Virtual-Doug

This and That

Want to have some fun?  Click on “An American Wedding in Việt Nam.”  (The link is also on the left.)  Our American colleague teaches American Culture, and she is going to conduct a mock wedding as the class project.  Take a look – and also, you might answer some of the student’s questions.  Enjoy the experiment as it unfolds.

If you have been reading this blog since I’ve started living in Việt Nam, you know I take a lot of photos.  Most of them never make it to the blog.  I thought I would try something new and start posting some of my pictures on a photo gallery website.  Take a look at www.pbase.com/doug - but remember I am just getting started.

I picked up some sort of hacking cough in Thailand – and its still driving me nuts.  Maybe I’m allergic to mold.

The semester is in full swing now.  I have been assigned an American Culture class, which I will co-teach with a Vietnamese teacher.  In case my North American friends are wondering, each level of students (first year, second year, etc.) at different colleges start the semester at different times.  That explains why the previous post was about a class I have been teaching for two weeks, yet I am just starting another course.  I also have a first year speaking class and a third year speaking class, and I am supervising a fourth year student's research thesis.

Finally – I wish I had taken this picture.  I know this is the real Clark Kent because he has a curl on his forehead.

So – Whazzit Like to Teach English in Việt Nam?

First of all – teaching English is fun!

Language is expressed in different ways.  As native speakers, we write English, we speak English, we listen to English, and we read English.  Teaching a class can involve any one (or more) of those skills.  I’ve been very lucky in that I have been assigned to teach speaking, writing, and even an American Culture class.  (Yes – it is a requirement for English majors, as is British Culture.) 

Most English majors are girls.  (Before I get nasty comments from feminists, please be aware that one’s marital status determines whether you are a girl or woman in Việt Nam, not one’s age.)  All students have taken English in high school, and have passed very competitive university entrance exams before being admitted to the English department.  But – that does not necessarily mean they can speak or write English.  It means they have studied the grammar and syntax of English, but have not always learned how to speak the language.  That’s where native speaking English teachers come in.  We can help the students pronounce English correctly and teach the many idioms and nuances used in everyday English.  In other words, we teach them how to communicate in English, building on the skills they have already learned in high school.

As always, be sure to click on each picture to see a larger version.

I meet with my first year speaking class twice each week – 2 hours each time.  There are 60 students in the class.  That is not a typo – I have 60 students.  They are chatty and noisy and fun loving. When I first started with this group in the early fall, they were disconcerted by the fact that I often arrived in the classroom before they did.  Normally, the Vietnamese teachers arrive after the students, who stand up when the teacher enters the room.  But, as a typical American, I usually get to class a little early so I can have my material ready.  This class is used to me now, and don’t pay much attention when I enter, other than to politely say “Good afternoon, Teacher.”.

Vietnamese students have attended school in a culture long dominated by Confucian ideals.  That means the teacher is held in very high regard.  The teacher is an expert, and not to be questioned.  While it is nice to be highly respected, it also results in very passive students.  Students are used to being told what to learn, and interaction in the classroom is seldom done.  Usually, a teacher does not ask questions, and most certainly a student would not ask the teacher a question as that might impugn the teacher’s knowledge and cause him/her to loose face.

Because I am a westerner,  the school encourages me to use western teaching methodologies, which usually involve lot of interactivity.  I cannot be interactive in the classroom if the students are passive, so I have to get them up and moving.  Once we had exchanged “beginning of class pleasantries”, I had them count off by twos – then we walked down three flights of steps to the courtyard.  All the “Ones” lined up on the left, and all the “Twos” lined up on the right.  We did some role playing, with the “Ones” pretending to be British tourists looking for a good restaurant, and the “Twos” recommending a place and giving directions on how to get to the restaurant.

That got ‘em moving and talking.  Now they are ready to do some active learning, so I sent them back upstairs in new groups of four.  We had another exercise designed to do two things – to practice English among themselves, and to develop their own learning strategies.  Each group was to come up with some ideas for practicing English out of class.  After working for a few minutes,  a few students stand up and tell the rest of the class of his/her group’s ideas  Of course, I select the member of the group who will stand up and make the report, so that makes all of them work on the project.  This is a noisy time in the classroom (and I sometimes wonder if we are upsetting the surrounding classrooms as there is no air conditioning and the windows are open), but they are practicing normal conversation and increasing their vocabulary.

