Khmer girl’s journey to Fulbright University Vietnam

Hard word paid off!! Congratulation to our student – Dan Y Lien Hoa for her new journey at Fulbright University Vietnam. Check the news about her on tuoitre newspaper.

https://tuoitrenews.vn/news/education/20220824/khmer-girls-journey-to-fulbright-university-vietnam/68740.html?fbclid=IwAR1G4DE901VqHmGyZ5fx8crEjrwXpwximCBhyVqQCkqH76jhVxZboD-JI74

From a very shy girl having a fear of crowds, Dan Y Lien Hoa, a Khmer resident in southern Vietnam, made a dramatic change after five years to win over the Admissions Council at Fulbright University Vietnam (FUV).

The girl overcame many obstacles and prejudices to get accepted as a freshman at FUV.

Overcoming prejudices against girl’s education

Growing up in Phong Thanh Commune, Cau Ke District, in the Mekong Delta province of Tra Vinh, Hoa was often told that women did not have to receive higher education as sooner or later they would get married and become housewives.

Local people in her hometown also generally assumed that only men have to go to work as they are the breadwinner of their families, Hoa recalled.

Five years ago, Hoa was extremely timid and suffered from a fear of crowds.

Back when she first visited the EVG community library in her hometown and met a group of Singaporean volunteers there for an English teaching project, Hoa burst into tears due to her fear of the crowd.

At the time, she had no idea why she had to learn English, thus she disliked all the English classes.

Van Anh, a local teacher who founded the EVG community library, encouraged Hoa to try working as a volunteer like her Vietnamese peers who accompanied the Singaporean delegation, apart from being an English learner.

When the project was nearing its end, Hoa finally managed to overcome her fear of crowds as she got a chance to speak in front of her international friends, sharing with them her Khmer culture.

Her English also made progress thanks to her time working with foreign friends.

Lessons learned from failure in FUV’s Priority Cycle

Despite her tremendous efforts, Hoa could not make it to the Priority Cycle of FUV because her English fell short of the university’s requirements. 

The unexpected result let her down.

During those gloomy days, her teachers and others working at the library were the ones that lifted her mood and told her to make a second attempt in the Spring Cycle.

Knowing that she was bad at listening skills, Hoa practiced listening to podcasts all day long to improve herself.

One time, when reading some reports about education, she was sad to learn that the Mekong Delta ranked third nationwide in terms of its dropout and early marriage rates.

Hoa joined the Interview Round, which takes place before the Spring Cycle, as a person full of aspirations.

Hoa said that she would like to serve the community, open more classes for children when she is at university, gradually narrow the education gap between the urban and rural areas, and promote the Khmer culture, which is believed to be steadily sinking into oblivion.

She won over the FUV Admissions Council through her stories and such aspirations.

Desire to contribute to her hometown

Hoa chose to wear the Khmer traditional clothes on the day she participated in the Interview Round. 

The girl told stories about the Khmer people to the Admissions Council in a confident manner.

As shared by Huynh Quang Hieu, an admissions staff member at FUV who interviewed Hoa, the girl aspired to step out of her comfort zone and break down stereotypes and prejudices in her residence.

This does not mean that she wanted to go beyond the limit to isolate herself from the community. 

This girl wished to achieve success to serve the community and return home to contribute and give back to the community and those who have guided her.

According to Le Thi Quynh Tram, director of Admissions and Financial Aid at FUV, Hoa is like a perfect puzzle piece in a multi-hue picture at FUV as she has shown herself as a potential Fulbrighter with her solid knowledge background, teamwork, and a high capablity to adapt to an all-English environment.

Pham Van Anh, founder of the EVG community library, shared that Hoa is a diligent person.

She has a can-do spirit as well as great responsibility for her family and community.

“I believe she will advance further and bring more values to society,” Anh said.

NUS -LKYSPP Vietnam Alumni chapter and ECO Vietnam Group

The NUS Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Vietnam Alumni chapter has successfully organized the charity trip to EVG community Library 2 at Gia Bac Lam Dong from 21 to 23 June 2022. The members have flew from Ha Noi and Sai gon to Lam Dong and traveled together to Gia Bac.

