Virtual-Doug

My Secret Admirer

Recently, I have been exchanging emails with a student of mine.  She describes herself as very shy, but wanted to thank me for giving her confidence in her ability to speak English.  She reads this blog, and has emailed comments about it.  After she volunteered to write something about Việt Nam, I asked her to write something about her daily life as a first year university student.  She did – and here is what she wrote.  I did not edit it one little bit.

I'm happy that you want to know about Viet Nam student'life.In addition, the life of VN student is very different . The students whose parent are rich ,have a very good life ,but the others who are poor have many dificulties in their lives . However ,they are very happy and interested in student life.To me , I'm a poor student ,so my life is also hard.My mother is a nurse ,my father is retired.I have a brother studying in Agriculture and Forestry University .It's difficult for my mother to provide money for me and my brother.Now we are going to cook ourselves because it's cheaper and more convenient than I eat at anywhere else. Everyday I often have breakfast with loaf and milk ( it costs me 3000 VN DONG!  ) .I usually go to market for lunch and also for dinner.
Vegetable is my favorite food,but price is expensive . I often cook a meal for lunch and for dinner.Although my meal is not really good ,I' ll try to get over any difficulty to study .
I hope you can understand what I say ....it takes me 1 hour to write  and send this mail .I  like it very much.

Thanks to the student who only wants to be known as B, you now have a little better idea of how a Vietnamese student lives.

So – How Was Christmas in Huê?

If you thought Christmas might be boring because we live in a non-Christian country, think again.  We had a ball!

I had a foreboding feeling last Friday as I approached my afternoon classroom.  Standing outside was a delegation of students, and I could tell they were up to something.  I took very little cajoling on their part to cancel class, and move en masse to a class Christmas party.  Some went ahead to the house, while others showed me the way.

As always, be sure to click on the photos so you can see a largter version of the picture.

Of course we had a tree, complete with decorations.  The class has 60 students, and they took over a house that is used as a café and karaoke bar.  My digital camera got a real work out – it’s a good thing I have a 1 gig card in it. 

Did I mention karaoke?  The Vietnamese love karaoke.  These kids may not have been drinking beer, but they were loud nonetheless.  There were two microphones, a book full of 400+ songs to choose from, and a television that displayed the words on top of video scenes of Việt Nam.  Many  songs were in English.  The Carpenters, old Beatles love songs, and sentimental ballads from the 70s and 80s live on here.  Yes – they got me to sing.  Would you believe “Bohemian Rhapsody”, the old rocker by Queen?

I watched them play lots of games: a variation of “Simon Says” they call Shotgun.  Another of game of couples holding a balloon between their foreheads as they carried them to a goal line.  But the funniest was the madhouse that erupted when ten girls tied balloons around one ankle, then tried to step on each other’s balloons.  Sorry – I was laughing too hard to take pictures.

The cooks were hard at work in the kitchen.  Every once in awhile they would come out to play, but Huê women take their cooking seriously.  The result was incredibly good.  This is bánh canh.  It had a very rich, savory stock, and the noodles were larger than is served in most dishes.  You see the dark cubes?  That is boiled and congealed pig blood.  If I served it to my western friends, and lied about what it was, they would have loved it.  I loved it, and I knew what it was.

When I’m in my dotage, I will look at this picture and remember my wonderful students in Huê. They are smart, fun loving, hard working, love their country, and are know how to party hardy.  I want my students to know I have learned far more from them than they from me.

But, alas, I had to jump on my môto and leave.  At 6:00 PM, I was due at another party, this one given by the senior officials of the university – and it was right in the atrium of our Guest House.  This party was at the other end of the party spectrum – a time to make contacts and enjoy deep conversations.  I lost count of the number of courses served, but all dishes were delicious.  The conversation was lubricated by wine and beer, and all enjoyed singing Jingle Bells – yes, it was sung in English.  Notice the attire was a bit more formal than usual – I wore a tie for the first time since I retired a year ago.  I had to – I had to try to keep up with the Mystery Guest Blogger and our new friend Elizabeth.

Christmas Eve is the big deal here, not Christmas day itself.  It is not a holiday – people still work.  It is a secular fun day – only about 8 percent or so of the country is Christian.  But, the faithful attend services on Christmas Eve.  In our case, we decided to attend a smaller neighborhood church rather than large Phú Cam Cathedral.  A friend told us the congregation and the building are over 100 years old, though reconstruction has been done on the building.  The services were preceded by a children’s and youth presentation – and a number of kids were little Santas.  At 9:00, the Christ Mass was celebrated.  In a wonderful moment of syncretism, gongs and drums were sounded at holy moments.  East met west in one faith.  Its possible, but unlikely, that the church sees any foreigners attend, yet I doubt we could have been made to feel more welcome  by lay people and clergy alike.

