Out of the Melting Pot and into the Rice Bowl: Tales From a Scholar on the Mekong Delta: April 2013

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Lesson of Icarus = Wear Sunscreen & Good QC

I have exactly less than 1 month left as a teacher, here at Dong Thap Community College. My final obligation as a teacher is the final meeting to review my placement on Friday, May 24^th. Where has the past nine months gone?

So in this fresh vigor and verve sparked by the successful conference and a desire to shake things up before I leave I borrowed an idea from a fellow ETA for this month’s English Speaking Club (ESC) on Fashion. For those of you who have read this blog you may recall that I am somewhat bipolar when dealing with the ESCs. Sometimes they rock (like the Halloween club and bobbing for guava), other times they are cancelled (3 out of 8 were cancelled), and then there were the clubs with nearly 100 students. Thus I have largely dreaded my monthly obligation because planning it was stressful and there was no telling if all my work would be for naught.

Well last night was one of the most successful nights ever! We had 40 students – the perfect number and the activity, well let’s just say I wish I could take credit.

The topic was fashion and with all the creativity I saw on display at the conference I decided that our last club should be in a similar vein. At the Fulbright Mid-year Retreat in Da Lat back in December Miss Amanda Reid – the ETA in Vinh City who I visited at one of my lower stage 2 moments and with her humor, kindness and our mutual love of cooking pulled me from my emotional landslide – discussed how she used art in her classroom. Let’s just say I am in awe of this entire cohort of ETAs but Amanda’s passion and creativity is outstanding and beguiling. Watching her present really made me consider how to work creativity into my time here at DTCC. For most of my time their book hemmed me in and my classes wouldn’t really handle it, but I saw an opportunity with this final ESC to really set the students loose.

Following Amanda’s lesson plan we started by reviewing some articles of clothing (sweater, dress, gown, gloves, blouse, etc.) and then did some work associations and mapping with positive ways to describe fashion (sexy, fierce, gorgeous, etc.) and some not so nice things to say (dowdy, old, frumpy, etc.). Then the big moment arrived and was Project Runway. We broke them up in teams and from scrapes of fabric, ribbons, paper, staples, tape and other found materials each team had to make an outfit and write a description of it in English. Then we had a fashion show. It was awesome and once again their creativity blew me out of the water.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Miss Amanda Reid! I bow down before you!

When we started the clock there was a flurry of activity to the materials and I just got out of the way. Then they were off. At first I was concerned because everybody started with a Grecian drape, then everybody tried a toga followed by a Gandhi like wrap – and I was wondering how to judge 5 Indian sarongs. But not to sweat after enough time the groups began to differentiate themselves.

One group in particular had a very clear inspiration. Superman. I’m not kidding, Superman. I thought it was a muse until I realized they were working to recreate Superman. It started off with the cape, which was then replaced by a paper cape and collar deal that looked more the Matrix than the Man of Steel. After the Matrix coat was added, they gave “Superman” a mask which reminded me of Robin – though to be honest I am not a superhero comic book person (my favorite comics were Dilbert and Garfield) so at first I thought it was a Venetian Carnival Mask. I can be so bougie at times. At some point a helmet, flowers and fringes sash were added then removed. And since they had their superhero’s confused they gave their Matrix/Robin/Superman wings – like Icarus. At this point I needed to clarify what the hell it was since now we had massive superhero and inter-cultural ancient Greek mythology conundrum going on…they told me it was Superman. Okay…sure whatever you say “Superman”(/Matrix/Robin/Icarus). When they asked me how to describe their outfit I told them accessorize with sunscreen – they were miffed but I got a kick out of it. After all the real moral of Icarus is the pitfalls of no quality control and sun protection, with sunscreen and shades he would’ve been just fine, hubris be damned. Yep the downfall of nonexistant QC – I am so my mother’s child! The other groups made outfits that you could wear. Well, one other group made a Queen/fairy thing with a crown and scepter.

Regardless, the creativity was overflowing, their teamwork was beyond impressive and everybody had a raucous good time. Plus some English was spoken! Like the ETA Conference this just showed me how far we – me and the students – have come since the first ESC disaster with just me dancing to Whitney’s I Wanna Dance With Somebody as they all swayed and clapped.

Anna – the ETA in Hue said that “sometimes good teaching is borrowing”. If that’s the case I am so glad that Amanda proved to be my inspiration and I borrowed some her “art in English” approach. With less than a month left I am stunned by how far we all have come, and I will miss these student’s energy and tenacity when I return home.

For your own enjoyment pictures from DTCC’s Project Runway are below. Queen/Fairy and Superman/Matrix/Robin/Icarus included!

Next week is a holiday (Liberation/Reunification Day, Labor Day and May Day) so I will be traveling with my ETA soul mate Michelle around central Vietnam, we plan to hit Hue, Da Nang and Hoi An. I will post some pictures when I get back the week after next.

Superman's Matrix coat.