The commune is on the mountainous area with more than 90% population is K’Ho ethnic people with poor living condition. The community library is built and funded by Harry Pham Van Anh (NUS LKYSPP MPA 2016)- President of NUS LKYSPP Vietnam alumni chapter term 2022- 2024 with the aim to closing the gap in accessing education between rural and urban area.  He has supported this project since 2009.

It is annual charity trip for the NUS LKYSPP Vietnam alumni chapter and their family. During the trip, we have organized different supports and event:

1. Supported weekly educative activities for the community library.

2. Had fun culture exchange program

3. Taught football and had friendly football match.

4. Donated 2,500 sgd in the fund for EVG community Library and gifts to the library.

During this trip, the NUS LKYSPP alumni also had informal meeting with the district government to share the meaningful works that the library have done for the community.

The NUS LKYSPP Vietnam alumni chapter and their family members: 8.

The beneficiary: 50 kids at the event. The Library serves 200 kids.

In the end of 2018, The NUS LKYSPP alumni chapter also had a trip to EVG Community Library 1 at Tra Vinh Province. The EVG Community library is also built and funded by Mr Harry Pham.

From 2016 until now, the alumni of NUS LKYSPP Vietnam Chapter keeps supporting these two EVG Community Libraries for finance and advices on the government and policy.

—-

You can support the effort here:

https://give.asia/campaign/help-700-poor-students-to-have-a-better-future#/

VNU-HCM High School for the Gifted and ECO Vietnam Group

VNU-HCM High school for the Gifted has a volunteering project, named “Sẻ” (The meaning of Sẻ is sharing). Annually, they will organize the charity trip to the needy places for supporting and learning at the same time. This year, Sẻ and EVG have worked together for the trip to EVG Community Library No 1 at the Tra Vinh province.

some information of the project are below:

  1. Time: 14/05 – 15/05/2022
  2. Partnering organization: VNU- HCM High School for the Gifted.
  3. Members: 50
  4. Beneficiary: 80 kids
  5. Activities:
  • Organized English and STEM classes. The teaching topics are quite diverse: Families and Subjects, Balancing lesson ( through learning how to make the balanced dragonfly – one of the most famous toy/souvenir in Vietnam).
  • Organized the reading activities as well as helped arranging books in the library.
  • Organized the puppet activities for the kids at the library.
  • Football friendly match and culture night exchange.

Besides, teachers of VNU has successfully raised more than 40 millions Vietnam Dong to support EVG Community Fund. Most of the supports are from the colleagues and the parents of the members of Sẻ.

The trip not only left some impact on the children at the library, but also the students of VNU- HCM High School for the Gifted , through the refection on teamwork, accessibility in education, human kind and empathy.

#ServiceLearninginVietnam

#ServiceLearning

#VNU-HCM High School for the Gifted

#EVG

Happy Sharing and ECO Vietnam Group

THE ACTIVITIES IN COLLABORATION WITH THE HAPPY SHARING TEAM 

1. Purpose

In order to create a meaningful playground with wholesome outdoor activities for children,  EVG Community Library collaborated with Happy Sharing group to organize activities such as making (1) decorative cards with wishes and (2) recycling flower vases from used glass bottles with hopes to reduce waste and protect the environment.

Besides, the team organized a cooking session providing 200 meals, teaching Zumba, and giving gifts to the local children.

2. Time and venue

Time: 7th and 8th May, 2022

Venue:: EVG Community Library – Gia Bac

3. Participants

– Number of delegates: 16

– Number of volunteers, teachers and parents supporting the library: 8 (including 5 preschool teachers, 1 library volunteer,  and 1 student’s parent)

– Expected number of students participating: 200

– Number of students who signed up later: 32

– Total number of students participated: 232

4. Itinerary and details:

 Made cards to celebrate Vietnamese’s Family Day on May 15. This activity attracted not only kindergarten but also high school children. Children drew, cut drawings  then designed their own cards.

