This area, though, along Hoan Kiem Lake (Lake of the Restored Sword) within downtown Hanoi is really quite beautiful and in the evening is filled with residents who embrace the relative coolness of late day.
But walking the path along the lake at 1:30 in the afternoon, with the heat index hovering in the 110s, does present its challenges to maintaining and presenting a professional image for our meeting with university staff!
On Monday, we visited the Institute of Educational Sciences and Doam Thi Diem elementary school, a private but incredibly successful school. In most instances quality for private schools (both k-12 and higher ed) is considered lower that in the public institutions.
But that is clearly not the case for this school. where we had a great time interacting with and watching the kids in three different classes. Their command of English was incredible.
On Tuesday we spent considerable time with students in English and
French classes from the Ha Noi Amsterdam High School, a high school for,
what the principal described as, "the top of the top." We met with them
on a day where they seemed to be in transition, from the end of the
regular school year to summer programs. When asked how long they have
been studying English, one student, an 11th grader, responded, "11 years."On Wednesday we will be visiting the Hanoi University of Languages and International Studies, and then our students will be spending the day with their "study buddies" from this university. We are borrowing this concept from the China Study Tour and seeing if we can adapt it to a somewhat different model of the study tour.
Stay tuned....
Thanks for sharing this blog, John and Todd! After hearing so much about the FEGU trips, it's nice to see one in action, albeit from a great distance. Good luck as you continue your exploration and learning. It's freezing here, wish I could send you some of it!
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