The Mekong Delta - Dorothy, you are not in Kansas anymore.

 After a quick 50 minute flight from Nha Trang, we land in Ho Chi Minh City, with a population of almost 10,000 million. But waiting for us outside the airport is Mr. Bi, our tour guide, and our faithful bus. This bus, Bi explains, is only two days old and purchased just for us - the first of his many tongue-in-cheek comments we will experience from him over the coming days.  But this bus, unlike the others which were designed to transport whole communities, seems fitted to the size of our group. It is smaller, yet has plenty of room for our luggage (a problem in past tours) and lots of leg room. As one member put it, "it has that new car smell to it."

After the plane ride from Nha Trang to Ho Chi Minh City and a four hour bus ride from there to Can Tho, we arrive at our hotel, the Hau Giang Hotel in downtown Can Tho. Needless to say we are tired and more than a bit disoriented but in good spirits, as we await assignments of our rooms. Our hotels, have been quite comfortable and I think everyone is pleased with their accommodations on this trip.

  

 Check in was followed by a late night dinner, premised on the assumption that we hadn't eaten since our "brunch" at 10:30 earlier that day. I suspect most would have been happy with something lighter and lesser in amount. Still, the food was great.

I certainly was tired and could feel myself nodding off during dinner. Time to call it a day!

 The next morning we headed out to Hoa An village, about one hour south (mostly) from Can Tho. Our goal on this trip was to meet with some of the teachers that were involved in Chris Wheeler's project with Can Tho. Chris' project stands out as a wonderful example of what can be done with a sense of vision, a small amount of funding, and committed staff.

On the way we picked up Lan, a former doctoral student in higher and adult education at MSU and my former graduate assistant. She now works as Associate Dean of the Graduate School at CTU. We also picked up Dr. Hong, who was the director of Chris' project at CTU. Retired now, she still retains the energy and enthusiasm of someone much younger. She provided valuable background on the project to our students.

While an incredibly engaging experience, the study tour does take its toll and sometimes you just have to rest when you can. The heat, the transitions, and the almost constant engagement forces us to create space in our lives here to "re-charge."

The principal of the middle school with which Chris worked and five of the teachers in the project responded to our invitation to meet and talk with our students about the project. Dr. Hong helped facilitate this discussion and we learned about the project's aims, purposes, scope, and challenges.

The students were still in session while were there and so we had another opportunity to drop in to a class, say hi, and answer a few questions, like how old are you and what is the weather like in Michigan. All good stuff.

The process, though, sometimes makes one feel like a member of a line-up in Usual Suspects. 




Vietnamese students love to have their picture taken with us! In leaving locations with students, we had to build in an extra 10-15 minutes to say good-bye via group photos.

In the afternoon, we met with several staff the Director, Vice-Director, and several staff members of the Can Tho Department of Education. This meeting proved to stimulate discussion within our group regarding a number of issues related to norms of interaction, the role of language in mediating interaction and communication, and reform efforts in which they are engaged. This department plays an active role in monitoring the quality of teaching and learning in the schools, visiting schools within their area at least once a year. We ended up inviting them to dinner with us and they to lunch with them the next day. What an enjoyable experience being able to tak with educators at this policy level.

On Friday (May 23), we visit the Lurong The Vinh Middle School. This is the middle school that Lan's son attends and I think she attended as well as a child.

After brief introductions, we were escorted to a classroom where we were able to observe an hour-long lesson in English. Students seem to spontaneously pair up with us and strike up a conversation as we walked to the classroom. I was impressed with their fluency.

We observed a sixth grade classroom taught by Ms. Tran Thi Anh Trang. There were approximately 35 students in the class, all dressed in blue slacks or skirts and white shirts or blouses, with red ties around their necks.

She began the class with what appeared to be a review assignment, using some kind of "words working together" game. She was using what I later found out was an interactive white board but was operating it through a laptop. Much of the interaction was between teacher and student mediated by a kind of call and response. At some points the students worked in pairs on their assigned tasks.

The room was noisy much of the time, largely due to the noise coming from outside the classroom. With open windows and doors, it is difficult to control this level of noise.

The lesson proceeded smoothly and orderly, however, with intermittent use of games, which the students seem to greatly enjoy. At one point, they used a game that made use of two teams, and the teacher had them use a version of "rock, paper, scisso"' to determine which team went first. Their use of English was impressive!

The lesson ended with a review of the key principles that were covered in the lesson and an assignment of homework.

Following the class we met with teachers and students to talk about their experiences in school, and to give them an opportunity to ask us questions.  The kids in this discussion sounded like they wer 14 going on 35! It was amazing how articulate and expressive they were, and not afraid of taking a position, sometimes in opposition to their peers.



Overlooking the discussion was a picture of Ho Chi Minh, looking quite scholarly.

In the afternoon, we met Lan on the campus of Can Tho University, and she gave us an overview of CTU, which was quite helpful. She also clarified the various kinds of universities that were in Vietnam, ranging from the provincial to the national, and how they differed based no this ranking.

Then our students paired up with grad students from CTU and spent the afternoon exploring what life was like for them, as well as talking about life in an American university. These grad students, as Lan told us later, are not full-time students. Most of them hold responsible positions in education or the private sector.

In arranging this photo-op of the three of us, I was delighted to see that Todd got the memo about dress. We call it our "study tour guide leader" uniform.

And next to Lan, we both look like we're from the land of giants.