  • Made recycled flower vases through a lesson of environment protection. During this activity, each student group has their own mentor to guide and support implementation.
  • A small gathering party was thrown in which each student received a meal. 
  •  Members of the delegation visited local sites.
  •  Organized a fun, festive zumba class which brought excitement for participants.
  • Distributed 200 gifts to 100 preschool and 100 primary school students
  • First Aid kit is given to the EVG Community Library
  • Small funding for EVG Community Library.

5. Achievement

– The library was introduced to many parents and students.. Eventually, many students signed up for library membership.

–  Activities successfully gained teachers and parents visits and support.

– The preparation work of guiding children to the library used colors to sort by village and number. The number of children registered is equivalent to the number of children attended.

– The library team handled the gift distribution for late comers well

– Local volunteer recruitment for assistance was favorable.

– The preparation of the group necessities was quite adequate.

– The activities organized in the program are  suitable for the children. Many useful activities help them understand more about the importance of environmental protection as well as boosting children’s development. At the same time, the series of activities shaped a positive attitude for children visiting the library; they were obedient and made lots of new friends.

Corporate Social Responsibility Program with Turner.

FUN ACTIVITIES AND PLAYGROUND SETTING IN COLLABORATION WITH THE TUNER TEAM

1. Program details

  • Operating time: 14:00 (May 7, 2022)
  • Location: EVG Community Library – Gia Bac
  • Purpose: to create a playground for children with many fun activities
  • Participants:

+ The Turner group members: 20

+ Volunteers at library: 7 

+ The number of students participating:  more than 200

  • Timeline:

+ 09:30 – 11:00: Giving away laptops, visiting local destinations and having lunch.

+ 14:00 – 16:00: Playing games, giving away food like milk, snacks,.. along with setting up the playground.

2. Outcomes

  • Swings and trampoline are set up; laptops are distributed as well as snacks
  • The playground brought joy and excitement  among the students.
  • Many fun games were organized, such as jumping feet, fashion show and other activities involving swing and trampoline.
  • A large number of students participated.
  • The library staff and the preschool teachers were energetic throughout the process. 

#CorporateSocialResponsibility #CSR #Turner

Service-Learning internal training for Van Lang University staff and lecturers

In May 2022, Mr Harry Pham – Founder and President of ECO Vietnam Group (EVG) has been invited to provide the Service-Learning course by Van Lang University(VLU) for their staff and lecturers.

EVG and VLU have signed the MOU to support each other for developing Service-Learning programs in VLU. The training is one of the topics under this MOU.

The training topics consist of:

  1. Definition of Service-Learning (Service Learning) and differentiation SL with other learning and service activities.
  2. Components and stakeholders in Service-Learning subjects
  3. Design and develop Service-Learning subjects
  4. Facilitating reflection activities
  5. Exercises: Design your own Service-Learning subject.

The feedback of the lecturers and staff after the training are very good. They have better understanding of Service-Learning and they would love to be engaged with more SL approach.

#ServiceLearning Service Learning #SLinVietnam #ServiceLeanringinVietnam

Service-Learning in Vietnam – Train the Trainers

This year, 2022, ECO Vietnam Group and Hong Kong PolyU has collaborated to offer the Service-Learning Course for lecturers and teachers in Vietnam. This SL training course will be offered in Vietnamese and English at the same time.

ECO Vietnam Group has worked closely with HK PolyU to bring this course to Vietnam with the aim to raise awareness of Service-Learning educational model as well as create the Community of Practice among the educators in Vietnam.

Service-Learning in Higher Education: Teacher Development Course 2022

This year, we will have a Vietnamese version of Teacher Development Course which is special designed for academics and practitioners in Vietnam. ECO Vietnam Group is the co-organiser of this Vietnamese version. The course fee will be only US$99 if you apply the course through ECO Vietnam Group.

The Service-Learning in Higher Education: Teacher Development Course 2022 will be held from 20 June to 9 July 2022 for all academic and teaching staff from higher education institutions. 
About the course We started the Teacher Development Course in 2014, aiming to provide systematic and on-site SL training. Since then, about 100 teachers from Hong Kong, Mainland China and other Asian regions have graduated from the course. We have received numerous positive feedback from participants and the course is refined every year to better fit the expectations and needs of teachers.