What was Christmas in Huê like?

It was wonderful.

DIFFICULTIES IN TEACHING

As I did last spring, I will post some of the better papers written by my students.  In this case, I will be posting papers written as part of a graduate course in Academic Writing.  The Master’s program is fairly new, and is designed as a way for working teachers to get a Master’s degree without having to take a lot of time off from work..  That means the course was taught in only three weeks – a very compressed time in which to teach a writing course.

This paper is written by Nguyễn Thị Mai Trang, a teacher at Tran Phu High School, Ba Ria Vung Tau Province (on the coast east of Sài Gòn ). She is now a Postgraduate Student of Hue College of Foreign Languages.

HUE UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

FINAL EXAM
Subject: Academic Writing

Topic:

DIFFICULTIES IN TEACHING
MULTILEVEL 6TH GRADE ENGLISH CLASSES
AT THUY PHUONG SECONDARY SCHOOL

Instructor:    Douglas Alan Young
Researcher:    Nguyễn Thò Mai Trang
                           Postgraduate Student

Hue, Nov 2005

ABSTRACT
This research investigates the difficulties most teachers at Thuy Phuong secondary school in Huê, Việt Nam, have faced in teaching multilevel 6th grade English classes.  The data collected from the teachers were used as a basis to analyze the difficulties as well as to draw out practical solutions and suggestions to overcoming those difficulties in teaching multilevel grade 6th English classes.   

INTRODUCTION
Multilevel classes are a real challenge for any teacher and most teachers, including English ones, have to face it (Lubik, 2005).  At many schools, such as Thuy Phuong secondary school, located in Huê City, Việt Nam, teaching multilevel grade 6th English classes requires hard work from the teachers because the students’ levels are quite different.  Some pupils who have studied English in previous schools can speak a little English while others hardly pronounce a word, as they have not been taught at primary schools before.  Besides, studying in these classes, pupils are sometimes unmotivated because the tasks may be either too easy or too difficult for them. This is really a matter that most teachers have to face.

This paper seeks the answers to the following questions: (1) What are the problems of multilevel grade 6th English classes?  and  (2) What are the solutions for these problems?

LITERATURE REVIEW

1.    What is a “multilevel class”?
There have been many studies on multilevel classes (or mixed ability classes) as most teachers have faced this problem in teaching.

“When we talk about multilevel classes, we tend to focus on the variation in the students’ control of the language.  We talk about the influent student sitting next to the one who can barely piece together a sentence.” (Bell, 1991:1)

According to Shank and Terrill (1995), teachers use the term “multilevel” to identify any group of learners who differ from one another in one or more significant ways. Arguably, every class is multilevel because learners begin with varying degrees of competence and then progress at different rates in each of the language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing.

In a word, a multilevel English class is the one in which there are different students with different levels or abilities in controlling the language.

2.    Why are there multilevel 6th grade English classes?   There are three main reasons:

a.    Previous experiences with education
In most 6th grade English classes, there is a gap between the levels of students who are completely new to English and those who have studied some English.  Currently, English is an optional subject at primary schools.  While some schools include English in their curriculum (Let’s Go series published by Oxford University Press), others do not.  This means that in 6th grade, some pupils leaving Primary schools with a good sound knowledge of English will study better than other students who hardly know a word.  Besides, at secondary schools, English is a compulsory subject that is taught at Elementary level despite some knowledge students have gained from their previous schools. This reality brings about problems not only for students but also for teachers.  As reported in “The Vietnam News” (2005, Nov 16), “Students presently study basic English in primary school; but they then move on to junior and senior high school, where the curriculum repeats beginning-level English. Such a reiteration is non-pedagogically sound and tends to limit students’ English skills.”

b.    The point of entry
There seems to be no criterion in forming classes at the beginning of the school year.  Most students are randomly streamed.  As a result, both strong and weak students may share a class.

c.    Individual factors:
According to Lightbown and Spada (1993: 36, 39), students’ intelligence and motivation affect language learning.

    Intelligence: Many studies using a variety of IQ tests and different methods of assessing language learning have found that intelligence levels were a good means of predicting how successful a learner would be at language learning.

