Teaching is both better and worse. Worse in that the assistants are getting to know me and are thus freer with helpful 'advice', a lot of which is not actually useful! Better in that I feel I know more what I'm doing. Could this be confidence?! I am finding the assistants ( most of whom are university students) to need as much entertaining as the kids. Meanwhile, I wrote four pages of lesson plans for this week today.
Between classes we were taken up to the Prinicpal's office to have yoghurt with black sticky rice and tea, which they have as a summer snack here, to mark August's last day teaching. He leaves tomorrow for Norway after two months here and they really like him. Maren is taking over his classes.
There is a very clever youngster in class 1A1, 1A6, who comes on Tuesdays and who speaks English well enough to parry a joke. He drew me a picture today but forgot to leave it for me. He's all of six and really short! His name is Duy Minh (pronounced wee min!). He is very sweet. There are also several Mai Linh of various spellings, all of whom are sweet and cheerful and clever and a quiet girl whose name may be Angela or similar, who also draws me pictures and gave me paper stars last week. Unfortunately I'm sometimes too distracted to follow up on these before I forget how to say their names ( so I can't call to them)!
Duong showed up at school to see how I was doing and to take photos of me teaching, which she then put in the newsletter and on Facebook I think! I did not really know what she was doing at the time but as you can see, "Pin the tail on the buffalo" - a split second choice at the end of the lesson when I realised what she was doing- is a huge hit.
Marie-Ambre, who was out last night to 2pm with the others, is now feeling sick. Apparently Tam gave her cultural induction to one of the newbies that frightened them! It may have been Marie-Ambre. Poor Tam was quite upset too and asked me what I thought! I explained that as I was older I had seen many similar presentations and knew a little about when to take it or leave it but that it could be intimidating to a younger volunteer. There are quite a few 18 or 19 year olds arriving at the moment.
On the way home I bought lychees in a bunch, leaves still on, from one of the iconic lady bicycle hawkers. Delicious, season is almost over according to Tuyet (our cook). Other miscellanea: I saw an old man lighting a very long, large pipe this morning. The others suggest he may be an addict but I thought it was just tobacco. They have hubble bubble pipes here too. My favourite dish so far is Com Ga Hoi An - chicken and rice with soy sauce. Tuyet makes it brilliantly with onions etc on the rice. Yum. Other Vietnamese dishes are: pho (pronounced fur) -soup of course, bun cha (boon cha) - meatballs, and nem - spring rolls ( fried are delicious).
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