This year, the course will consist of three phrases:

#Service-Learning #ServiceLearning #ServiceLearninginVietnam #Vietnam #SLinVietnam #

LAUGHTER IN KA SA

1. Program between EVG Community Library and Happy Feet

The Happy Feet team wishes to (1) spread the reading culture and renew the bookcase of the EVG Community Library to help children access meaningful and inspirational books for personal development; (2) convey useful and interesting knowledge to children through organizing experiential activities integrating topics on awareness of environmental protection; and (3) create a playground in  which students can improve life skills  and gain self-confidence.

2. Detailed activities

– The number of members: 18

– The number of students expected to participate in the program: 50

– The number of students participating in activities on April 30, 2022: 92

+ The group organized fun activities for students: Divided into 3 playgroups, children could learn about  environmental protection while playing games  and participating in various activities such as: “planting trees; building tables and chairs from eco-bricks, and making the wishing tree”. More specifically, while the water purification experiment  helped students understand the importance of trees, making eco-bricks highlighted the act of recycling nylon and plastics.

+ Game stations namely “Tracing the Elephant Footprints”; “Jump sack”; “Laughter in Ka Sa” and “The connection booth” broke the ice, bringing about a more open atmosphere.

+ The team organized a book reading session, arts performing and movie displaying about dream-drawings. In this activity, the group organized a group reading session incorporating riddles and quizzes for the children, with hopes to give them a memorable time thereby, inspiration and motivation were created.

+ The team distributed 200 gifts to local children. The gift included a backpack, a type of toothpaste, a toothbrush, a towel, a note, and other school stationery.

3. Outcomes:

The number of students who participated was greater than expectations. The game stations were  not only fun and practical for the children but also warmed the hearts of the volunteering team.

In this program, the participants brought specific products, including 3 sets of chairs made of ecological bricks, approximately 500 new books for the library, more than 30 new game paraphernalia; more than 100 souvenir photos taken of participating students and 200 gifts for students in need.

Activities within the program were organized with a clear educational orientation, designed for local children specifically; the members supporting the program were very enthusiastic and creative; new joyful activities were added so as to raise attention.


[1] Ka Sa Hamlet, Gia Bac Commune. Di Linh District, Vietnam. EVG Community Library is located at this hamlet.

Gift presented to children.

#EVG #EVGcommunitylibrary #ServiceLearning #Communitydevelopment #readingprogram

Service Learning in Viet Nam : EVG & VLU

On March 2022, ECO Vietnam Group and Van Lang University (VLU) have signed the MOU for developing Service-Learning courses and programs for Honor program in specifically and for entire students at VLU.

ECO Vietnam Group – One of the pioneers in Service-Learning will support VLU to integrate SL into:

(1) Developing and teaching Service-Learning course for year 2 students at Honor program.

(2) Providing the training for faculty staff and creating the Community of Practice of Service-Learning

(3) Developing International Service-Learning among three parties: ECO Vietnam Group – VLU and overseas partner.

The MOU is signed for three years with full of excitement from both parties.

Michael Page VN and ECO Vietnam Group

[April, 2022] THE FIRST OFFLINE PROJECT IN COOPERATION WITH MICHAEL PAGE AFTER TWO YEARS OF COVID, MARKING THE RETURN OF ECO VIETNAM GROUP

Over the past two years, we had to suspend a lot of our plans to fight the pandemic. That time was never easy, still EVG did our best to maintain activities for children at two community libraries in Gia Bac and Tra Vinh through online projects with great efforts.

Now that life in Vietnam is in adaptation with a “New Normal”, we are back with our first offline project!

On April 15, 2022, the EVG community library in Tra Vinh province couldn’t be more excited to welcome Michael Page Vietnam’s visit. The event marks the first time for a while since the children could all participate in group activities at the library. Everyone in the group and the volunteers joined hands to plant flowers, paint the walls, and renew the library, creating more spaces for the children to raise their spirits as well as determination for studying and developing themselves.

The joy and excitement sparkling from the children’s eyes when participating in the games which haven’t been seen for quite a long time, were enough to warm many hearts, giving the volunteers strength to continue the work despite any fatigue. Even though the sky on that day is a bit gray due to the early seasonal rain, the team’s tremendous enthusiasm could not be put off. A sincere and heartfelt thank you to Michael Page Vietnam and all volunteers; we couldn’t have done it without you.

