What
did you do over your summer holiday? It was a wonderful time of life for me! I
spent two months teaching English to the kids in my village-Ban Cuom, in Ha
Giang Province. It was not too long, but
it was long enough to give me an unforgettable experience.
Thanks
to the support of the Vietnam Hawaii Friendship Society (VHFS) I had a chance
to do this project for the second time in my village, this past summer and summer
2015. This has been the biggest honor and source of happiness for me.
In
order to do the project well, I did have to do a lot of planning and organizing
to implement the project. The instructional material was designed to be
suitable for kids who had not learnt any English before. It contained eight
themes relating to a kid’s daily life such as greeting, family, school,
birthday, shopping, weather, health, etc.
Working
far from home prevented me from informing all the kids in the village about the
project to take part in the class. That was the reason why I thought about
asking for the help of village heads. My adviser for the project, Dr. Mel liked
my idea. After calling for help, heads of two villages, Ban Cuom and Tan Loi
were very happy and willing to help. During that time, I often called them to
ask about the number of students registered. If the number of students was too
small, it meant that the class could not open. In fact, kids in my village had
to help their parents to do household chores, look after babies, and graze
buffalo. Therefore, the effort of village heads was very important.
When
I went back home, I was surprised that nearly all kids in the villages
registered to take part in the class. You could imagine how happy I was.
Materials,
school things were prepared thanks to my husband’s help. I organized the
opening ceremony with the participation of village heads, kids, and kids’
parents to introduce them about the project, and the advantages of taking part
in the class. For example, by taking part in the class, all kids would get free
books, notebooks, pens, pencils, erasers, colors, etc. They would have a chance
to learn how to use a laptop, camera, and recorder. Moreover, they would learn
simple English and many English songs, and every weekend they would get candies
and small gifts.
After
the welcoming ceremony, some gifts sent by the Vietnam Hawaii Friedship Society
were given to kids and village heads. All of them were very happy and thankful.
They asked me to send their thanks to VHFS and Dr. Mel. Through that ceremony the
participants understood more about the project and believed it would be a
quality experience.
The
project began the first week of June and ended at the last week of July. A
friend of mine taught the class at Tan Loi and I taught in Ban Cuom. During two
months of teaching, I not only taught English but also held many interesting
activities so that each day going to class was a happy day for kids.
Each
lesson lasted two hours and a half, which from 7 a.m to 9.30 a.m. After
learning the theory, the kids took part
in activities such as playing games (slap the board, Simon says, who is
millionaire, etc), learning English songs ( many English songs for kids were
taught like the ABC song, finger family, school song, hello: how do you do,
five little ducks, etc), and dancing. They really liked doing the “chicken
dance”, whenever I played the tape, all the kids stood up and danced to the
beat of the music. Moreover, they also had a chance to learn how to take a
picture, record their friend’s talks, and use a laptop.
At
first, I taught four days a week. The kids really liked class and asked me to
teach five days a week. This made me really happy and motivated to do my job
better. On the weekend, all kids ate candies and the kids who were good at
learning that week got little gifts.
During
the last week of July, the ending ceremony and a small party for the kids was
held. It was a happy time with the participation of the village heads and all
kids. The ceremony had three main parts. First, presents were given to village
heads, and kids. Second, the project was evaluated - reporting strong points,
weak points and some suggestions for the next project. Last, we celebrated the
party - the most interesting part in the ceremony. In this part, kids enjoyed
candies, fruits, snacks, drinks, etc. And they sang a lot of songs together and
some of them sang and danced in front of the class. They also played many funny
games that made me laughed a lot. At the end of the ceremony, we took some
pictures to keep lovely memories together. It could be said that the ceremony
ended with me and my kids being very happy.
Each
project ends with a lot of happiness and new experiences for the kids and me. I
know I have to try more to help kids not only in my village but in other places
realize that English is not as difficult as they thought and how important it
is. I believe in a bright and
happy future for them and for me.
By Thao Dang, a teacher of English in Ha Giang, Vietnam
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