Vietnamese Elementary School

Being the teacher that I am, I had to go visit an elementary school just to see what it was like. One of Mitchell's family is a superintendent for the school district here. They live right next door to a school, so they took me for a tour. It was all locked up for the summer, but I could still see in the classrooms. When I glance into the first classroom, I felt like I had stepped back in time about 50-100 years. Each classroom has wall to wall desks (The old timey wood desks that hold two kids in each one.), one teacher table, one storage cabinet, a chalkboard, and was equipped with a ceiling fan and a few other fans. Mitchell's aunt told us that you can expect to find at least 40 kids in each class. In the picture below you can see their bell system. They had brought it into the classroom for the summer, so it wouldn't get stolen. It is the red drum at the front of the room. In today's gallery you can find more pics of the school. I can't wait to show these pics to my students this next year and talk to them about how many of the things they receive at school are privileges, not requirements.

Some other things I learned about Vietnamese schools:

1. All students bring their lunch or pay to eat. There is not free and reduced lunches.

2. There is no school bus system. All parents must drop their kids off at school in the morning and pick them in the afternoon.

3. They have summer school just like we do. 

4. They must also pass a test to be accepted into college. One of Mitchell's cousins is having a hard time in math. She has to take her test at the end of July, so right now she is riding a bus 2 hours each way to Ho Chi Minh City to go to a special class to help her with her math skills. She stays in Ho Chi Minh for 4 hours. Then in the afternoons, she goes to another class in her town for 4 more hours to practice math.

5. They learn cursive writing in first grade. They are not allowed to write any other way, then when they reach 4th-5th grade they are allowed to write in print. They have beautiful writing by the way.

I am sure there are more things I learned, I just don't remember them right now.

More pics: http://gallery.me.com/mitchellandwendy