Student Driven Whiteboard Activities

    I'll be the first to admit, usually I write about traveling, but forget about the teaching side of this blog's title.  So, teaching...
    A few months/posts ago I wrote about our trip to the Vietnam Tech Conference.  I wrote a little about what I did.  First of all, my part was about .03% of the whole thing.  The folks who put it on did an incredible job.  Some parts were quite innovative: a cheap conference, teacher run, unconferencing and speed geeking.  I'd loved every part.
    I was surprised at the positive responses I got for my part.  I had a 2 part speed geeking presentation.  Of the two things I presented on, I'll write about one.  I'm sectioning out the Green Screen part for the sake of space and limited interest. I talked about 2 websites I use a lot. First, let me explain my schedule.
     The bell *Ding a ring a ring a brrrsss* at 8:15.  Kids make their way up the stairs and come into class.  BUT!  School doesn't start until 8:30.  Busses and cars are still arriving until 8:30.  What do I do with an uneven drifting in of 10-11 year old students over 15 minutes?

      Simple, I hand the first one (or if it is the same student for a few days, the 2nd or 3rd) through the door an IWB pen.  I have a Mimio bar and a website setup.  I use two websites for 99% of things; funtrivia and wishball. These are great activities for kids to join into, and they are not just time fillers.
     It took about 20 minutes to introduce the IWB to them.  A little longer for them to learn to type - with a pen, on a board, on an on screen keyboard (In Windows it is Start-Accessories-Ease of Access- On Screen Keyboard).  Now, they launch the keyboard from a start-menu pinned location.

    Wishball is a great game to teach place value.  The one linked is for the ultimate challenge.  Simpler versions are available for use with younger kids.
    The funtrivia link I gave is to the word play for kids section.  It has been helpful to my 15 ELL students and my 1 English speaker.  It bridges the link between a game and some basic warm-up activities.  I also believe that my students need a bit of transition time from the native/home language to the mix of languages they speak on the bus and playground into the full English classroom that they go to school in.  I'd rather ease them in through a shared activity than just throw them into the academic world of learning in English.  Although the link points in the language area, there are many other kid friendly topics.  I've used quizzes on Greek mythology and science, of course not as quizzes, but as a "remember that guy in that story we read yesterday about those old Greek people?"
     I hope to keep up post like these in between pictures of our trips.

So, you've got vacation time...

We have finished our term break and took today (Monday) off.  The students have all of these days off but we had to work last week and use one of our vacation days for today.  We did go to Cat Ba island for a night.  We had a wonderful hour at the beach and I had some good sea food and our hotel came with a complimentary in room beat-bass-dance-party until midnight courtesy of the club downstairs.  I also would like to go back,plan differently and do different things there.

Anyways......
We have Tuesday and Wednesday off!  Starting last night Janet was proposing short trips, a day or so in Sapa, Cuc Phuong national park!   Both things that we have wanted to do for a while (yes moms, we would go back to Sapa with you.)  Now here is the reason that I'm blogging and not on a train (and about to finish the title sentence)...You've got vacation time...and so does everybody else!
It is Reunification Day tomorrow and International Workers Day on May first.  It may not surprise you that Vietnam celebrates this day in a different way than the trust-a-farians who used to block traffic in Lawrence, KS to prove an unspoken point.
Side note for the aforementioned farians - This is a real holiday for a real socialist country.  If your parents pay your rent and send you to college that they pay for, please stop blocking the traffic of capitalism/leisure that funds your Tibet-prayer-flag buying fund.

So we are stuck here, in our apartment.  Rightfully so, I have no ill will against these holidays (the residents of Saigon Ho Chi Minh City apparently see Reunification day as a free day off, but nothing to celebrate).  Although, I'm on vacation and other people also being on vacation has really put a lemon in my plans.  To be fair, Janet is the wonderful planner, I just nod and agree and always enjoy the trips she plans.

Long story short, there are no buses or trains that return on Wednesday and we have to work on Thursday.

We ran into this issue when Honorable Uncle Jon was here during Tet.  It was a great, quiet time in the city.  There was not a lot to do, and in his limited time, we wanted to do a lot.  Luckily we had a great time just chatting and catching up, but it wasn't the best time to be a tourist.

*****Addendum.  I just couldn't find the other bus schedules for the holidays.  Hanoi was not as on-vacation as it could have been, just slightly quieter.  I guess I just typed to soon.*****

Isn't this post Hue over due?

Get it? The title is a pun on a town in Vietnam. You pronounce is h-ay. Exhale on the "h" friends and say "-ay". I guess it doesn't matter how you say it. I won't be there to see you/correct you. We haven't posted about our Tet trip and our adventures in Hue and Hoi An. Well.....time slips a-hue (get it???) when you are busy/coaches of a soccer team/reading novels/not doing your taxes/etc. I haven't been that enthusiastic about writing a post. Who is reading these posts any way? Family members and spammers. Shout out to the family members....holla! Thank you for your support. Anyway.....let us go back to February when I was supposed to post this............ Jeff's Uncle Jon was visiting us and his visit coincided with Tet.  You've read about that.
We ventured off to the ancient city of Hue.  The last king's of Hue gave their name to most of the Vietnamese, Nguyen.  They took the name in honor of the king who the people liked.  The history of the last king in Hue and their relationship with France is quite interesting to read about.

  Jeff is trying to fit into the Vin Moch tunnels. The tunnels were used by villagers during the Vietnam war. It was awful. They had to live in there during the war. Jeff and I could both barely stand up and Jon's claustrophobia flared up too badly for him even to attempt the tunnels. I don't blame him. I hated every second I had to spend in the tunnels and it wasn't even close to the amount of time other people had to spend during the war. Yech.



We went to Hue to see the Imperial City. It was so cool. We got to dress up as Emperores and Empress. I really loved this part. I think everyone did as evidenced by our epic photo shoot:

In a word: awesome.  If you go to Hue, visit the Imperial City and have your very own photo shoot.