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Published: November 24th 2009
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Grandma Nguyen
She is now 104 years old. Worked from age 7 to 97 in the rice fields. Broke her leg at 97 and has been in bed every since. Computer Training in Thuy Lam Hamlet
I had two goals this trip, see the mountain areas of Vietnam and participate in library training in a local village and training with the National Library of Vietnam.
This blog is about library training. In a country that claims a 95%!l(MISSING)iteracy rate but just a few years ago was 95%!i(MISSING)lliterate, there is not a culture of reading books. A lot of the provincial libraries and university libraries are full of students but the small village libraries, in my opinion, are not proving their worth. What these small libraries need to do is develop programs to attract students and offer services the people need. For these reasons, I have developed the following suggestions for libraries.
• ESL Training - Both English As A Second Language class and computer self-guided
• Training
• Đào tạo ESL - Cả hai tiếng Anh là một ngôn ngữ thứ hai lớp học máy tính và tự hướng dẫn, đào tạo
• Coffee Café - As a place for people to come and relax, and read the newspaper while their children are in the library.
• Cà phê Café - Là một nơi để mọi người đến và
Grandma, Yen and Loannie
Grandma says hello to her American friends. nghỉ ngơi, và đọc những tờ báo, trong khi con cái của họ đang có trong thư viện.
• Legal Forms - On computer with access to a printer and advice from the librarians on filling them out
• • Các hình thức của cơ quan pháp luật - Ngày máy tính với quyền truy cập vào một máy in và hướng dẫn từ các thư viện trên điền họ ra
• Health Forums - Talks on common health issues like women's health, exercises for back pain, or dietary issues.
• • Diễn đàn Sức khỏe - Talks về vấn đề sức khỏe của phụ nữ như y tế, bài tập cho các bệnh đau lưng, hoặc các vấn đề chế độ ăn uống.
• Agricultural Forums - Talks on running your own farm including marketing and selling products, and tips on new farming processes.
• • Diễn đàn nông nghiệp - Talks chạy trên trang trại của riêng bạn bao gồm cả tiếp thị và bán các sản phẩm, và chỉ dẫn về quy trình nuôi trồng mới.
• Readings - Children's story hours.
• • đọc - câu chuyện của trẻ em giờ.
• Educational Garden - Plant
Opening Computer Training
The village went all out to begin computer training. treasure hunts of the labeled gardens around the library. Books and pamphlets on plant care and identification.
• • Giáo dục Vườn - Cây hunts kho tàng của các khu vườn nhãn xung quanh thư viện. Tác phẩm và tờ rơi về chăm sóc cây trồng và xác định.
• Software Training - Self-paced computer training in software like operating systems, business software, and programming.
• Phần mềm Đào tạo - Self-paced đào tạo trong phần mềm máy tính như hệ điều hành, kinh doanh phần mềm, và lập trình.
• Newspapers & Periodicals - Access to free newspapers and magazines
• Báo chí & tạp chí - Truy cập miễn phí vào các báo và tạp chí
• A Quiet Space to Work - On homework, or just somewhere away from home to read.
•
• • Một không gian để làm việc không ồn - Ngày ở nhà, hoặc chỉ một nơi nào đó xa nhà để đọc.
In many cases even the librarian needs to be trained to offer these services. None of these things are easy. Sometimes the librarians in these small villages are paid a small salary, sometimes they are just
Left to Right
Yen, Kent and Loannie volunteers. So, training the
“professionals” is the first order of business.
Many foreigners want to come to Vietnam and do volunteer work. However, they are here for a short time and may do a good job while here but without some coordination it is hit and miss.
The key to a successful program is one developed and staffed by the Vietnamese themselves. Through the Couchsurfing organization, I have been fortunate to meet several students from Hanoi University. Each has been a “star” and are much like Rotary Ambassadorial Scholars, I have been fortunate to meet back in my Rotary District in Kansas and Oklahoma. I will introduce two of them.
Le Phuong Loan, (Loannie) a Hanoi University graduate in Community Health Services. For years, Loannie has gone on missions to the minority people in the mountains of Vietnam. She hasn’t done this a few times. She has been doing this for years. Serving the island people of the Red River is really a mission close to her heart. Many times she has biked to my hotel and we both have biked to these islands. She and her friends even have a web site to raise money to help the children
of these people to get school supplies and medical help.
Phung Yen, a Hanoi University student who also donates her spare time for the poor in Vietnam. She is in International Studies and she and some of her fellow students have formed a club to do village projects.
I have known Loannie for some time, and she was there at the dedication of “Grandma’s Library” at Thuy lam Hamlet. She also had her friend Duc, who installed the computer at the library and donated some books with her. I remember he made a beautiful speech about how that computer would bring all the knowledge available to Hanoi University students to that little library in that small village.
Well, it has been a couple of years since the library was built, and it has not fulfilled Duc’s vision. The reason, there has to be a lot of training to fulfill his vision.
Duc is now a graduate student in the United Kingdom. Loannie is out of college and working for an NGO. She hadn’t forgotten Grandma’s library. So, she made six trips(four hours round trip) to that small village to start a computer training program. The reason for so many
Loannie
Handing out the first course goals. trips was the local authorities required a lot of paperwork.
Sixty students signed up for the first session. Also, some adults. The first session was very basic. For sixty students and one computer didn’t make any sense to me but Loannie said she had it figured out. Two of us brought our laptops. We only worked with 30 students, so we each had 10 students. Still too many but for the first session we accomplish what little we had to teach.
For the rest of the training Loannie and Yen are developing a syllabus of ten sessions. They haven’t decided on training a group of trainers who will train others or have two or three students for hour session ten times. There will be a test at the end and a certificate awarded.
One thing that will help is Yen expects several members of her club to volunteer to go to the village and teach part of the syllabus.
One thing I can tell you is teaching young Vietnamese students is exhilarating. They do everything you ask and with tremendous enthusiasm. They are beautiful, talented, smart and fun to be with. This was a basic introduction course to the computer.
However, before it was over, they found a game on my laptop I didn’t know was there. They will have no problem with the course.
The next day I was a guest of the National Library of Vietnam. They brought ten small village librarians from the North, South and Central Vietnam to Hanoi for Library training. They are serious about library training in Vietnam and their role in supporting it.
They also provided a car for Loannie’s crew to Grandma’s Village. Besides Loannie, the chief trainer, we had Yen and me as assistant trainers and Chuck Theusch of the Library Project of Vietnam who came along and took these photographs of the event.
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Rita Kurtz
non-member comment
What an exciting trip!
Looks like you are getting plenty of mileage out of this trip! We will miss you at the Larned Rotary Club meeting this evening. And you will miss the turkey dinner we are having!