Thursday, September 30, 2010

By Keith
Thought of the day: Not everything that counts can be counted

NBK volunteers were treated to a special program put on by the 11th year students. The gala began with tea (delicately described as “smoky sweet with mystery chunks, possibly ginseng”) and rice cakes and included a video presentation on the city of Ha Noi, highlighting places to visit and seasonal changes at Hoan Kiem Lake. Volunteers were impressed by the students’ enthusiasm and their talent in creating the video. The dedication to the student project was greatly admired and appreciated.

Yet another after-dinner visit to the lake found another enthusiastic endless parade of people participating in what must be a special event for this city and country. Each evening’s events are a little more spectacular than those of the night before. It bodes well for the next several days.

Wednesday September 29, 2010

By Mary and Deborah
Thought of the day:
"I don’t like that man. I must get to know him better." A. Lincoln

True to our expectations, our new classes were lively, and the students were quick to learn from their new-found teachers.

The upper grades were fairly structured, with more articulate conversation and sharing. In addition to highly skilled computer technology learning, the students were interested in phenomena regarding Michael Jackson and Lady GaGa. One student even demonstrated his skills in a moonwalk.

The Middle students were actively hi-fiving us, followed by eager use of their verbal skills, and exhibiting amazing map skills; just another sign of well-rounded students having varied experiences in their short lives. Their interest rallied around smaller group interaction rather than formal generalized instruction.

Tuesday, September 28th

By Barbara
Teaching is tough! Today we had our first day of teaching. Some of us went to Foreign Trade University where we were warmly welcomed by the faculty. The campus is a bustling hive of activity with thousands of students. As Terry said, feels good to be back in a college town!

We did a variety of teaching activity. Personally I had two serious classes, with two serious teachers! The subject was presentations and how to give them. It was hot as blazes and very humid, like being in a hot yoga class. My morning class was at a higher English level and more engaged than the afternoon class but both had curious and intelligent groups of students. Some things, like fear of public speaking, are no different cross continents or cross cultures. It was great to see the students gain a bit of confidence as they practiced their presentation skills.

The traffic and horns honking remain an astounding feature of Hanoi so far. The warm and welcoming faces of the students call us back for more tomorrow.

Monday September 27th

By Seija
The 11th Hanoi Global Volunteer group assembled Saturday evening for an "introduction/meet/greet" evening. Must say, we have a rather eclectic, well traveled, highly educated troop here ..... quite extraordinary, really..... should make for a very scintillating two weeks! Who would have thought even a short year ago, that I would be here in exotic Hanoi, about to embark on my second volunteer journey. What the heck took me so long?? Our group leader and host, Francoise made us all feel very welcome, appreciated and comfortable with each other in no time at all. Hoa Binh Palace put on a very tasty typical Vietnamese feast for us in their charming Chica Restaurant, on the 8th and top floor of the hotel.....lovely place to gather, as we continued getting to know each other, while wining and dining in fine style :)

Sunday morning, with a hearty breakfast under our belts and very very strong coffee to jolt us all into wake mode, We hit the meeting room for a further information session with Francoise on policies, philosophy, safety and health issues etc. Seems we have many repeat volunteers in our group—for some, this is their 11th time volunteering! Wow, amazing! With our imaginations fully engaged, a back wall was soon filled with colorful cards, listing all manner of goals and objectives for the weeks ahead. A common thread seemed to be both a desire to share and learn, while having a good time together.

After lunch, we had the pleasure of meeting staff from both the Nguyen Binh Khiem Secondary School (NBK) and the Foreign Trade University. They gave us a bit of a break down on what was to be expected of us during our time here, making us feel very welcome and appreciated while doing so. They assigned our schools and classrooms, at which point we broke off into two separate groups for further discussions. We decided to more or less wing it our first day and feel our way around the system ......listening, learning and helping when and where requested.

Friday, July 3, 2009

Today, our last day of class, was bitter-sweet. We reviewed everything we had covered and had students sing the songs connected to each unit. They love singing. We played games re-enforcing the vocabulary and they did drawing and designing activities, specifically making menus and drawing articles of clothing with descriptions. We took lots of pictures of the whole group. Singing “It's a Small World” was a perfect way to end this two week experience. Mr. Dung, the director of SOS, gave a warm good-bye speech. Then one by one we said a few words to the students. When my turn came, I couldn't say much as I started to cry. The secretary and interpreter, Mr. Long, told us the students wanted to shake our hands. It didn't take long for volunteers and students alike to cry in earnest. We hate leaving and the students were sad to see us go. “I will miss you” many of the students said. They gave each of us a gift that they made in the summer and Mr. Dung gave us a SOS Children's Village pin and book on the SOS programs in Vietnam.

After saying our good-byes, we were treated to the best meal we have had yet. The main dish, BUN BO NAM BO, was Mr. Long's specialty and it was only one of several delicious dishes. He poured each of us a glass of wine from a bottle he had received as a gift from an Australian. We toasted to the success of the first Global Volunteer project with SOS. We all agreed that we had done a good job and that the students and staff appreciated the work we have done. It seems a sure thing that SOS would like more Global Volunteers in the future. It's been a memorable experience that we will not soon forget.

A note from Mr. Long

As a conversational English class, I personally found that the class has achieved:
1) Child’s self-confidence in speaking English.
2) Good contact and interaction between the volunteers and our kids.
3) Kids had accessed to the new way of teaching such as: singing a song, doing “moving exercises”, playing puzzle games, reading funny story.
4) Furthermore, our kids had developed their skills of working in group and “onstage/board” presentation.

* Things to be improved for next classes (conversational one.)
It would be excellent if the volunteers could have a “photo” instruction in showing vocabulary to the kids. I find it wonderful if they could get a copied image for illustration from THE OXFORD PICTURE DICTIONARY. Thanks for taking time to read these comments.

DUONG LONG
Sponsorship Secretary
Language Assistance to the Class”

Thursday July 2, 2009

Thought for the day: How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard. ~Carol Sobieski and Thomas Meehan, Annie

It’s hard to believe that our time in Hanoi is rapidly coming to a close! We had our last class with the older group today and managed to cover a lot of ground. Several of us even learned the correct spelling of “rhinoceros,” though the group that came up with it was not rewarded in Mr. Long’s strict spelling bee. The theme for the day was animals and we quickly discovered that today’s group was copying yesterday’s vocab. list; I don’t think it’s a coincidence that “water-python” and “pearl” came up among both groups. But I suppose that the fact that they’re comparing notes outside of class can be considered a good thing. Team competition also continues to elicit an enthusiastic response and the students’ voracious search for new English words is fun to watch!

Another of many wonderful lunches from Ms. Tam: corn, chicken and mushroom soup; chicken, broccoli and cauliflower with ginger; Warren’s favorite fried spring rolls; and “soya cake” with tomato sauce, topped off with some kind of melon that tasted like a cross between cantaloupe and honeydew. We also got a short, but very interesting political lesson from Mr. Long.

After coffee and a final (and very efficient) lesson planning session in the Chica restaurant, the team separated to wrap up various shopping trips, etc. Ruth and I finally visited the Dong Xuan market, but were disappointed to find that most of the vendors were very eager to rip us off. Patrice revealed at dinner that she had a very productive encounter with our American professor friend at the hotel, who might have set her up with a teaching job for the next year!! Hope she won’t mind visitors!!

We enjoyed another fabulous dinner at the Green Tangerine. Overall a great second-to-last day for the team!