2008 Blogs

View from the classroom

02/27/2009

I've written about classes previously, but today I want to write more about the realities of being a college student in this part of Vietnam.  I observed a class today, so I sat with the students on the hard wood benches from 1-3:30.   That makes the seats at I.U. East seem really comfortable (to me, at least).  Windows on both sides of the room create ventilation (which you need in the heat of the day), but also means the classroom has terrible acoustics.  It is so noisy in there that teachers and students almost have to yell to be heard over the sounds from other classes, and even worse, the sounds of students on break.  Thankfully, the sound of a gong from a nearby pagoda adds a bit of tranquility to the din.

That sets the scene.  The next topic is textbooks.  I know that students in the U.S. complain about the cost of textbooks, but here the limited availability of textbooks is tragic.  NTU students cannot go to a campus bookstore and buy the texts they need before the semester begins.  Most instructors can't even afford the text.  Instead, instructors have photocopied versions of texts (copies borrowed from other universities or given to them by visiting teachers).  The instructor gives the photocopied text to the class proctor (a student assistant), and the proctor is responsible for taking the book to a copy shop, getting enough copies made for each student, and then charging them for the copies.  Before you say "what a neat idea," think again!  First, the books have been copied so many times that the pages start to look blurry.  Second, this is week three of the semester, and the students do not yet have their books.   Third, many of the students are so poor they share books, which is why in this picture (from a different class) you see three and four people attempting to read the same book.

I've been impressed by the amount of active learning going on in the English classrooms here, but at the same time, over-reliance on group work and presentations sometimes become formulaic, and a few students are not afraid to tell you that they are bored.   It's a challenge, how do you strike the right balance between content and the need to practice speaking and listening to English?

After class I decided to catch a bus downtown to visit a book exchange that I learned about yesterday.  While waiting for the bus, a young lad from the Translation class practiced speaking English with me, and we were both approached by an older woman selling lottery tickets (very common here).  When she smiled and I saw her bright red betel-stained teeth, I initially thought she had a terrible gum disease.  I was happy to get on the bus, where another young man practiced his English on me ("Where are you from?" "How long will you be here?" and "Where do you live?").  I'm surprised he didn't ask my age! 

 

The book exchange (basically a used-book shop with books in many languages) also doubles as a weaver's shop, which I found equally fascinating.  Books here are more expensive than the exchange I've visited before, but these are real books, not pirated copies.   And when you buy one, you are given  a coupon for two free coffees at a nearby coffee shop which I think is owned by someone in the same family.   I look forward to going there another time, but today I had another destination in mind--a place selling Italian ice cream.  I bought a chocolate cone and headed for the beach--it was as yummy as I had hoped it would be!

On my return to the dormitory (about a 1 hour walk, which I have now made many times), I saw a couple of tourists getting massages on the beach (they were lying face down in the sand, being massaged by two older Vietnamese ladies), children flying kites on the plaza, people having picnics along the shore, children playing in the waves, endless games of soccer, and the beggar with no legs or arms.  I also saw a woman with two children.  Her small daughter pushed a wheel chair while the mother helped a young boy with shriveled legs stretch.  Now that I've learned more about the stigma associated with disabilities, I have a newfound appreciation for her willingness to take him to such a public place.

 

As I walked up the path to campus, I was struck by the activity everywhere I looked.  Boys were playing soccer on the soccer field, groups of boys and girls in circles were hitting volleyballs back and forth, some girls were playing badmitten (but with no net), someone else was playing hackeysack, and then there were the basketball players outside my dorm.  It's a beehive of activity after the heat of the day.