I have been having a great time at MVCC. I have had a lot of valuable experiences visiting classes, attending
meetings, traveling, and visiting families. I also had an opportunity to share stories with everyone about Vietnamese culture and to learn more about American
culture.
I visited many classes related to ESL, history and
geography, cultural anthropology, American Sign Language, world literature,
etc. I learned about teaching
methods and classroom behavior. I also had a chance to share a lot
of information about Vietnam through my presentations on various topics, such
as Vietnamese music, poems, crime, geography, healthcare and human services. I
was very happy because everyone seemed to enjoy my presentations about Vietnam, asked many questions about my culture and the Vietnamese people. I was
especially happy because they also seemed interested in visiting my homeland,
Vietnam.
I also admired the way MVCC welcomed the students to the
Spring Open House. As far as I know, Open House is designed to give prospective
students the opportunity to know about the many academic opportunities
available at MVCC and to provide students with the information they need to
begin their path to academic and career success. I believe that this activity
is useful for the students because they will learn about MVCC before they
decide to study here. When I attended Open House, I had a chance to talk to
some people and I found that the faculty and staff are very enthusiastic and
devoted to their school. Everyone worked very professionally and actively
because each center had an activity to welcome students. Moreover, it was a
chance for me to learn how to work in a more scientific and organized way.
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| MVCC's Spring Open House |
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| A table set up at Spring Open House |
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| A table set up at Spring Open House |
In addition to gaining a lot of experiences on many subjects
and attending many activities, I also had a chance to enjoy some American food
that I had never tried before. This experience will be very helpful for me to
teach my students when I go back to Vietnam.
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| Hamburger |
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| Chicken Futa |
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| Chicken Francaise |
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| American Salad |
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| Entree: Glazed Cornish Game Hen with smashed potatoes, sauteed asparagus and apricot pistachio dressing |
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| Two desserts! |
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| Potluck at CCED |
One week everyone at CCED had a potluck for me. I was very
happy because everyone was friendly and nice. I love CCED very much! Although I
just met them twice, I felt that they were close to me. I don’t know how to
express my feelings, but I would like to express my deep gratitude to them all.
That same week, I had a chance to take a trip to New York
City. It was a wonderful trip because I saw many beautiful landscapes that I
had just seen on TV or on the Internet. I took many photos there and I will
share these photos with my students when I go back to Vietnam. I would like to
say thank you so much to Dennis Gibbons and Roman Santos. They were excellent
tour guides.
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| Statue of Liberty |
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| Ground Zero |
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| One World Trade Center |
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| Visiting a Christmas Tree Farm |
Last Tuesday, I visited a Christmas tree farm. There I saw
real Christmas trees; in the past, I had only seen artificial Christmas trees in
Vietnam. I had a chance smell and taste a real Christmas tree. It taste likes
orange. I will share this valuable experience with my colleagues as well as my
students when I go back to Vietnam.
Thus far, I can say that my trip to MVCC has been wonderful because I learned a lot that I will share with everyone when I go
back to Vietnam.
Since I will leave here in three weeks, it is too soon
to say thank you and goodbye to everyone. However, this is my last blog at
MVCC, so I would like to express my deep gratitude to The Board of Trustees,
President Randall VanWagoner, and Dr. Sandra Engel who gave me a chance to
visit MVCC, and my thanks to MVCC faculty, staff and students who helped
me a lot during my visit to MVCC.