Motivation: Positive attitude and motivation are related to success in language learning.

3. What are the problems of multilevel classes?

a.    Applying Methodologies and Techniques
Teachers really have difficulties in using methodologies and techniques because some techniques may be easy to some students but difficult for others. As Bell (1991:10) points out, “What can I give them to do that won’t bore the advanced students and won’t be too difficult for the beginners?”

b.    Managing class
What should the teachers do when some pupils finish the tasks (during class time) earlier than the other students do?  The advanced students, who do not want to waste time waiting for the others, may do their own business that the teachers cannot control.   Lewis (2002:33) reports, “There’s such a variety of levels in this class that it’s really difficult to organize a good lesson.”

c.    Assessing and Evaluating
Sometimes teachers find it difficult to design tests.  Difficult tests will be out of weak students’ abilities while easy tests will de-motivate strong students.  Bell (1991:12) says that it is difficult to devise an evaluative instrument suitable for students with such varied backgrounds and skills.

4.  What are solutions for multilevel grade 6th English classes?

a.    Planning tasks for the Multilevel Class.
Galateanu ( 2005) points out  three main ways of planning tasks for a multilevel class:
(1) Use the same language material, but assign different tasks.
(2) Use different language material, but assign the same tasks.
(3) Use different language material and assign different tasks.

b.    Managing the multilevel classroom through organizing activities:
Bell (1991: 103, 131) suggests a variety of techniques and grouping strategies:
Whole Group activities are appropriate initially for beginning a new class and regularly for daily warm-up time.

Small Group work provides opportunities for learners to use their language skills and is often less intimidating than whole group work.

Cross-ability grouping allows stronger learners to help others and maximizes complementary learner strengths.

Cross-ability pairs work best when partners are given different roles and heavier demands are placed on the more proficient learner.

Grouping students by these ways will bring about a lot of advantages for both teachers and students. The teachers can play the role of a facilitator or an adviser who can spend more time on helping weak students than strong ones.  More importantly, good learners can also act as peer tutors or peer group leaders; weak students can feel more self-confident.  Above all, students really have a lot of chances to learn from one another.

c.    Assessing and evaluating  (ongoing)
Assessing and evaluating are important parts of teaching process as Bell (1991: 43) points out, “the teachers need to institute ongoing evaluation procedures so that we can adjust our approach to suit the class.”

METHODOLOGY
-    The subjects of the study: 8 English teachers from Thuy Phuong secondary school.
-    Data collection: The data presented in this research were collected from 8 questionnaires
-    Data analysis: according to statistical frequency and percentage. 

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
Data collected from questionnaires answered by 8 teachers from Thuy Phuong Secondary school are presented through the following tables:

Table 1:     Difficulties in teaching multilevel 6th grade English class.            
Difficulties the teachers have faced           Number                      Percentage
Applying Methodologies and Techniques         6                                 75%
Managing class                                             4                                 50%
Assessing and Evaluating                              3                                 37.5%

As we can see from Table 1, most surveyed teachers affirmed that they had difficulties in teaching a multilevel grade 6th English class.  Actually, 75% of the teachers really had difficulties in applying methodologies and techniques.  According to them, communicative approach is best for advanced students while lower-level students only get benefits from techniques such as Repetition Drills in Audio-lingual method.  The statistics in table 1 also showed that how to manage a multilevel English class seemed to be the problem of only 50% of the investigated teachers.  The rest 50% had no difficulties because they attended Vietnamese Teaching Training Network - VTTN Program conducted by British Councils every year.  Only 37.5 % of those questioned met difficulties in assessing and evaluating students’ learning because they had some experience in assessing and evaluating.

Table 2:    Planning tasks
Ways of planning tasks                          Number                            Percentage
Different tasks – same materials                 6                                        75%
Same tasks – same materials                      5                                        62.5%
Same tasks – different materials                 2                                        25%
Different tasks – different materials            1                                        12.5%

The recorded data in table 2 showed that by using the same material (prescribed textbook Tieng Anh 6), 75 % of the teachers designed different tasks suitable to their students’ levels.  These teachers tried their best to satisfy both the fixed syllabus and real needs of their students.  On the contrary, 62.5% had both strong and weak students do the same tasks although students’ abilities were not the same level.  Statistics in table 2 also revealed that, in order to offer students further practice as well as to consolidate the knowledge in the textbook, two teachers, taking 25%, required students to do the same tasks with different materials, which really helped both strong and weak students improve their English.  With the same purpose as above, only one teacher (12.5%) designed different tasks with different materials because of the allotted class time (45 minutes for each period, three periods a week).

