Every Sunday from 8:30 to 10 am, I teach my little sister Chau, and 6 of her friends English. All kids in Vietnam are required to take English from the time they start school. There is definitely a greater emphasis on school in Vietnam than in the US; kids seem to be studying all the time. Chau has group tutoring on Monday nights and Saturday afternoons, and seems to be studying all the time. Socializing isn't really a big part of the culture here for kids. They have friends, but don't hang out with them every weekend like we do in America. Instead, they spend more time studying. All the kids want to study abroad when they are in college (usually in China or the US), but first they have to get through high school. When the kids finish middle school, they have to take a difficult exam to get into high school. If the kids don't do well on the exam, the government forces the parents of the child to pay for the children to go to public school. So basically, if you aren't smart, the government won't pay for your education. Pretty harsh, right? When in high school, the kids also have to do military training a few times a year. They learn how to march in line and point guns. Often times, there are kids outside our school building wearing green shirts and hats marching in perfectly straight lines. It's so strange to me to see the kids, same age as me, practicing to be in the military. After high school, all the kids have to take another exam, apparently much harder than the SAT, to get into university. If you do not do well on this exam, you are basically doomed to live a hard life. Those who don't pass the exam must spend 2 years in the military, and then they are free to carry on with the rest of their life. Hmm.. Communism.
Wow, I got off track quite a bit there. Back to Chau and her classmates.. what I was trying to say before I went off into all that other stuff is that Chau and her friends are very smart. They are very, very good at English for only being 12 and 13 years old. They are also so much fun to teach! They are always teasing each other about having boyfriends and girlfriends. Sometimes I join in on the fun. All the kids laughed and Chau turned bright red when I asked her about her supposed boyfriend, Duc.
In addition to teaching Chau on Sundays, I am now teaching Be and Nghi, my two young cousins, English on Saturdays and Sundays. They are quite a rowdy bunch. There are about seven kids, between the ages of four and eight. It's so much fun to teach them, but they wear me out. It's also really hard to teach them, because they are so young. So we spend our time learning how to say different fruits and animals.This past week we learned how to say mango, banana, apple, grape, and pear. I laughed so hard when the kids tried to pronounce the fruits. Here's a translation guide if you ever try to talk about fruits with small Vietnamese children.
"Maaaaan-gowww"= Mango"Balama"=Banana
"Gwaaaaay"=Grape
"AHHHH-PULLL"=Apple
"Paaay"=Pear
We also learned some animals. Here's another translation guide:
"Seeee"=Sheep
"Dohhg"=Dog
"Caaaaoohhww"=Cow
"Cat"=Cat
"Piiiiihhh.."=Pig
Even though they wear me out, I have so much fun teaching them.
Last Sunday, one of Chau's classmate gave me a little card. On the outside there was a heart, and it said "Only for Sarah". Inside, it said:
You are beautiful!
You are smart!
You are a good teacher!
I gave her a big hug when she gave it to me. She made my day! I thought that was one of the sweetest things anyone has ever done for me.
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