Complete homestays in Vietnam to improve linguistic awareness and cultural competency through social interactions, museum visits, and lived experiences and, subsequently, support the increasing number of English Language Learners from this country.
This learning happened almost immediately upon my arrival in Ho Chi Minh, or Saigon. They use both names, depending on the perspective. The traffic is like nothing I have ever seen. There are many round-abouts, little traffic lights, and those that exist are not followed. Cars, bicycles, and motor scooters all share the road, and the sidewalks are used for parking so people that walk, and there are few, also use the road, so I learned to truly "go with the flow"!
This taught me to reflect on the things I try and control, personally and pedagogically. Many of those things actually limit growth and opportunities. For example, having a class do work silently, puts barriers to generating collaborative thinking and impedes creativity. Being afraid to move forward because of unknowns prevents learning and new experiences. Certainly, I had to be careful crossing the street, but it was more dangerous to try and control the flow rather than move with it.
There were so many fabulous unplanned experiences, but the greatest unexpected learning came from the humbling of the linguistic exposure and my lack of learning such a difficult language. Adding to the challenge, with every new city, my technology failed for 24 hours! I truly experienced the helplessness and hopelessness many times as well as the vulnerability students feel when you are completely reliant on others and their kindness. I experienced gratitude and tears many times as a result.
I have been fortunate to already implement so much as our year has begun and I have a Vietnamese student! I also have Russian, Thai, and Chinese students who have been impacted by my fellowship in particular. I have been able to be more intentional about supporting these students, knowing every little thing is important. They are expected to "get with the program" after a week. I have been able to also help other teachers help them by not making assumptions or judgements.
In a climate of testing and compliance, it is easy to get caught in that "flow". Also, there is a pervasive perception of Asian students as "model minorities", so they are left on their own to succeed. I have used my fellowship to leverage to change my ESOL classes and center the students' needs to feel comfortable and supported before anything else. Building relationships and a sense of community is the most important aspect of life in Vietnam. I am taking that and applying it in my classroom.
I actually used my fellowship to create an experience for my faculty preservice! I gave a test using nonsense English words, and spoke only in French. It was an excellent activity and during the reflection, teachers spoke to how they shut down, wanted to "cheat", didn't like me, became frustrated, felt lost, helpless. Many understood the fragment of the experience ELLs have in their classes. They worked to change how they support and scaffold their learning and support them in a new culture.
The biggest change is that I continued to build community for every class period with the exception of mandated testing days. I was intentional about affirming the students and used community builders to begin each class. I was also intentional about personalizing instruction and seeing each and every student in my class versus seeing the class as a whole, because withthe latter, there are always students left out.
First, the students actually learned each others' names! Secondly, the collaborative group work was easier because they felt more comfortable with each other. It made it easier to also rotate small groups, so they didn't get too comfortable with just one group. Another impact was a greater sense of belonging for the students who needed to feel safer and comfortable in order to learn and engage.
This was transformative in that it made me realize, even though I am an effective teacher, how many times I do "go through the motions" without intentionality. Sometimes it is necessary because when you have a class of 30 students, sometimes it needs to be the greatest good for the greatest number. But, this transformed my teaching to realize that with equity, sometimes, it is the greatest good for one person that should and can take precedence. I was also able to present at NABE and podcasts.