Roll down the collar, add the cape, sash, flower and helmet...Superman?

Look #1: The Queen/Fairy look. They accessorized with a paper watch and clutch.

Look #2: A halter bohemian look. Very easy and breezy. They even accessorized the model's hair and made a purse out of remnant fabric.

Look #3: An Indian Sari/Roman Toga look with a veil.

Here it is! Superman/Matrix/Robin/Icarus. His wings couldn't quite deal with the fan. So if I get this straight his weakness (as a super hero) would be: kryptonite, the sun, hubris, poor QC and no sunscreen and falling from large heights. Must be one hell of a life insurance policy!

Look #5: A pleated skirt, asymmetrical bodice, Bolero jacket (kinda) and a scraf. It's gotta a French avant-garde throwback thing goin' on.

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Oh The Places You'll Go

Fulbright is based on exchange – you give something to the people of Vietnam and you bring back something to America. A two way street. Since I started this grant I have been aware of what I have been given – patience, fortitude, pride in this awesome journey and all that I have been able to accomplish and a once-in-a-lifetime experience that very few other Americans have the privilege to undertake. But of course that leaves the first half unanswered – what have I given to Vietnam?

Perhaps it’s because I am in it – here teaching and focused on my classes. The daily grind of lesson planning, grading, club crafting and such that I couldn’t see it – but let it be said that at times I felt like I wasn’t giving enough. Or even giving at all, just taking in this awesome adventure. Sure I saw students’ test scores rise, but of course they would they’re in class and I am jamming exercises down their throats so I wasn’t attributing that to me so much as to education in general. Well last weekend I got my answer and I finally saw what I have given.

Last weekend Dong Thap Community College hosted it’s annual Fulbright ETA – Dong Thap CC conference for students and E.T.As and since I am the ETA here at DTCC I played host. We had 5 ETAs come and 46 students attend along with some facilitators (i.e. English teachers and high-level speakers at the college, and Mr. Hung and Mr. Lam of course). My co-teacher Co Dung and I played MCs for the event.

The conference was intended to be “coffeehouse convos” – very informal and low key conversations about topics easily grasped by our students, college life, food, sports, healthy life, etc. Each ETA was assigned a group of students and a facilitator and before the conference I made a worksheet for each group to do to prepare some thoughts and vocabulary about their topic.

To be honest I was dreading this conference because I knew my students have a low level and given my absentee issues at the start of my time here I wasn’t optimistic that this would come together and if it did that anybody would come or that students would want to speak… boy was I wrong!

My students completely totally ridiculously out did themselves. Not only did they all come, but they all did their worksheets and most even prepared presentations to show their ETAs. Yep my students went so far above and beyond that I was just stunned. On top of that we had a singing interlude to relax things and myself (I sang “Time After Time” (1947) and “Orange Colored Sky”) and Co Dung were planning on singing – well every group also sang including 2 individuals and they all sang in ENGLISH. I would have taken Vietnamese but every group/singer chose an ENGLISH SONG!!!!!!

When I got here seven-and-a-half months ago they couldn’t answer the questions “How are you?” and “How old are you?” correctly and now they are doing presentations and singing in English in front of a room with 50+ people and foreigners who they have never met.

Who are these students?

I know. They’re mine! And Co Dung’s! Those are our students!

The Friday before the event Co Dung and I spent the afternoon reassuring groups and calming nerves in rehearsals but I was blown out of the water.

I realized that while my students might not remember the details of the present continuous grammar point, the classroom that Co Dung and I created has in turn created more open, inquisitive and engaged students – some of the most engaged on this campus. And that legacy with my students and this college is unexpected and it snuck up on me and Co Dung for that matter. We have been so focused in the classroom about pronunciation and grammar that last weekend our students made us look up and realize just how far – how absurdly far they (and we) have come. Not only in English competency but also in life skills and confidence. When I arrived nobody would utter a word out of fear for saying something wrong.

I was on the verge of happy tears as I watched my students interact and work with ETAs to create presentations and swayed while they sang. When I arrived here my goal was to give my students pride in their education and break some of the misinformation given to me by the embassy about community college students. Last Saturday my students did just that in a very public way with voices raised in song! And some pretty sweet presentations while working the crowd.

I have talked before about the lows and highs, about that tightrope – well I feel like I made it with these kids and this high is so much higher then anything I have ever experienced before. I still have a dopey smiled splayed across my face and when I think about that Saturday I can’t believe it given where we started.

This is what I have given my students and it took 4 hours on Saturday for me to see it. To see what seven-and-a-half months have created. There are times when my students teach me things and in this process I have often felt like I am the student and Vietnam or life is the teacher. At times I struggled to keep up, but it appears that while I fumbled my way through this provincial experience Co Dung and I have empowered our students and given them confidence and joy in English and their own knowledge and power. Why couldn’t I see this transformation before?

This does make me wonder if I should let some of my students do their final oral presentation in song… just a thought.

Tons of pictures below. Have a good week readers!