The course is finished!

After our last teaching practice this afternoon the four of us trainees went out for a drink and something to eat. We went to a place run by some aussies and I eyed up the breakfast menu. It looks good! I plan to sleep in tomorrow as I'm knackered then go and get myself a breakfast from there as they serve all day. This place also serves proper crepe pancakes with lemon juice and sugar so thats an afternoon snack sorted! I don't intend to do much tomorrow. I'm gonna sort out all my notes and then do some researc about the place I have an interview at on Tuesday.

On Sunday and Monday I'm going to brave the bus network and go and see some places further afield. Depending on how it goes on the interview on Tuesday I might try and take a day trip out of Hanoi later in the week, see what the country outside of Hanoi is like.

This past week has been really busy. There were two assignments due for the course plus lesson plans and all sorts of other random things. I spent both days at the language school last weekend, plus I've been there most evenings for a least a little while after we have finished for the day.

This week coming up should be a bit calmer which will be nice. I have another assignment due and the dreaded lesson plans but it shouldn't be so bad. I got most of the assignment done today and I've started to work on my lesson plan for Tuesday. I have got everything done so that I can have a day off tomorrow and go see some random sights of Hanoi. I have plans to start the day with pancakes and then check out a temple or two and the old city gate. I might go to a random market but then again I might not bother. I'm also gonna hopefully go see a pagoda and the cultural palace or prison museum. This might all change of course but I want to go and see more of the city than the bits I see every day on my evening walk back or the area around the hotel.

We had our last lesson with our elementary class today. As it was unassessed we just played games to practice some of the things they have learnt with us these past 2 weeks. One of the things we did was play a board game in small groups and to do this it was easier for them to sit on the floor. Michelle had mentioned earlier that in her experience Vietnamese students really don't like having anything to do with the floor as they see it as being really dirty. Here a lot of people just drop things on the ground and sweep stuff into the gutter knowing people will come along and sweep it all up so I guess there is the assosication of the floor with rubbish. Michelle said that her students in the past have been relucant to sit on the floor and when they did so they would either crouch or sit on things like their shoes or bags so it was quite surprising when it was some of them that suggested we play the game on the floor. The rest of them weren't so keen however so I saw what she meant when they started trying to sit on their shoes. In the end Michelle gave them paper to sit on which seemed to kepe them happy. That was just such a strange thing to see - tell a bunch of students back home to sit on the floor and as long as its not obviously dirty they will yet over here a lot of them really don't want to. I also noticed that some of the students wouldn't even put their bags on the floor - they sit with them tucked behind them on the chair. I guess I'm gonna have to pay attention to things like this to make sure that I don't offend any of the students I teach!

I can't wait for the weekend. It has been mental busy this week. I have an assignment to hand in tomorrow and I've been set another 2 for next week. On top of this I have had lesson plans to prepare this week that have been so time consuming. Thnakfully as tomorrow is our last day with this group of students we are having an unassessed lesson to do what we want. I think we are playing games!! In an educational setting ofcourse ;o)

We have different students next week but I'm not teaching until Weds so I have a few days before lesson planning gets mental again. Will be working on the assignments this weekend to get them out of the way. What an exciting life!!

Depending on how early I can drag myself out of bed I might go and see a random bit of Hanoi as this past week all I've done is walk between the language school and my hotel and the streets around my hotel in the quest for food each evening.

I found a pretty decent italian restaurant recently which does passable Italian food! The pasta's good anyway. Plus they make garlic bread with regular bread rather than the crappy sweet stuff you often get. I haven't tried a pizza there as they are quite pricey compared to the pasta. Plus I sometimes get a pizza for lunch so I should really try and eat something different in the evenings! We have a system to order in lunch which saves having to go out and find something decent. I usually get some rice thing going on - i only cost me 25,000 dong which is about a quid for heaps of rice. Bargain! This place also does cakes - most are a bit dry but they pull off chocolate cake which makes me happy. This gets me through the long days when I have to stay late for whatever reason and gives me something to look forward after the teaching practice!!! This Italian place is pretty good - for pasta, garlic bread and a couple of drinks it only cost me 100,000 dong - heaps cheaper than it would be back home! The best thing about this place though is that they serve breakfasts with bacon and eggs and stuff! Might go and sample it this morning. I have however realised that it is a wise idea to steer away from sausages. They don't taste good at all! They are like the really processed crappy sausages you avoid like the plague back home!

