The Cultural Classroom: How it all started…

In the spring of 2011, my partner’s company announced an opening in the Vietnam office for work on two big projects. After a lot of prodding and pushing, I was able to convince him to take the position and we made the move of a lifetime. Here we are more than a year later and I find myself embarking on a new (very ambitious) project- The Cultural Classroom. The idea came to me last year in my first year of teaching at an international school here in Ho Chi Minh City. I wanted a place to document and evaluate the work I’m doing in my classroom, share ideas with other teachers, and (hopefully) market myself to other international schools. This is my first attempt at something this big, but I am hopeful and motivated to bring a unique take on teaching from abroad. So, here goes nothing.

Since school is starting in about 4 weeks, I’ve decided to get a jump on decorating my classroom because I started having flashbacks of the breakdowns I had last year in September trying to get it all put together. I had my class theme decided back in the spring semester so when they asked everyone last week, I was golden! We are officially the Grade 6 Surfers this year and I was REALLY excited about it until I found out… queue the doomsday music… I only have 4 students registered for next year!!! OMG, really? Last year was the first year my school had ever opened a 6^th grade and I started with 8, went down to 6, then finished with 7 students, but 4, really? I’m not complaining, but I’m a bit confused about how I will do group projects and what not. If you have any suggestions about working with such a small group, please pass them onJ

Anyway, about my class decorations. I did my best to clean out what junk was left in my classroom from June, rearranged the desks, and took all my boards down to clean and decorate. The stenciling started yesterday and I’m almost finished with the surfboards. Pictures are coming, I promise. With any luck, I will have most of it done before I leave for vacation on Saturday. That way I can focus on lesson and project planning during the non-pupil week before the kiddos start. Here are a few BEFORE pictures of my room so you can see what I’m up against. Have a great night!