Lesson on Race and the American Civil Rights Movement

Both Kathy and I come from immigrant families so we share a strong interest in the topic of race. We wanted to do a lesson on race and racism with our students. I was not sure how it would go because few places in the world are as race-conscious as the US.

I had brought with me from the US a copy of "Boycott!" a play about the Civil Rights Movement. It centers on Rosa Parks' defiant act that led to the bus boycott.

Out students LOVED the play and the experience of acting! Even the shyest ones completely surprised us. They put 110% into their roles and did an amazing job.

The play had 8 roles and a "chorus" part so everyone had a chance to be involved. We acted out the play twice with two different casts.

In the photo: Tri (black) plays the mean bus driver. Anh (white) plays Rosa Parks, and Hoang (turquoise) is the policeman who is going to take Rosa Parks away.

"Buy My Peanut Butter" - American TV Culture

A few days ago we did a lesson on the American television culture. One of the activities that turned out extremely well was having the students pick and do a TV commercial for an American product. We scrambled together the following: peanut butter, insects spray, sun block, Heineken (OK. Not exactly American, but foreign), and hand sanitizer.

Everyone did a great job. We feel really proud of them for having the courage to speak and act out in front of their peers in English!


Ngan, Lanh, and Vy marketing peanut butter. We later made peanut butter and jam sandwiches for everyone. The jam was too sweet for them but the pb and bread were well-liked!


Trang, Anh and Yen explaining the benefits of hand sanitizer to the class. Side not: there is a HUGE market for sanitizing products in Viet Nam!



Hieu and Hoang advertising a can of Heinekein. It was hilarious.


Nhu, Trang and Quyen acting out a scene of women who want paler skin (Vietnamese women LOVE pale skin)