With 60 students, it is important the students get as much practice as possible.  The small groups are supposed to speak English, though I not so naïve as to believe they don’t lapse into Vietnamese when I’m not standing over them.  In this picture, students are pretending they are calling me on the telephone after they have learned I am sick.   The fun part is when I “talk” to one of them on the “phone”, and say something they do not expect.

Problem solving is an important part of learning.  I seldom give students a direct answer to questions, and often have some sort of puzzle for them to solve. 

And by the way – did I tell you I have the best students in Việt Nam?

The Other Side of Việt Nam

Ask any expatriate who lives in Việt Nam and they will tell you they love it here.  (Okay – I will exempt the whiner that Our Man in Hanoi told us about recently.)  We’re not inclined to tell  the seamy side of life here simply because we want to be good guests and because we want the rest of the world to see Việt Nam in a good light.

But – the fact remains that Việt Nam is a poor country.  Yes, it has the second fastest growing economy in the world, but when you start low, any improvement rates high on a percentage scale.  So far, most of the growing wealth of the country has come in the cities, while the countryside stays poor.

I recommend you take a look at a newish blog.  Street Kids in Vietnam  is written by an Aussie who runs Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation.

You will read some pithy stuff.

When the Vietnamese Get Sick

Its obvious to any casual visitor that Việt Nam’s culture is different from our western culture. But, if you live here, you learn much more than if you were here for only a few weeks.

Here’s a quiz.  It’s a quiz about how the Vietnamese react to a friend who gets sick.  Take the quiz with an eye to how you would respond as a westerner, then take it again and imagine how you think the Vietnamese react to a sick friend.

•    Visit them
•    Tell them to wear more clothes
•    Leave them alone
•    Do housework for them
•    Tell them to rest
•    Bring them fruit
•    Tell them to drink more water
•    Buy medicine for them

Of course westerners and Vietnamese both care about their friends and want to do what is best.  Though Americans might not bring fruit over to the house, they will call on the phone and ask “Is there anything I can do for you?”  I think members of both cultures would do fairly similar things - - - except for one thing.

The Vietnamese would not leave their sick friend alone.

The Vietnamese will visit a sick friend.

We had a bit of a bicultural dilemma when our good friend Mr. Cu  got the flu recently.  Our American intuition was to talk to his wife, tell her to let him know we were worried, offer to help in any way, and to tell Cu to stay home and get some rest.

But – that’s not the Vietnamese way.  We had a sixth sense that we should go visit him, and we were told that the Vietnamese way is to go visit.  So, we overcame our fears of intruding, went to his house, and there we were met by a very sick man who looked like he had one foot in the grave and the other foot on a banana peel.

Cu was delighted to see us.

The Mystery Guest Blogger and Miss July visited him the next day (I had a class to teach), and he had an IV in his arm.  He was delighted to see visitors.

The next day, we visited again.  This time he looked much better, was talkative – and asked his daughter to serve us tea while he sat on the edge of the bed.  It was evident we had made the right decision to come.  Even though he was sick, the strong sense of community in the Vietnamese culture was nourished by the fact that the foreigner friends came to see him.

How did you do on the quiz?

One Building’s Construction

Its been a month since we last looked at the new house.  In fact, it has been five months since we began watching this house last September.  Having taken five months to get this far, I doubt if the house will be ready earlier than next September..

All the work being done now is on the walls, both inside and out.  The same crew does all the finishing work, though the number in the crew seems to vary between three and six.  As far as I can tell, the interior and exterior walls are finished with the same material.  In an earlier post, I described how the cement (its not plaster) is mixed.  Its brought to the application men by the bucket.  One man applies the cement, another spreads sand on it, and a third uses a wet brush to smooth it out.

The three “regulars” know me by sight, and always wave and yell as I go by on my môto.  I need to repay their hospitality by giving them some prints of the photos I’ve taken.  One lady in particular has taken an interest in my visits.  She loves to have her picture taken.  And, with a face like hers, I love taking it. 

Cross-Cultural Observations

One of the best posts I have read recently about the challenges of  western expatriates living in another culture was written by Mark of Six Months in Hanoi.  He is spot on about saying "thank you" and how the Vietnamese perceive our usage of the words.

Thanx, Mark.

Also, I hope you are checking out my friend Tuan's blog.  He writes a good story - with photos - about his hometown of Hue.  He recently returned from HCMC and has some good stuff about the market there.  Remember - he's Vietnamese.  His English may fool you into thinking otherwise.

