The awesome threesome.

Today I went out to lunch with my 2 teaching assistants. Part of my role is to mentor Tue and Uyen, similar to having a student teacher. These guys  work with me in the class room, work for me preparing resources etc and work with each other, all year long. Basically we have a fab time and make an awesome team. I really couldn't do my job without them, so today was thank you day.


We started at Phu 24 for a traditional Vietnamese soup. Phu pronounced fur, with a rising tone on the r, is noodles or vermicelli with herbs and slices of meat in a thin soup. The Vietnamese add chilli, bean sprouts and a few fresh herbs into their bowls. Ever tried eating soup with chop sticks? The art is to role the vermicelli around the chopsticks and then eventually use a spoon with the liquid.
From Phu 24 we  moved across the city to Fanny's ice cream parlour, on my recommendation, naturally. Fanny's ice cream is to die for. My banana sundae included mango ice cream, and dried mango. Delicious.

For Tue or Uyen the next step is to continue as TA's but also undertake the one year British teaching qualification PGSE at Sunderland University. Of course from Vietnam its a distance course and at a cost of $6,000 rather an expensive qualification to undertake. Occasionally our school pays for a small group to undertake PGSE, so that as we expand and open more dual English Vietnamese curriculum schools, the school has a ready group of teachers in the wings. The downside is that the staff are then expected to work for the school for a 5- 7 year period and could well get sent to the new schools opening in Hanoi. Tough choices for both when their families lives in ho Chi Minh or there abouts.