Table 3:    Grouping Strategies

Grouping strategies                         Number                       Percentage
Pairs / groups at the same desk           7                                  87.5%
Equal-ability pairs / groups                  2                                  25%
Cross-ability pairs / groups                  3                                  37.5%

On being asked about planning activities, all teachers replied that they organized pair work and group work, but they had different grouping strategies.  The majority of the teachers (87.5%) said that they divided students into pairs or groups of students sharing the same desks because that was the quickest way.  If they formed cross-ability pairs or groups, students had to move from one desk to another, which might make loud noises affecting neighbor classes.  Despite this inconvenience, the other teachers that make up 37.5 % grouped students with cross-ability so as to benefit the students.  However, two out of eight teachers (25%) formed equal-ability pairs and groups.  According to them, by doing this, advanced students were motivated because they had more chances to develop their skills while the teachers could pay more attention to weak pairs or groups.

CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS

Conclusion
In summary, the results of the study have proved that multilevel 6th grade English classes have brought about a lot of difficulties to most teachers at Thuy Phuong secondary school.  To overcome these difficulties, some teachers made good efforts in planning tasks suitable to students’ levels, organizing pair work and group work with good strategies.  However, there were still some teachers who could not do anything else because of some personal and contextual reasons.  Consequently, different strategies of different teachers might create a bigger gap of levels among students in the same grade.  In my opinion, there should be a synchronic solution to get over the problem of multilevel 6th grade English classes.

Suggestions
In order to overcome the problems of multilevel English classes, the following things should be taken into consideration:
* For students, they should be taught to be responsible for their own learning. Besides, students should help one another in and outside classrooms to improve their knowledge of English.
* For teachers, organizing activities and planning tasks that are best suitable to all students in a class are very necessary.  Teachers should not ask students to do something boring or beyond their abilities.  Besides, assessing and evaluating should be an ongoing spiral.  It will reflect learning and teaching processes exactly. 
* For other concerned parties, should teaching English at Primary schools be optional or compulsory?  A synchronic English curriculum for Primary school children is needed to make sure that all students entering 6th grade have certain knowledge of English. 
I do hope that these temporary solutions will reduce the gap of abilities among students, to some extent, when they enter secondary schools.

Suggested further research
Despite the researcher’s attempts, there are still some limitations because of the allotted time and the small scale of the research.  It is essential that a larger scale of research be carried out.

REFERENCES
Bell, J. (1991).  Teaching multilevel classes in ESL. California, Dominie Press, Inc. 

Conference emphasizes need for improving English language skills. (2005, Nov 16). VietnamNews . Page 1.
Galateanu, G. (2005). Multilevel heritage language classes.
    http://www.international.ucla.edu/languages/article.asp?parentid=30897
(2005, Nov 27)
Lewis, M. M.A. (2002, September). Reflections on Teaching. Why I am not a perfect teacher. Teacher’s Edition. Pages 32-33.
Lightbown, P. M. and Spada, N. (1993). How languages are learned. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Lubik, M. (2005). Using folktales in multilevel class teaching. http://www.maius.uni.torun.pl/ang/prace/lubik.htm (2005, Nov 28)
Shank, C. C. and Terrill, L. R. (1995, May) Teaching Multilevel Adult ESL Classes. Arlington (Virginia) Education and Employment Program. http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/SHANK.html  (2005, Nov 27)

APPENDICE
QUESTIONNAIRE
This survey is aimed at investigating the difficulties most teachers at Thuy Phuong secondary school have faced in teaching multilevel grade 6th English classes. This questionnaire will be used for academic research, and the result may be used for overcoming some difficulties as stated above, not for any other purposes.
Please state your age and years of teaching.
Age:………………………………    Years of teaching:…………………………..
1.    Do you find it difficult to teach a multilevel 6th grade English class? (Please tick only one)
a. Yes                        b. No   
2.    If yes, what are the difficulties? (Please tick, more than one is possible)   
a.    Applying methodologies and techniques     c. Assessing and Evaluating
b.    Managing class                 d. Others:…………………………
3.    How do you plan tasks for a multilevel English class of 6th grade? (Please tick, more than one is possible)
a.    Same tasks – different materials         c. Different tasks – different materials
b.    Same tasks – same materials         d. Different tasks – same materials
e.   Others:……………………………………………………
4.    How do you organize activities for a multilevel 6th grade English class? (Please tick, more than one is possible)
a.    Individual                     c. Group work
b.    Pair work                     d. Whole class