HCMC-based teacher Down and Out in Sai Gon has a good post on helmet usage.  You might want to match it up with the stories on this blog about Two-Wheeling in Viet Nam.

Though it is still in the development stage, take a look at Phan Cu's web site.  Cu is about my age - and truly a world class photographer.  I have been working with him on the English langauge part of the site - but his photos speak for themselves.  His Mandarin Cafe is our hang out - and where we meet a lot of other westerners who work in the area.

Finally - welcome to Antidote to Burnout as he and his wife settle into living in HCMC.  I look forward to reading his observations of life in the business world and the big city.

The Doggie Post (by The Mystery Guest Blogger)

I bet most of you blog-readers out there do not know of Virtual-Doug’s talent for barking.  A nice, respectable, crisp yet robust bark.   Yup, he fakes dogs out all the time, and easily fools people.  He barks at dogs frequently, and has ever since I have known him.  He barks at them in Huê while riding the motorbike.  Really catches them unaware, and leaves them trying to figure out where the other dog is.  I finally asked him not to bark near one construction site in our neighborhood, as the guard dogs began to figure him out, and began chasing us.  More about this in a minute.

We are still in Thailand, flying to Bangkok in the morning to allow the doctors there to once again pronounce my cranium intact and functioning properly.  This is our last night in Chiang Mai, and we are staying at the world famous YMCA.  Spartan but comfortable and inexpensive.  And on the other side of town from our favorite Greek restaurant here – Zorba’s.  Owned by a guy named Yiannis.  Food is pretty good.  Near the Tha Phae Gate.

We walked all the way over there a couple of weeks ago, probably 2 miles on marginally safe sidewalks.  Safe because they put you out of traffic.  Marginal because the intentional tile and cement looks modern and ‘walkable,’ but change levels quickly and without warning.  “Thailand – Land of Uneven Surfaces.”

But tonight we rode in a ‘red truck,’ also called a ‘song tao.’  A great substitute for public transportation in Chiang Mai, these Japanese pickups have a bench on either side of the bed and a cover on top, and actually exist in many colors depending on what part of the city you are in.  A ‘yellow truck’ in the ‘red truck’ part of town will probably take you to his part of the city cheap just to get back there.  A trip across town is bargained for by tourists, who know they may be charged extra for their inexperience.  Depending on the time of day, it may cost 40 to 80 baht ($1 to 2 USD) for the 2 of us to get across town, more if we didn’t know the actual worth and didn’t bargain.

When we take a truck somewhere, Virtual-Doug cannot sit up straight, and even slouching he hits his head going over bumps.  Remember, “Land of Uneven Surfaces.”  To avoid all of this, he likes to stand on the back and hang on for the ride.  You don’t go fast in city traffic, and you don’t go far, so this is pretty acceptable tourist stuff.

When we left the Y for Yiannis’ place, we took the red truck handily parked outside.  It was empty, so we looked forward to a direct ride.  Of course, Virtual-Doug planted himself onto the back, and commenced barking at neighborhood dogs, just for fun, like he always does.  They couldn’t figure him out when we were going down the narrow street at a respectable 15 mph.  But about the time we slowed for a major intersection, we had collected 4 of them, and they realized the ‘dog’ was in the truck.  This was when I had to remind him, “We are stopping, and there is NO DOOR ON THE BACK OF THIS THING!  KNOCK IT OFF!!”

But usually I like to hear him bark.  And I like to see the face of the driver of the song tao when he realizes it’s his passenger.  Sometimes you just gotta make your own fun, ya know?!

        xoxo – The Mystery Guest Blogger

This and That

The MGB is fine now, though she has one last follow-up visit with the doctor in Bangkok before we return to Huê.  As you can see in this photo, she was well taken care of during her stay.

I really haven’t posted much lately.  Since the Mystery Guest Blogger’s hurried medical trip to Bangkok, we have been in Chiang Mai (northern Thailand) for a conference with other English teachers.  It has been a busy, yet productive time.

There are English teachers here from throughout Asia, so when the teachers from Việt Nam have a chance, we like to brag on our country a lot.  One day was “dress-up day” for us, and the women wore their ao dai.    Three of us guys thought we would also wear the traditional men’s ao dai.

I will wait until you stop laughing and cracking jokes about guys wearing dresses.

