Dear parents,
Time is passing so quickly…it is nearly the end of the school year already! Speaking on behalf of the Host Country team, we are so proud that all students have made great progress this year.
As summer approaches, let’s reflect back to see how far students in each level have travelled on their journey to discovering Vietnamese language and culture. The EC students are working with simple numbers, colors, and craft skills which will be good for their dexterity and future handwriting. However, they are also learning about some features of Vietnamese culture that are reflected in harvesting, and in particular plants; rice and palm trees, very significant to the Vietnamese people. Then, they will learn about the familiar animals in Vietnamese daily life which are often referred to in folklore literature.
After completing several lessons on customary manners, the Kindergarten students are excited to learn how each season appears in Vietnam through a series of lessons about Vietnamese weather cycles.
For the first grade native speaker’s group, they learned the alphabet and to make words, sentences by two syllables and to start reading books up to level 3. Their language growth is awesome to watch! From grades 2 – 5, the students finished their stories and were all proud to share them with their parents during Learning Journeys. They discovered some Vietnamese folktales to enrich their knowledge in culture, andparticipated in ‘reading circles’ as a format for sharing their ideas about these folktales too. Next we are going to venture further in Vietnamese poetry; the students will begin to learn how to create their own poems, and have fun learning more about Vietnamese culture in the process.
For non-native speakers from grade one to grade five, some of the Vietnamese lessons are related to the topics they address in their homeroom: family life, maps of Vietnam geographical regions,Vietnamese food, life in Phu My Hung, etc. There are many activities focusing on these particular topics. All of the activities have been designed specifically for developing confidence in the early stage of learning a new language. Sometimes the students have a chance to play some Vietnamese traditional games such as cờ ô quan, cờ cá ngựa, banh đũa. They are encouraged to play a variety games in order to enrich their Vietnamese vocabulary such as Scatter In, Quizlet, and Bingo. This is a more effective method of learning new words but also much more fun than rote memorization.
Finally, we are now very busy preparing for an upcoming event that we plan to run on June 1st – the ‘Children’s Day in Vietnam’ celebration. We are so excited! We open ‘local markets’ in the room and students can purchase items with the stickers that they have been saving during the school year, just for this special occasion.
It is educational, personally enriching, and certainly useful when children know more about the language and culture of their host country. As you find time please have your child share what they are learning in Host Country Studies class as they continue their ongoing discovery of life in Vietnam.
Best regards,
Host Country Team