Last but not least , many new exciting projects are coming soon, so don’t forget to FOLLOW US to be part of a great journey!

EVG Community Library at Gia Bac, Lam Dong

We aim to create a beneficial environment by making books and newspapers freely accessible to kids, allowing them to exchange and study. Despite the challenging situation of the Covid pandemic, our library was recently allowed to reopen after a month of temporary closure to serve readers and build a healthy playground for kids, due to the support and approval of the local authorities.

 Some images of kids reading books on-site, registering to borrow books to home

The library has been allowed to reopen after a one-month temporary closure. Following this news, children are drawn to the library to read, borrow books, and have fun with friends on a regular basis. On weekdays and certain weekends, an increasing number of children attend the library. 

Pictures of kids taking attendance when going to the library 

In the past, activities in the library were carried out according to a predetermined schedule; however, free entertainment activities on weekdays and weekends always drew people in.

Kids are playing and have free-hand drawing

In order to help children feel as comfortable as possible when visiting the library during a pandemic, the library has actively participated in pandemic prevention and control by teaching children how to wash their hands properly and to wear masks when going outside on their route to the library. 

Images of children washing their hands before entering the library 

Along with promoting cleanliness propaganda in accordance with local authority rules, the library always carries out activities in accordance with local instructions and continues to carry out actions to ensure public safety and disease prevention. 

The activities in the previous month have always rigorously followed the “5K message” in order to build a healthy playground for the small ones during the summer at the library, in addition to incorporating the learned knowledge into intellectual games.

Images of children wearing the mask while drawing to prevent the pandemic 

In order to effectively execute programs during the summer months, the library welcomes children on weekdays from Wednesday to Sunday, while also strengthening the organizing of on-site reading activities.

Pictures of children reading books on-site

          Aside from visiting the library to exchange, have fun, and learn together, the children are also aware of and gradually exercise the habit of reading books on the spot, with a particular interest in cartoon comics and books with a lot of drawings. Some of the children who will be starting secondary school next year are big fans of reference books, particularly literary and math books.

Picture of children choosing books they like to read.

Many children actively borrowed books to read at home and returned them on time in accordance with the library’s policies. Gradually develop the habit of borrowing and returning with self-discipline, and voluntarily follow the main norms. 

Pictures of students to borrow books to read.

Furthermore, the library recently developed amusement events to draw based on children’s hobbies, guide children to read books, and always propagate and remind them to maintain their health and prevent epidemics. Furthermore, the children were able to create paintings, play tug of war, jigsaw puzzles, hide-and-seek, wood-drawing games, and other things that they enjoy the most when they visit the library. 

Pictures of children playing tug of war, hide and seek activities on the weekend

The activity of producing roses from handmade paper is designed to entertain and enhance the aesthetic taste of children, with the intention that they will notice and recycle the materials around them, as well as practice table dexterity. Hand and crafting pleasant and near products in a variety of colours suitable for nature also drew curious and eager children to follow the instruction. 

Image of children drawing, cutting and folding paper to make flowers.

Reading books and engaging activities with books, sketching and crafts activities, children gradually enhance their comprehension of all elements and have moments of leisure and enjoyment, attract them to the library on a regular basis over the summer days.

        The library’s activities are aimed at creating a healthy, useful, and pleasant playground for children. The library is not only a place to read books, but it is also a popular location for children to study and play. The library has offered numerous interesting and beneficial fun activities every week as well as every day of the week to draw the involvement of children of all ages in order to serve the activities throughout the summer month.

To assist the children in playing, studying, and relaxing, they have become aware of and regard the library as their shared home. When children come to the library, they always clean up their toys after playing, sweep the leaves around the yard, water the flowers, and even cut the grass around the library garden, which helps the library have a natural atmosphere, feel at home, and bring a vivid colour image so that when children come to the library, they can read, listen, watch, and play, thereby stimulating creativity.

Image of children sweeping the yard, cleaning around the library’s vegetable garden.

