Blog Entry 7: Culture and Education in Vietnam & Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire

I felt like a lot of what was discussed by our guest speaker on Monday night was unrelatable to us becoming/as teachers. It really had nothing to do with that, with the exception of a few of the questions that were asked. Most of the information presented was in the form of boring charts and percentages. These were based on questions regarding children in relation to their families and specifically, duties toward parents.

Some things were interesting to here. I had always thought that in Vietnam and other countries similar to it still have mostly arranged marriages and such. It definitely broke some of my stereotypes to hear that, for the most part, students in Vietnam find their own significant other and, like us, only want their parents to be okay with that decision.

It was kind of sad to hear that even if kids do well on college entrance exams and could very well have the potential to get into medical school and become a doctor, they can't go because of financial situations. It makes us in the U.S. feel very fortunate that we have the opportunities that maybe don't exist for them.

Our group did not meet this week as we felt it wasn't necessary and a few of us still have to finish the book. I have around 15-20 pages left and I'm conflicted about the book in a few ways. It's a great and fast read and the teacher who writes this book is really dedicated and loves his students. But how much of the stuff in this book is reasonable for us as beginning teachers to do? Also, the book included a lot of instruction in activities and games and resources for teachers, which is a good thing, I guess, but I was expecting more stories about his classroom and his 20+ years of teaching experience, not an instructional book.

Rafe Esquith lecture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TF3fn_Bm3I