Every year I not only stay with Bonh and Vinh Nguyen in Hanoi, but they also come to Phat Diem and help me teach. Binh is the master teacher and she immediately brought both classes together for a pep talk.
She lectured them about how even though learning another language might be difficult, it is rewarding. Binh told stories about how others struggled to learn English and how it changed their lives. She had everyone enthralled.
The rest of the day was spent on vocabulary. She first had the. Crest vocabulary word flash cards of words of their choosing from their books, the English on one side and Vietnamese on the other.
Finally, they played cards, with the person guessing the most vocabulary word winning chocolate cars. I have to say they worked hard for a little bit of chocolate.
Things got hot and heavy, especially in this class, the advanced class. Smack downs were the order of the day. At the end of the afternoon class, everyone was exhausted. Each class memorized over 70 words perfectly.
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...