Summer activities at the library in the last month not only built a helpful playground, meeting the demands of children’s summer fun and activities but also created conditions to help them exercise physically, intellectually, reveal their gifts and talents. Furthermore, we are always working to avoid the covid epidemic by bringing the library closer to readers, so establishing a safe and healthy living environment and engaging entertaining activities for kids. 

Image of children washing their hands listening to library staff propagandizes and remind them of measures to prevent covid. 

In recent years, the percentage of children who use the library has remained low. The epidemic situation is still difficult and problematic; the gathering of children to the library is limited, with only 30 children permitted to visit; this is also the period when they plan for summer, so most children must work in the fields to assist their parents’ work. Some children have to stay at home by themselves, doing housework. So many parents do not allow their children to go to the library to play and study.

Furthermore, due to frequent power interruptions caused by bad weather, screenings of scientific films by themes in a month or a week have been impossible. Every Saturday, movie screenings are held in a variety of sessions that are both interesting and appealing to youngsters. During the screening, the youngsters concentrate on observing, listening to the questions, and responding appropriately in each session. Each message in the film contains a theme.

Image of children watching a movie.

In the near future, the library will organize and guide more activities such as decoration, in addition to on-site service activities such as reading books on-site, borrowing, playing freely, showing movies, free drawing… If kids want to learn how to use a computer, we can teach them how to use a library, make crafts, and teach them how to use a computer with basic information. Simultaneously, teaching children more about the abilities and methods of reading books and newspapers in order to meet their learning and pleasure needs. We also organize additional entertainment activities over the week to pique children’s interest in the library, while always following local requirements for epidemic prevention. 

STEM, Service Learning and EVG Community Library

Against the backdrop of the complicated developments of the pandemic that hit our country, in particular, Cau Ke’s local community confirmed some COVID-19 cases. To ensure people’s safety and manage to control the pandemic, the issuance of the Directive was made by the local authorities promptly.

Under the new Directive of Tra Vinh province, we decided to close our libraries. Most of the library activities temporarily came to a halt to ensure people’s safety.

To continue to fulfill the mission related to improving access to the quality of education and to enable the children to catch up with the new trend, all the activities, classes have taken place via online platform. Furthermore, the library has brought the library’s existing computers, laptops to the children’s homes. Then we guide them and their parents on how to use laptops and online classrooms of Zoom apps where they can join the Library’s online classes with other partners and volunteers both domestically and internationally.

With these actions, the children can easily access the knowledge of not only the library’s classes but also online courses. Moreover, this method will ensure health protection, reduce their parent’s anxiety, and know the ways of online learning.

After more than one week of the preparation and delivery of laptops, the first class was conducted pretty well. The students actively engaged in the lesson even though they showed their minor shyness because that was the first time they met people via computer screen. The most difficult they had to face in the first lesson was login activities (despite the careful guidance and run trials) as well as other Zoom functions to do the practice and interact with volunteer teachers. Be that as it may, most people expressed their patience and happiness when guiding and waiting for children until they could do those practices well and then moved on to other activities.

Before the lesson, the children would sing the song “Hello” together to arouse their interest and then they would give their introduction to others in English to help strengthen the bond, minimize the gap between them and volunteers. During the lesson, the majority of children tended to be quite shy and turned off the camera but after having been asked to turn it on, they followed very well and strictly. At the end of the lesson, most of them expressed their thankfulness and shared their feelings, thinking about that lesson.

 In June, the classes continuously took place from Wednesday morning to Sunday every week. The morning classrooms mainly focus on primary students from age 8 to 10 years old with a wide variety of interesting topics such as animal names, tower building, learning English through songs, bathroom objects, classrooms,…

 The afternoon classrooms will teach students at the secondary and higher education with the advanced level, the children discuss and study grammar rules (noun, verb, adjective, conjunction,.), topic-related vocabulary such as the bathroom, school as well as virtual reality, 3D printer, Scratch program,

During the lesson, some activities were organized in many ways, in particular, breaking down the rooms – Breakout Zoom, Annotate to draw, answering the questions in the box chat, all the students were highly interested in those activities and shown their excitement about them, which help students not only remember knowledge but also boost their interaction among them as well as develop observational skill and listening skill.