So my first bit of teaching wasn't too bad today! I think they learnt something, and they certainly completed the work I wanted them to. This evening I also had to observe another teacher so I sat in on a lesson by a Canadian guy. It finished at 19.15 so the day was pretty draining - I got there about 8.30 this morning to prepare stuff then each morning we have sessions with the trainers covering a bunch of topics. This runs from 9.30 to 12.30, then we get an hour for lunch. In the afternoon we have our lass for two hours. We alternated teaching each day so that one day we just observe the other teachers then the next we teach for part of the lesson. Afterwards we have a feedback session and then usually we're then free to get on with planning or whatever we need to do. Thats enough for a day as it is but when you then have to sit and observe a class for an hour and a half it just about kills you!

On the plus side, I was observing with the aussie who has been in Hanoi for 6 years and she lives up near me so we walked back and I picked her brains about the area. This country seems quite random sometimes. For example I had to buy a folder to put my notes in. You'd think this would be quite straightforward but no, you have to go find a random stationers as despite stocking electrical equipment, toys, clothes, all sorts of other crap supermarkets don't sell stationery. I looked everywhere for a folder before finally being pointed in the direction of a stationers. Another thing that has taken some getting used to is the lack of global chains. McDonalds and Starbucks don't seem to have got their claws into this country yet. The only chain sa far as I can see is KFC. Also in places like Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur there are shopping centres with stores like boots, topshop, gap, marks and sparks, just places you know are going to stock Western sizes. Most of Asia seems to have caught on to this Western influence but not Vietnam. Michelle (the aussie) said that there are no stores like that in Vietman. Unlike Bangkok etc there are no shopping centres with Western brands and so every year she would fly somewhere else to buy loads of things she needed! I am slowly getting used to being in a city where nothing is the same as back home and the brands I am used to seeing just don't exist. I have however noted the location of the store which stocks McVites biscuits and cadbury chocolate!

I survived the first day of my course! There are 6 of us doing it - there is a Scottish woman who has been living abroad for years in places such as India and Singapore and currently lives in Malaysia, an Australian woman who has been teaching in Hanoi for about 6 years, then 3 American students who are in a similar situation to me. We started the day with a lesson in Vietnamese. It was more to demonstrate to us what it is like being on the receiving end of a lesson conducted wholly in the target language, particularly if you are at beginner level and so haven't yet got to grips with the basics of the language. If I stay here I'd quite like to learn Vietnamese but I reckon its gonna be pretty hard if today was anything to go by! It's all about tones and has nothing in common with English at all. In contrast, when I was learning Spanish and German I could try and relate what I was learning to English to help me remeber it, and as the languages are similar to English in that it's all about stress and itonation rather than tones like in Vietnamese. This was a useful way to start the course as it let us see what it was like to be on the recieving end of the lesson and let us see which techniques were good and which weren't.

In the afternoon we met the group of students who are going to be our guinea pigs on the course and observed an hour of one of the trainers teaching them. For the second hour of the lesson we were in charge but we mainly did getting to know you games so it wasn't too challenging. My first proper bit of teaching will happen on Wednesday when I have a 40 minute slot. Thankfully for this first week we get a lot of guidance from the trainers so the lesson is pretty much planned for me and I just have to deliver it.

3 of the people on the course are staying at a hotel right by the language school, one is living with his dad out in the suburbs and the woman who has been here for 6 years has somewhere she is renting. I am about 30 mins (maybe more!) walk away from their hotel which kinda sucks in that I don't know anyone right by me. I don't think I want to move though as I love my little hotel. I have massive room with really comfy bed, there is a bath in my ensuite rather than just a shower plus I have really decent aircon, a TV with a few watchable channels and even a balcony. Its slightly cheaper than the hotel the others are staying at and even taking into consideration that they get breakfast included plus don't have to pay for transport it still works out cheaper here. I really like this part of the city now, plus I am beginning to find my way around without needing to consantly refer to my map so I'm reluctant to move. The guys running this hotel are really nice too. I also get the daily adventure of travelling to the language school each day. I walk back in the evenings but don't want to walk there in the mornings when a taxi is so much quicker. I am trying to psych myself up to try out a motorcycle taxi as it is dirt cheap (not that a taxi is particularly pricey - it cost less than£2 for the journey!) but I don't think I'm brave enough just yet! Still, I didn't eat alone tonight anyway as in the restaurant I went to one of the staff came and sat with me for most of the time I was there - she was a student and wanted to practice her English! I've also joined randoms for meals a few times in the past so I do get human interation beyond the course!