While women are seen wearing ao dai regularly, the men’s ao dai is seldom seen.  Think of it as a tuxedo.  It is worn at funerals, weddings, and the first day of Tết .  Few young men own an ao dai, but probably most of the older men do.  There is little variation in style – even the colors are fairly standard.  We are all wearing “acceptable” colors, meaning blue or black.  The men’s version fits looser than the women’s, but like the women’s, has no pockets.

Lastly – we are beginning our last semester teaching in Việt Nam.  It certainly is not that we don’t love our new country, but family obligations call.  Both the MGB and I have elderly moms who need care, and we need to be home.  But - - we’re hatching plans to return and visit our beloved Huê as often as possible.  In the meantime, we have classes to teach and lots of good friends to be made.

How Far We’ve Come

Sorry about that, folks.  The Mystery Guest Blogger just told me I'd left out a rather essential picture. Below I have added the picture of  Trần Hưng Ðao Street as it looks today.

Just a thought on the comment left by Thinking VN.  I am well aware that that the history of the war is taught in Vietnamese schools, but seeing something pinted in a textbook is quite different from seeing the horror of war itself.  Most of the young Vietnamese I know are content to let old men tell their war stories while they pursue their dreams for the future.  So be it.

Việt Nam is a country, not a war.  This oft-repeated remark is extraordinarily true.  It is difficult indeed to find reminders of the Second Indochina War. I use that term because calling it the American War, as it is called in Việt Nam would make no sense to Americans, and to call it the Việt Nam War makes no sense to Vietnamese.  Some historians call it the Second Indochina War to differentiate it from the war of independence fought by the Vietnamese against France from 1946 to 1954.

This month marks the 38th anniversary is one of the fiercest battles of the Second Indochina War.  Tết  1968 is considered by many to have been a turning point in the war.  The Communist forces launched a huge offensive in an effort to induce the population to rise up against the Sài Gòn regime.  The offensive was an unmitigated military disaster for them.  In America, it sparked fierce anti-war sentiments and was the beginning of the end of the war.  In that sense, the Tết  Offensive of 1968 was a huge success for the Communists.

The offensive also marked a new strategy for General Võ Nguyên Giáp in that he chose to fight in the cities for the first time.  As the cultural capital of the old southern regime, Huê was of extreme importance to both sides.  During the night of January 30-31, a very large force of both northern soldiers of the People’s Army of Việt Nam (what Americans called the North Vietnamese Army, or NVA) and southern soldiers of the National Liberation Front (what Americans called the Việt Cong) captured most of Huê.  The battle continued for 28 days, resulting in horrendous casualties for both sides, and huge damage to property.

This picture was taken by an American after the fighting in this one part of the city was over.  Notice the tank.  The damage in this picture, while bad, was not as severe as in other parts of the city.  (Click on the photo to see the full sized picture.)

This is Trần Hưng Ðao Street today.  Look at the map of Huê (link is to the left) and find the center of the map.  Find the Đông Ba market.  In both pictures, the market is to your left, across the street from the buildings you see here.  (The current market building did not exist in 1968)  This is one of the busiest intersections in the city because it is across the street from the largest market in Huê, has a long strip of businesses, and is at the junction of a street lined with electronics stores.

Of note is that two of the gates into the Citadel were badly damaged during 1968.  This is the Đông Ba Gate.  It was here that U. S. Marines had their first big fight with entrenched Communist soldiers inside the Citadel.  Prohibited by the southern Vietnamese who wanted to protect Huê's treasures, the Communists inflicted very heavy casualties on the Marines until naval gunfire was called in.  The gate was badly damaged.  Today there is a concrete bunker perched on top.  That did not exist prior to 1968, but was added later by the southern Army after Huê was recaptured.  Rather obviously by the greenery spouting from it, it has not been used in a very long time.

That unhappy time in Huê is gone.  Those who lived through it talk about it in the kind of hushed tones used when remembering lost loved ones.  I know two men who lived through it, hiding from both sides, while artillery blew the roofs off their houses, and bullets ricocheted off walls.

I doubt any of the young people hurrying through the Đông Ba gate have any idea of the horror that was Huê in 1968.  That’s a good thing.

After all, their home is a country, not a war.

A New Vietnamese Blog

He's not a student any more - in fact he is now a lecturer at the College of Sciences, the University of Hue.  I've been bugging him for some time to start his own blog -

Take a look at the blog of Le Bao Tuan.