The best way to disrupt the traditional Vietnamese classroom is to get everyone moving around. After being in teams writing one-word-at-a-time stories, I posted each on the back wall.
They were to then check out the stories and decide which was the funniest and which had the best grammar. There was a three-way tie for funniest but the best grammar story won hands down.
We just finished practicing the pronunciation for the Lord's Prayer and then used it for the end of class. Brought a tear to my eye.
Now I'm being subversive by having them peer edit. I had to actually stop them or they would have continued through the break.
Often, they erupted in laughter when the realized what they had written. A misplaced word can make a sentence seem completely random.
What was most interesting was how they took apart each others' writing and no one got upset. The students valued what was said and quickly rewrote. I have to say I am darn proud of all of them.
Here is Nam Vu working his keyboard. Now entering 8th grade, he is quite the conversationalist. It's hard to believe that I have kn...