First Class!

Yesterday I had my first class in Vietnam. I have taught for over 30 years and I felt like it was the first day of teaching again! I was in a semi-panic. There are so many unknowns....kids level of expertise; language; operating procedures; computer issues. And, this is only my "short list" of concerns. Needless to say, I survived Day 1. I think I did ok.... but it was hard to tell.

THE CLASSROOM
Think 1950's style room. The room was average classroom size, but had a L-O-N-G conference table in the center of the room. Ten high backed wooden chairs on each side and two more on each end. Along each side of the room are rows of computer stations. I think there must have been about 40 computer stations in the room. If you wondered what happened to all the old 15 inch CRT style monitors we all threw out years ago....wonder no more! They are here!

The front of the classroom had a large screen projector - almost looked like a smart board. But it seemed old and could not work with my computer. I used a regular computer projector. They have two of them for the department.

THE STUDENTS
All the students dump their shoes outside the door. I like this! I dumped my sandals and taught in bare feet! My class consists of about 30 students. I have about fifteen 4th year students (last year of school before they graduate) and maybe 8 young lecturers. All girls and only one lone boy in the class. As far as I can tell, a young lecturer is a student who has finished their undergraduate degree and either has or is working on a MA degree. Then I had some MA students that sat in the class...probably just checking me out. I also had one or two faculty (people working on their PhD's) also sitting in the class.

All the students dress more formally than US students. They typically wear black or tan long pants and if a guy, a white shirt. Girls seem to wear short sleeve, fancy types of tops. No belly buttons visible or tattoos, piercings, cleavage, bare shoulders or anything else showing. This was nice. No one was eating their lunch...munching on corn nuts.... drinking water or even reading the paper while I taught. Very formal setting.

THE TEACHER-me!
Well..... I think I passed "muster". I dressed very nicely--following Vietnamese tradition--wore black pants and a loose white shirt and of course bare feet! I thought the bare foot "look" made my outfit!

I am teaching a class in Research Methods. I have taught this at MU several times and thus have some of the content already prepared. But that is about where familiar things end. The students really do not have a good understanding of English. So, the Vice-Chair of Geography attends class and translates for me. Now....this is somewhat of a challenge. I send her my powerpoint materials before class but I don't have any idea what is being said by her or the students. Fun, huh? I do have to carefully go though my materials and try to use basic and clear terms...nothing fancy. So Cyclical Research Process becomes Research moves in a circle. Philosophical Foundations becomes Basics of ..... whatever. Anyway, I have to think carefully about what I use and try to use the most basic of terms.

So.....I survived and hope I can keep things running somewhat successfully for the next 12-13 weeks. One thing I find interesting is the concept of "Department" here. In geography they have a main office; a chair's office (always locked!) and some type of a meeting room that people use to prepare for class. That is it as far as I can tell. None of the faculty seem to have offices, nor do they work in the "department". When I first arrived I looked for the traditional US style of space...and of course, I didn't find it. That basically is my mantra here. Whatever I expect....isn't there. The challenge is not to get pre-conceived notions about things. I would go to geography to talk to people...the door is bolted and no one is around. It is 2pm in the afternoon. Where are they? My class was at 2pm. I walked over to the department about 1:20pm. The doors were bolted and everything was locked down tight. People didn't start arriving until about 1:50pm. So-- they run on a different clock here....and in a different way. I am glad I have a semester to figure out how this place works.

So.......that's it for now.