This week was an experience of many firsts for the group in Dong Nai (Bien Hoa City). After moving all of our things to the third floor of the hotel (supposedly cleaner and nicer, thanks to a helpful cleaning lady), we began on Tuesday by traveling as a group by bus to a small orphanage called Nha Mo, which literally translates to "Fat House". This was my first experience with public transportation in 4 years in Vietnam, and I was quite impressed. The bus was new, clean, and only cost the equivalent of 15 American cents! The Fat House has 7 of the cutest orphans you will ever see, plus the 20 or so neighborhood kids that attend our classes there. The house is run by our friend Chi Lan and her husband, who are awesome! We began by breaking the students into small groups so they could get comfortable with the teachers. We talked to them, played small icebreaker games with them, and had a lot of fun. The kids were so sad to see us leave, but we told them not to worry, because we would be back very soon.
Tuesday was also the first day of our night classes at the local Youth center. It is these classes that make up the meat and bones of our program (as opposed to traveling to orphanages, which is part teaching but also bonding with the children to attempt to partially fill some of the voids in their lives). On our first night, we had almost 200 students arrive, which was a small problem because for the first day we had only planned 4 classes. So, the decision was immediately made that for the next session, the classes would be split. Despite the overcrowding, however, the first day was an awesome success. Our teachers embraced their roles, brought creative lesson plans, and created a classroom environment enjoyable for both teacher and student.
On Wednesday, we traveled again to the first orphanage. This time, the students continued with their alphabet lessons, and also learned colors, animals, and played simon says! The older kids learned all the vocabulary for volleyball, which they got to use during a competitive game at the end of the class. The children now truly consider us as their friends, and can't wait for us to return in the coming week.
Thursday, we headed back to the Fat House. This time, the group had grown to almost 40, and we began our lessons on this day with the ABCs, and by the end of the day the kids knew them all!! Many of these children had never met foreigners before (because Bien Hoa is not a tourist city), so I think it was a lot of fun for both groups to laugh and learn together. For their first time learning the alphabet, the kids did really well and it was exciting to see them progress.
Thursday was also the second day of the night class. The class goes from 6-8 PM, and this time it was much more manageable because we had split the group. This time, the teachers really knew what to expect, so they expertly designed their lesson plans to fit the needs of their class. As a result, not a second of the precious 2 hours was wasted. The A students learned their numbers and played simple games, the B students learned about simple food terms and activities, and the C students learned a poem and talked about American culture and restaurants. It was a ton of fun, for everyone involved.
Friday, the final day of the first long week, we began at the Fat House, where the kids learned their numbers while some of us constructed a bench out of bamboo for the orphanage. Even though it was our first time building something like that, the testament to our workmanship is that it is still standing 3 days later! As long as you sit gently, it will not fall over. At the end of the lesson, we played a classic Vietnamese children's game, incorporating English to make it a learning experience. We had an excellent time, of course, and it was tough to say goodbye to the kids for a whole weekend.
Our final night class of the week was on Friday as well. This time, the theme in almost all the classes was music and art. The A level drew pictures and learned colors, the B level talked about different types of music, and the C level learned the song "Waving Flag" by K'naan, because it is the song of the World Cup! They learned the meaning behind the words, lots of new vocabulary, and the tune as well. By the end, we had sang it so much everyone had memorized the words and I had lost my voice. But it was definitely one of the highlights of the experience for me so far.
Saturday and Sunday, the group traveled to Saigon (HCMC) to play and relax while Bao and I stayed here to "man the fort". It was nice to get to sleep in a little bit, after 8 hour work days Monday through Friday.
Now, it is Monday evening, everyone returned safely last night and we had a very interesting day today. But alas, that will have to wait for next week's entry. So until then, hope you enjoyed and will continue to enjoy reading, and keep a look out for next Monday's post!
Victor
PS - the internet is quite slow, so I will probably upload all of the pictures at once some night when it is fast. They can be found at picasaweb.google.com/eta4love. Peace!
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