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Published: February 17th 2013
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Getting a bit slack on the old blogging, sorry! Here's an update on what's been going on over here in Vietnam the past month or two.
I've been here about 3 months now - I can't believe how quickly that's gone by. I've really settled into my job - the first week or two was really easy as they had their Vietnamese exams, which meant I had no class and could spend a bit of time preparing for the following weeks. And it's a lot of prep, believe me. The classes I teach are between two and a half to three and a quarter hours long, which is a long period of time to fill and try and keep it interesting. It doesn't help when these kids are so smart that they get through the huge pile of work that you thought they'd never finish way before the end of class! Sometimes I just feel like telling them to just be normal kids and mess around a bit so it takes them longer! So I've been spending a lot of time trying to find interesting and creative ways to keep them engaged - it's nice to be using my brain
a bit more, but it is hard work! Work starts at 7.30am and I'm working pretty solidly until 5.30 (which might not sound like a long day to some of you, but I just came out of a 10-5 cushy job in Korea!).
Anyway, although it is hard work, I'm enjoying teaching maths and science - something that I know fairly well with my engineering background. OK, well the maths and physics parts anyway. I'm struggling a bit with the biology and chemistry to say the least. I'm only about a lesson ahead of kids on that, if that. A few weeks back I managed to set the classroom on fire in a chemistry lesson due to my lack of chemistry knowledge. We were doing reactivity of metals and so I thought it would be a good idea to take in some reactive metals to show them. I grabbed some sodium and potassium from the office and took it into school. These metals are so reactive they have to be stored in oil, or else they might react with the air. Anyway, I couldn't remember which one was more reactive than the other. Was it sodium? Yeh, I think
it's sodium that's more reactive, better start with the potassium then. So I cut a lump of potassium and put it in a bowl of water, which promptly exploded in a huge fireball, showering sparks and flames all over me, and setting fire to some litmus paper I had left on the desk. Not to mention the pieces of red hot metal burning holes in the desk, and the clouds of stinking smoke filling the room. Kids loved it. I managed to quickly put the fires out with the nearest thing I could find...my hands (which somehow got away with minimal damage). Well if that was the potassium, what's the sodium going to do? I held it at arms length, threw it in, and ran for cover on the other side of the class, only for it to sizzle a little bit and not do much else. Well I learnt something that lesson - potassium is more reactive than sodium. And I'm sure the kids won't forget that in a hurry either!
So I do feel a little bit out of my depth sometimes, it's all part of the fun though. A couple of weeks ago I had to
demonstrate a heart and lung dissection to the Year 8's and then supervise them dissecting hearts. So the day before the lesson I was frantically YouTubing how to do it, and wasn't really left much wiser for it. It's one of those things that's really hard to understand until you actually do it yourself! So I took my big bag of pigs lungs, hearts and blood into class the next day and set about hacking them apart with all I could find - a pair of small scissors, wearing the smallest lab coat possible. What a sight that must have been, if my old Biology teacher could see me now! The kids all loved doing it though, it went pretty well and I actually quite enjoyed it.
A couple of weeekends ago I had a parent/teacher meeting with two of my classes. One of the classes I've had a few times and so at least I know a little bit about most of them. But the other class I've only had once, and half the kids didn't even turn up for the lesson, so I was going to have to talk to their parents without knowing anything about them! I was dreading it. There were 42 different parents to speak to, and I barely knew anything. However, on the day only 11 turned up. And I managed to get by just using some generic phrases such as 'they have the ability to learn', or 'just continue to encourage them at home and they will continue to improve'. I think I managed to blag it. Some of the parents though are so pushy, asking things like why their children didn't get the top mark. Kind of stumped me that one, what can you say to that? Because they aren't complete geniuses, sorry? I feel sorry for these kids sometimes. Their first Vietnamese class starts at 6.30am. Morning school finishes at 12 for lunch, where they then attend afternoon classes until 5pm. Then it's straight home to do their homework, which they finish at 11 or 12 at night. That's Monday to Saturday every week. Their Vietnamese classes give them special Sunday homework that takes all day just to make sure that they have no fun. I asked some of the kids if they ever have time to play sport or even just computer games, but they looked shocked and said no way. Although I'm sure they're probably exaggerating to some extent, it's certainly far removed from the education system in England and made me realise how easy I had it. It can't be good for them, but to their credit they still always have smiles on their faces. Vietnam is supposed to be one of the happiest countries in the world too, which seems a bit contradictory seeing what these kids have to put up with?!
Anyway, all is going well. If I'm honest I'm not enjoying it as much as Korea. The work is way harder, and when it comes to the weekend I'm so tired all I want to do is relax at home. And there's not a great deal to do here that's close by, so I really miss all those exciting weekends in Korea where I'd go off exploring all the time. But it is what it is, I have some good friends here and I'm enjoying the new challenge! Life can't be easy all the time I guess...
Hope all is well at home, miss you all!
Love Ross x
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Great blog Ross!!!
I've just entered my 5th year of teaching here and I still find myself to be staggered by the academic excellence that most Vietnamese students display. You are correct, they do exaggerate to an extent, but they also receive far more in the way of extra curricular tasks and homework to complete than students in most European countries do. Anyway, you are a braver man than me, risking life and limb in the classroom with blasts and explosions all in the name of chemistry :)