Letters en route to Lao Chai!

I am honoured to announce that I am currently the mail carrier of 26 amazing letters written by a grade 4 class at Nelson Elementary School!

A couple weeks ago, the CBT Vietnam team came up with the idea to develop a pen pal relationship between an elementary school class in Vancouver and Lao Chai Elementary School.

So I got in contact with one of my elementary school teachers, Mrs. Chan, and pitched the idea to her. She loved it!

On Friday, I went into her class to visit and talk about the Vietnam trip. When I entered all the students knew me by name and eager to get started. For the letters, we asked them to introduce themselves and draw a picture of their favourite activity to do outside. All the students were so nervous about writing their letters. I kept getting questions like “How does this look?” or “Do they know this sport?” Many of them even did the letters twice just to make sure it was perfect!

Check out some of their letters! It seems like soccer is the class favourite.

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Into the schools of Lao Chai

Nic and Ms. Huyen heading to teach at the Lao Chai Elementary School

After some great relationship building with the Lao Chai Elementary and Secondary Schools we were invited to come into their class rooms to teach the children. Nic Alder (CapilanoU) and Ms.Huyen (HOU) went to the elementary school where they taught English to two classes. The language in Lao Chai is H'mong. The children are learning to speak Vietnamese, and have only just began learning the basics of English.


Hard at work!

Rachael (CapilanoU) and Trung (HOU) went into the secondary school to teach the grade seven class. The children were eager to learn and excited to work on the team activity Rachael and Trung had planned. It took a lot of team work and communication, and the students performed above and beyond their expectations.


Trung and a student hanging the class drawings

Rachael, Trung and the English teacher, Mr. C.

The staff at both schools were excited to have us there and can't wait for the next CBT team and HOU team to come back. We are very much looking forward to our next opportunity!

Practicing their new English words with Rachael

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