Understanding that the cultivation of world views begins at an early age, the NPUST Office of International Affairs invited Do Huyen My, a first-year student from Vietnam studying in the Food Science Master’s Program, to the university’s affiliated kindergarten to teach simple Vietnamese greetings, numbers and food names. The lively tone and colorful pictures Do used successfully attracted the children’s attention and gave them an enjoyable and interactive learning experience.
At the beginning of the class, the children sat side-by-side on the floor while Do Huyen My introduced herself. She asked the children to guess where Vietnam is on a map and let them enjoy a game about traveling abroad to Vietnam. Since the class was scheduled on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival holiday, Do used colorful pictures to introduce the children to the Vietnamese Dragon Boat Festival, explaining that “legend has it that a long time ago, there was a village where villagers planted rice and fruit. Just when everyone was happily preparing for the harvest, many pests suddenly came and ate the crops. The villagers tried many methods to stop the pests without any effect. But then, an old man with a white beard appeared and told the villagers to eat purple rice, fruit and rice dumplings, and to jump and move their bodies to scare away the bugs. The villagers were skeptical, but still did what the old man with the white beard said, and sure enough, all the bugs disappeared! From then on, everyone remembered to do this and they called the Dragon Boat Festival the day to kill the bugs”. The children were fascinated and engrossed by the interesting story.
After this, Do introduced the kindergarten children to different types of Vietnamese foods. The first dish that was presented was Pho, which is a white and tender vermicelli served with slices of delicious beef. When the teacher asked everyone if they had eaten it before, the excited children responded immediately, raising their hands and shouting, “I have eaten it! I have eaten it!” The teacher took the opportunity to teach the children how to say such words as Pho, rice noodles, Vietnamese French bread, spring rolls, glutinous rice, candy, potato chips, and ice cream in Vietnamese. Finally, the teacher taught the children a song to remember the Vietnamese numbers 1 to 10. Thanks to the dynamic learning process with singing and dancing, the group of young learners were opened up to a broader world view and given new inspiration to learn foreign languages.
