Vietnam Team Journal


Monday, November 21, 2011


Monday was our first day of class.  Five of us went to FTU and arrived early, before our hosts were available to greet us.  We connected after about 15 minutes and were lead to our assignments.  I was scheduled to have the day off, but wanted to get the lay of the land, so joined Margaret for the first session with about 30 freshmen.  Our teacher indicated the subject was advertising and, after our introductions, we went through an assignment of different advertising methods which was interactive and allowed almost all students to participate.  The teacher was helpful in focusing us and the students and we were able to engage the class for the entire period.  The students were quite attentive. 



We rejoined our  colleagues, Ingrid, Ali & Roger for a nice Vietnamese lunch in the  teacher’s lounge and got tips from Ali & Roger on teaching techniques.  Margaret started the second period with one of those techniques encouraging student questions on our personal photos.  Margaret, Ingrid & I reviewed with the students their short opinion essay assignment, allowing direct feedback to each student.  The exercise revealed smart kids able to express themselves well in written English, with minor grammatical issues.  Their verbal skills were not as strong, but we had a decent conversation on opinion issues which related to their next assignment.  The day was viewed as a successful start by all five of us and we look forward to the next two weeks.  The group convened at 6:15pm feedback session and we went out to dinner after that.

- Bud

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