5.    How do you form pairs and groups of students? (Please tick, more than one is possible)
a.    Equal-ability pairs / groups        c. Random pairs / groups
b.    Cross-ability pairs / groups        d. Others:……………………..
6.    How do you design a test for a multilevel 6th grade English class? (Please tick only one)
a.    Quite easy level
b.    Quite difficult level
c.    Increasingly difficult level
d.    Decreasingly difficult level

Thank you very much for your collaboration.

Merry Christmas

   

Chúc Giáng Sinh Vui Vẻ !

Advent – He is Coming (by the Mystery Guest Blogger)

You may have noticed the purple cloth and the five candles on the table with my three nativity sets in my previous posting.  This is our “Advent Wreath” this year.

Ordinarily I use a wooden candelabra I bought years ago for an exclusive purpose - to hold the five Advent candles.  New candles every year.  Around it I placed evergreen pieces.  This was easy to do in Brunswick, Georgia – I used the ‘Christmas tree’ smell of Georgia pines.  In Albuquerque, New Mexico, I used bits of juniper which smell oh so like Christmas to me, too. 

But in Huê, our wreath is simpler.  Only the five stout candles which traveled so well and came so far, like the three men of old, for His purpose.

Each of the four Sundays of Advent, this preparation for, this ‘coming to’ Christmas, represent part of the story.

We have kept the tradition of readings from Luke, a prayer and a simple carol in the glow of brief candlelight.  We celebrate Advent, His coming, in Việt Nam.   

    xoxo - MGB

The Other Side of the Coin (More)

In the previous post The Other Side of the Coin, Tom Murray left a comment about the founding of a new tax-deductible charitable organization called Think About the Children.

If you would like to work with Tom, drop him an email at [email protected].  I know Tom.  He's been in Hue and has a good handle on Viet Nam. 

The Other Side of the Coin

Việt Nam has the second fastest growing economy in the world, behind China.  But, it is still a developing country with many difficulties to overcome.  There is still poverty in Việt Nam, though nobody starves anymore.  Poverty falls hardest on children.

I have a third year student named Thành.  By any western standards, he is poor.  By Vietnamese standards, he is not poor – but he’s just the next level up.  He will be a teacher in another year or so, but for now, this young man with so little of his own feels the need to help others.   His Christmas wish is to see poor kids blossom. 

As always, be sure to click on the pictures to see a larger version.

Liberally translated, the sign says this is a school for street kids.  Many of them are orphans, while others have been abandoned by their parents.  Many have physical deformities or handicaps.   Thành is a volunteer teacher at the school for four hours each week, and he brought me here one morning.   This class is early teenagers, and they are part of  a total student body of 100.  The school only has two fulltime teachers, plus a headmistress and a social worker. The rest of the teaching is done by volunteers like Thành.  (He’s the tall guy in the back.)

The facilities are (ahem) less than ideal, yet I noticed the kids are well scrubbed and happy.  It was a typical raw rainy-season day, yet they all had warm clothing.  Notice the lack of glass in the windows, and the scruffy two-students desks.  But, the kids had paper and pencils.  The text books were photocopies of originals.

The building belongs to the government, but most of the operating funding comes from the Fund for Children of Thưa Thiên Huê Province.  The fund is supported by various charitable organizations around the world.  The social worker told me the school probably meets about 10% of the need.

The kids are well fed, and volunteers do the cooking.  This lady was preparing part of the noon meal.  It wasn’t until later that I wondered if she was cooking for 100 people by herself, or if some help was forthcoming.  Outside the kitchen was a large mound of foodstuffs awaiting the cook.

Thirty of the 100 children live at the school.  The quarters are spartan, but very clean and neat. Notice the lack of a door.  Don’t be off-put by the lack of a mattress – most Vietnamese sleep on a thin mat, not a mattress.  Each child has a small locker for personal possessions and clothes.  The children who are boarded at the school are either orphans or abandoned.

This little sweetie captured my heart.  She is too young to be in class herself, but her brother and sister are.  They are orphans.  Notice too that her left hand and arm are withered.  You may notice it, but she didn’t seem to. She was bouncy and laughing and as energetic as any other kid.  She has no idea how difficult her life will be.  She won’t be physically able to do many kinds of work, and her disability will make her unattractive on the marriage market.  The school teaches the kids basic skills, such as sewing – and maybe that will provide her with an income.  There is no Social Security in Việt Nam.  If you don’t work, you don’t eat.

