TEACHING IN HANOI

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In preparing to come to Vietnam things had to be in a hurry. So some were done less than wonderfully. I brought things I don’t need and didn’t bring things I need. A major flub was not realizing I needed a statement from the police that I do not have a criminal record. The office is a few minutes walk from my house. I emailed the police department but could not get what I needed. My dear, wonderful, efficient daughter called and jumped through hoops to get me the right form.







There is quite a bit of smog some days. Not a few scooter drivers and riders wear face masks, with charcoal activated filters. More often they are women, with masks matching jackets to avoid becoming tanned. There is a hood and hand covering held by an elastic.





Hanoi is a large city with activity day and night. There are families, business people, vendors, pedestrians, and traffic, especially taxis and scooters. Many drivers talk and text. Yeah, it’s everywhere. The biggest streets have beautiful tile mosaics, thanks to business sponsors. There are 4 million inhabitants. For a time Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) was becoming larger, so the boundaries of Hanoi were expanded.





Small side streets are narrow with building right up to the street. In cities with skyscrapers sunlight seems to be blocked out. Not many buildings here are very high but the narrowness of the streets causes the same effect. Major streets have wide sidewalks, 25-30 feet. Stores consider that an extension of their area so merchandise is set out almost to the street. Restaurants have tables and stools (small plastic, almost child size) and serve there. When it rains they put up a tarp. Homes are decorated, some with bright paint, fancy balconies, or other trim, in apartments 4 or 5 stories. Some towns are very industrial with big factories (like Cannon cameras), making garments and electronics.







The school where I teach is part of the Cambridge system, out of England, with a dual program to meet the US Common Core standards. This is its third year and it is evolving. Classes are bilingual English or Vietnamese. Foreign teachers are from US, UK, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, Australia, the Philippines (and maybe some more). Most are 20 or 30-something. Quite a few have made Vietnam their home and married locals.



There is a large staff, at least 5 full time IT people. (The last school I was in had over 3000 in high school and adults; there was 1 person. Here there are under 1000 kids). All teachers receive a laptop. Some things are high tech: a fingerprint system to clock in and out each day. But student attendance and records are on paper. All classrooms have large TVs that can connect to laptops and the internet.



Some unexpected differences have come up. Beds are incredibly hard. There are slats under a dense piece of foam with no cushiness. It is normal here but so uncomfortable the administration agreed to get something softer. Stores have only fitted sheets. In Senegal I could only find flat. There are state of the art washing machines, that weigh clothes to use the right amount of water. Then clothes are air dried, mostly outdoors (for me roof top).



In Miami I taught more hours, but I did it several years so preparation was easy. Here I must tackle some new things. I also want to take advantage to use methods that I had not tried before. Gotta keep growing, challenging myself. Makes life more interesting.

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