Monday, July 28, 2008
My Students: Huong
I first met Huong in 2005 when I volunteered at Lang Hoa Binh. Since I returned last year, I've worked more with Huong. She's very good at math and I've been helping her with algebra and geometry. Huong has cerebral palsy, so she has trouble with motor skills and control, but she's very smart. She also helps with writing Vietnamese and I coach her on writing in English. Huong always works hard and has a great smile. She's very enthusiastic and a pleasure to teach!
Thursday, July 24, 2008
My Students: Huyen
Huyen is a dynamic student. She loves speaking and is interested in a career in marketing (ideal choice, I think). Huyen is a great cook and has given me some lessons in Vietnamese cooking. She's interested in studying overseas in Australia.
One of my highlights of Tet was visiting Huyen and her family in Thai Nguyen, a small city about 50 miles from Hanoi. They gracisouly opened their home to me and my friend, Tracy and we learned about many special kinds of Vietnamese food.
Huyen is a fan of Roswell and has gotten me into a Korean soap opera that's popular over here.
Labels: education, Vietnamese culture
Thursday, July 03, 2008
My Students: Chien
Why am I still in Viet Nam. One of the main reasons is that I'm working with some fantastic students. Over the next few segments I'm going to give you a few bios. Chien is the hardest working student I've met. I taught her at Apollo in December as a beginner and she's worked her way up to being able to read novels and write short essays in English. She listens to VOA everyday and keeps a file on her computer of words and their history in the English language. She's studying transportation engineering at a university near my home and I tutor her once or twice a week. She loves Columbo and other murder mysteries. I had the pleasure of meeting her family just before Tet. Chien lives in the country, about 3 hours from Ha Noi. Her family was extremely generous and welcoming. It's an extremely rough ride to get there and this is one of the reasons Chien wants to be a trasport engineer. It's her dream to build better roads to lift her hometown out of poverty. Chien recently received another scholarship to continue to study at the university. Her family can't afford to send her to college without financial aid. I'm helping her to study for IELTS/TOEFL so she can pursue her dream to do graduate work. overseas.
