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Published: August 9th 2011
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I have finished teaching my first set of art classes at the
Lifestart Foundation Free School in Hoi An and it was a huge success. The art classes were designed to give the students the opportunity to bring out their creative side and also to give them the opportunity for some fun!
The students had recently been to Da Nang (a city about 30min drive from Hoi An ) with their English teacher,
Ruth, and supporters from Melbourne to see the popular family movie ,ʻ
Rioʼ. It is an animated movie about parrots and birds seeking adventure and love in Brazil. We used this movie as the inspiration for our art classes.
After showing them different drawing and colouring techniques for the birds (called Rafael, Blu and Jewel) they each did their own freehand drawings of their favourite bird. Once they were more experienced the students used their imagination to create their own tropical birds and butterflies. Initially, the students were shy and nervous experimenting with the new art materials, but they became more relaxed and confident as time went on.
The colourful collage of characters were then used to to decorate the classroom - they have certainly brightened the room up!
We also had a special art day when we were visited by the Canadian International School from Ho Chi Minh City. I worked with Sahar, an English teaching volunteer from the UK, to develop a program for the day. The visiting students worked in pairs with our students to create international flags and patterned snakes.
We also all learnt to count in Korean, English, French and Vietnamese - with the experts in each language helping the others. This and the word games we played proved to be a real hit with lots of laughter.
I am now looking forward to my next 2 week teaching period where the students have decided that they would like to try their hand at water-colour painting and improve their collage skills.
I had a great time teaching these wonderful kids and the most important thing is that we all
had lots of fun too!
Thanks very much to guest blogger Lone from Denmark! Lone has volunteered with Lifestart Foundation on several occassions and we look forward to her return later in 2011. Lone is a wonderful addition to our Lifestart Foundation volunteer team and brings a lot of love
and warmth to our work.
She has also been an active member of our Saturday morning knitting group where everyone has been knitting squares to make blankets for the neo-natal ward at a local hospital. Lone has also been the chief Lifestart Foundation photographer during her time here. She took all the pictures for this blog, the pictures for the recent blog recommending some of the
top restaurants in Hoi An , was on photography duty when we have had
schools visit and also took many pictures for the
Lifestart Foundation online store. The
Etsy store is now complete so please have a look through at some of our lovely unique products. You can place an order online and the items will be shipped directly to you.
The children who attend the Lifestart Foundation Free School have classes with their Vietnamese teacher Co Hue and English lessons with Ruth every day.
The children really benefit from the experience of having art classes too. They do not have coloured pencils, crayons and colouring books like many children in other countries. It is wonderful when we are able to offer this opportunity to them via the expertise of our wonderful volunteers from all corners of the world.
Lots of Love from Karen
www.lifestartfoundation.org.au Enjoying the blogs?? Forward them on or subscribe those who you think would be interested in Lifestart Foundations work.......its free!
Visit us at:
LIFESTART FOUNDATION WORKSHOP 77 Phan Chu Trinh Street,
HOI AN.
VIETNAM
Please see below if you would like to read more blogs from previous Lifestart Foundation volunteers.
Ruth: Teaching English in Vietnam 31st May 2011 E: Why Vietnam Rocks 9th Dec 2010 Sue: Capacity Building and Cleaning Up Mud 29th July 2010 Mark & Mary: Teaching English as a Second Language 18th Nov 2009 Tropical Storm Ketsana - A picture is worth a thousand words - Sept 2nd 2009 Cycle Vietnam for a Worthy Cause - Jan 17th 2009 Doctor John - Jan 14th 2009 Memory Portraits - Jan 14th 2009 Birdman Returns - Jul 15th 2008 Meet Sherry - A dream volunteer - Apr 30th 2008 Birdman to the rescue - Feb 20th 2008 Great work by new volunteers - Feb 14th 2008
Lifestart Volunteers - Dec 21st 2007 Clean Up The River Day - May 22nd 2007 The Royal Australian Navy Volunteers - Oct 19th 2006
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