult to express themselves and would rather remain quiet. It took some of the better student to tell me that some of them found it difficult to understand me.
I was obviously concerned as I sincerely hope that they will gain a lot out of these two weeks. The last I would want to do was to shortchange them. Suddenly, I realized that all the lessons I had planned the nights before could not be used if learning was to take place. So, it’s back to the drawing board, and wondering again, what I can teach them.
I wished I had loaded my ipod and ibook with more songs as my students really could sing. I also wished I had packed in those speakers I bought recently so I could amplify the sound in class. One of my students said he would bring speakers tomorrow for me to plug in my ipod. I sure hope that works!
My students have begun to get used to us. Some of them are bringing us out on Friday to shop at the weekend market – and they are going to bring us on their scooters! (God bless me!) Today, the brought one of my team mates back to the hotel on his scooter, much to his anxiety! Well, he came back safe and sound so I guess it’s not that bad??!
My team mates have gone out with their students to eat ice-cream. I decided to stay in to do my work and have some time alone so I can come out with ideas of how to teach my students tomorrow. It will be a greater challenge tomorrow since I have some 6 hours with them instead of 3! I hope inspiration strikes at the Hilton!
Photos of me taken by my students in class...
This photo is for my brother who wants to know if Huggy Bear is doing work at Hanoi... :)
posted by deb at 8:20 PM
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