Closing Ceremony!

We had a closing ceremony/graduation for all of the students at the end of the program.  Throughout the program some of the teachers worked on things like short plays, a fashion show, and songs for the students to perform.  All of the parents were invited and we all packed into the auditorium.  All of the students looked adorable in their blue graduation caps and gowns. 

I was amazed at everything that was put together during the four short weeks we had with the students.  They performed The Ugly Duckling, and The Boy Who Cried Wolf.  They sang Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Heal the World, and did the Hokey Pokey.

I put together questions for the students to answer about things we learned in science and the environment.  For each question there was a prize (a bag of chips) and the students must have been very hungry because they were swarming me trying to get picked on.  All of the students raised their hands without even reading the question because they wanted to get the prize.  It was really funny watching them try and come up with an answer when they were put on the spot. 

We had a special performance by a level one student named Megan who sang Rolling the Deep by Adele.  I was very impressed- she just might be the next Vietnamese Idol! 

The best part about the closing ceremony was being able to meet some of the parents.  All of the parents were so grateful and told us how much they appreciated us being there to teach.  They all expressed that the kids had fun and learned a lot and it was very nice to get that affirmation. 

At the end of the closing ceremony I was so sad.  I still had one more day to teach the students but I realized that I was going to miss them and miss hearing “teacha” 100s of times a day.  It was such a bittersweet feeling.  

Part of the Boy Who Cried Wolf

 Megan Singing!

Volcano Fail

What better way to end a month of lessons than by exploding a volcano?!  I had big expectations for this lesson I thought it would be the students’ favorite.  Well I was wrong. 

My Monday morning started at 7:30 looking for someone with the key to unlock the office that held my supplies.  I was finally able to get the door open around 8am and I ran upstairs to the teachers lounge to begin making the dough for the mountain of the volcano.  I was about half way done making the mountain when the bell rang for class to begin.  Great start to the day!  So I transferred all of my supplies and my half of volcano to my classroom and I instantly had 25 students surrounding me, “Teacha what is it, what is it- volcano?”  Wishing I had time for a second cup of coffee I got everyone in their seats and began my lesson, while my co-teacher continued to make the mountain.  I quickly realized that our hard efforts to make the mountain were failing – the dough was too heavy and continually fell off of the water bottle.  No big deal, the best part is the eruption right?  I told the students to gather around and I followed the instructions of mixing water with vinegar and baking soda to make the volcano erupt.  I have never seen this experiment completed before and I was expecting the “lava” to come spurting out of the bottle and to flow quickly down the sides.  Not my volcano the “lava” kind of just flowed leisurely down the water bottle at my first attempt.  As I continued making the volcanoes in all of my other classes I got better and better at adding the right mixture of ingredients to make it more exciting.  By my last few classes I asked for a volunteer, put all of the ingredients in the bottle and put the cap back on.  Then, I asked my volunteer to shake the bottle and open it.  This created a much larger eruption that was much more fun to watch because of the build up of gases.  I went back to my room after these lessons feeling defeated so I turned to the internet and watched a few videos of others doing the volcano experiment. They all had the same result I did. It turns out that my lesson was not as great of failure as I thought it was (besides the mountain fail).  I just had too high of expectations for my volcano! 

Failed mountain.

Julie saying goodbye! 

 Looking at these pictures it seems like the students liked the lesson a lot more than I originally thought they did. I miss these smiling faces!