What do you suppose this pensive young man is thinking?  I watched him laugh and smile a lot, but whenever he noticed the camera pointed at him, he became quiet.  Do you think his Christmas wish is to find a new bicycle under the tree?  Maybe a mobile phone with a camera?  Perhaps his wants are simpler and he just wants a new pair of fashion jeans and a Kobe Bryant shirt.  Maybe he wants all three wishes.

Merry Christmas to all.

My student Thành has already received his Christmas wish.

The Story (by the Mystery Guest Blogger)

We have begun to decorate for Christmas.  The most important decoration for me is, of course, my nativities, or crèches, because they are a tangible reminder of the story of the First Christmas.

I always wanted to collect nativities, and not too many Christmases ago, I counted mine (nine) and realized I already did!

When we returned to Việt Nam this summer, I brought a brass one back, purchased in Mexico.  It is special because it is exactly like the one I used with Noah, Jared, Harden, Gairsen, Maisen, Mikenly, Eliot, Annie, Chloe, Abby, Miles, Micah, Isabel, Stevie, Moises, and Adam to tell the story last year.  I look forward to telling all of them the story next year, along with Emily, Hannah, Mia, Samantha, Dakota, Cheyenne, Joseph Evette and Ashlynn.

I love nativity sets which the children (and everyone) can handle.  “Don’t touch, you might break it!” won’t encourage anyone to learn of the birth of Jesus.

Now I have shown it to many of my students who have visited me, told them the story, and encouraged them to arrange the pieces as they wish.

This second set is special because it was sent to me by a dear friend (Thank you, Cilla!) who knew I would not make it through to Christmas without a nativity.

The third set is special because it was made in Việt Nam.  I never expected to find one here, so I wasn’t even looking.  I saw it in a shop in Hà Nội.  Carved from soft white stone in a very artistic design, this set will become even more precious to me as years go by.  I am thankful to have been led to this new nativity. 

Cảm ơn.                xoxo - MGB

Everybody Complains About the Weather

This is the rainy season in Huê.  It started about a month ago.  The seasonal monsoon moves up and down Việt Nam so it is “rainy season” somewhere all the time – just at different times of the year.  It also seems to manifest itself in different ways.  In the south, around Sài Gòn and the Mekong River delta,  the rainy season begins in April and consists of lots of thunderstorms in the afternoon.

Huê’s rainy season is quite different.  By the beginning of November, it gets cloudy, and it stays cloudy most of the time.  Yes – there is the occasional sunny day, but there aren’t many.  The rain is the kind of constant drizzle that is just above being mist.  Sometimes it will rain quite hard – it did this morning.  Of course, there are puddles everywhere. Just get used to the idea that you are going to get wet.

The humidity unrelentingly stays at extraordinarily high levels.  This causes your clothes to feel damp all the time.  Of course, laundry takes a long time to dry – and there is no such thing as a dryer here.  In effort to stave off having moldy clothes, the MGB decided to iron pants and other heavy items to be sure the seams dried out.

Most of the time, it is fairly chilly here.  That means about 55 to 60 degrees Fahrenheit (12 to 15 degrees Celsius).  You folks in Minny-Snow-Tah or Colorado may laugh at that, but the humidity and wind  combine to make it worthy of wearing a lined jacket.

People adapt to it.  For the Huê people, they have lived here all their lives, so this is the norm.  A couple of nights ago, the Mystery Guest Blogger and I joined our teammate Julie for dinner, and we remarked that most Americans complain about having to get out of the car and walk the ten steps to the front door of the mall.  Here, we nonchalantly toss on our ponchos, throw a leg over the môto, and go eat.

After all – it doesn’t do any good to complain about the weather.

One Building’s Construction

This picture is taken from a new angle. The first few pictures in this series were taken straight on – in this, I stood to the left so you could see that they have begun plastering the exterior.  Notice too that the smaller room atop the house is taking shape.

I know nothing about construction work – nothing.  But, I’ll be damned if I can understand how the cement cures and dries in this weather.  As you can see from the walls, it has been raining constantly lately.  (It is, after all, the rainy season in Huê.)  That, coupled with the extraordinarily high humidity makes for a persistent dampness.