Metaphor Class
The last few weeks have been really busy! First, I finished up my 8-week metaphor class. The students were really nice and enthusiastic – they bought cake, snacks, and drinks to have a celebration at the end of the course. One of the classes bought a cake with a number 8 candle, so I asked why they picked that candle. The student replied that it was an 8-week course, so it seemed to fit. How sweet! Other students gave me presents and even a thank-you card. I could see they had made a lot of friends in the class and really appreciated my instruction.
Although it was a lot of work to hold the class on top of
all my regular courses, the students who attended regularly were really nice to
work with. And, of course, I learned a lot from preparing the class and doing
the research. Now, to analyze all the data . . . I can’t believe my first paper
is already due in just a couple of weeks!
Workshops in Southern Vietnam
The first week in May, I traveled to three cities to give
workshops for four different universities in Vietnam. It was my first time to
give big workshops for teachers, so I was a bit nervous, but they went really
well. The topics included Teaching American Culture while Avoiding Stereotypes,
Culture in English Language Teaching, Teaching English Metaphors and Idioms,
and Teaching Spoken Grammar and English Communication Skills.
The cities I traveled to were Quy Nhon, Thuy Hoa, and Nha
Trang, all coastal cities by the beach. And, since I was traveling with my
contact from the General Consulate, we stayed in really nice hotels. It was
amazing – I woke up to the sun rising over the ocean right outside my window
and go to go jogging on the beach! I went a bit crazy at the breakfast buffets
too – after not having waffles for almost a year, I was ecstatic to have some
for breakfast. I was also excited to use the gym and swimming pools. I think
the general consulate people thought I was a bit strange . . .
Although the beaches were nice, the workshops were the
best part of the trip. There were between 15 and 60 people at each workshop,
mostly university lecturers in Vietnam. Everyone was super friendly, asked lots
of questions, took notes, and actively participated in all the workshops. I’m
not sure if they will actually change anything about their teaching after
attending the workshop, but it was nice to finally do some teacher training and
work with some people outside of Hue.
The universities would usually organize a tea-break or
lunch with me after the workshops. This was nice, but being vegan caused a lot
of problems. I ended up eating a lot of cooked green stuff with rice for my
meals (on 3 separate occasions!). Still, it was nice getting to connect with
some universities here that don’t have any foreign teachers. They were really
appreciative for the workshop and open to anything I had to say.
This has been a big year of firsts – from presenting at
conferences, to publishing papers, to giving these workshops – but it’s been a
really good learning experience. I’m getting to do a lot of things I’ve never
done before, and growing a lot as a teacher. Overall, it was a busy, but
wonderful week of workshops!