After about two lessons, the students in the morning class were more confident and did not hesitate to interact with volunteers and actively ask people. The class gradually expanded from 10 to nearly 20 participants in a class. Students were not only in Phong Thanh commune (Library) but also expanded to adjacent communes such as Phong Phu, Cau Ke, etc. Besides, students also used computers and phones at home to study with the library due to the limited number of computers. All the children expressed their preferences when participating in the class and wanted to grasp more knowledge. The ability to use computers has become much more proficient, they actively logged into class earlier than the given time to check their attendance.

Prior to COVID 19, the children mainly studied at the library and no matter how difficult they were, volunteers willingly supported in a timely manner and managed the class easier. In the new situation, it is also an advantage for them to get used to computers, have more time to learn and while introducing to their parents about access, find out the information. Volunteers also would gain valuable experience in organizing online classes and managing distance learning.

Despite the complicated developments of the pandemic, the library makes great efforts

so that more classes can be given to students, and they are not left behind.

In addition, three students of the library won the Beyond Borders scholarship. In 6 months, they have successfully completed their study period. Students persistently attended and actively engaged in all the classes. They also got many rewards from teachers and people. At the end of the class ceremony, Miss Hoa was responsible for the host and the project’s teacher. Because of her experience as MC at the Library, she was very bold, confident, and highly communicative in the activities. Some students such as Ngoc, Tram, and Anh Thu dubbed the short film Frozen.  We are very happy and take a great deal of pride in them because they did a great job, they willingly put themselves out of limits, improve their English pronunciation skills, embrace proactive learning and know-how to manage their time well that do not affect their academic performance in the school

Virtual Service Learning with Singapore University

ECO VIETNAM GROUP ORGANIZATION

EVG COMMUNITY LIBRARY

***

I – EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES

In April 2021, EVG Community Library continued to cooperate with partners and volunteers to carry out educational activities, following the Service-Learning model as follows:

1. Online English – STEM Class with students from Hong Kong PolyU

  • Sunday (April 4, 2021), in the morning from 8:00 to 10:00. The number of students participating in the class was 13. They were introduced with meteorology and learned about types of clouds, rain formation, and some of the basic gases that make up the atmosphere.
  • Sunday (April 11, 2021), in the morning from 8:00 to 10:00. The number of students participating in the class was 15. They were introduced with the discipline of Food Technology and learned about nutrition and weight, the main and secondary sources of nutrients in daily meals, as well as how to build a healthy diet and maintain a fit body.
  • Sunday (April 4, 2021), in the afternoon from 14:00 to 16:00. 12 students participated. They learned critical thinking through geometry puzzles and logical math questions. The students enjoyed the lesson very much and actively joined in throughout the lesson. These lessons boost children’s intelligence, logical thinking, as well as improve their problem-solving and flexible computer skills.
  • Sunday (April 11, 2021), in the afternoon from 14:00 to 16:00. 10 students joined in. They are introduced with basic programming through simple games and through creating backgrounds, images, names, background effects, text fonts, etc. These lessons encourage children to confidently use computers and the Scratch app to train their brain and creative mind through having fun learning with shapes and solving mental math questions.

Learning Attitude Observation: The children enjoyed learning and entertainment activities in the classroom, especially online games such as Kahoot; in addition to acquiring social and scientific knowledge, they also had the opportunity to interact, communicate and practice with foreign volunteers. Their participation also benefits their practice of English listening and reflecting ability and opens up the access to science and technology to apply it in life. Many shared that for the first time in their lives, they got to know about different types of clouds such as cumulus clouds, stratus clouds, cirrocumulus clouds, etc.

2. English Class – Life skills with Singaporean students

  • Saturday (March 27, 2021), in the morning from 8:00 to 10:00 and in the afternoon from 2:00 to 4:00. 19 9th graders and 15 6th graders participated. They think about their own interests and passions, thereby drawing out their desires and orientations for future career possibilities through drawing activities and presenting them in front of the class.
  • Saturday (April 3, 2021), in the morning from 8:00 to 10:00 and in the afternoon from 2:00 to 4:00, 15 9th graders and 16 6th graders participated. They got to learn English vocabulary on family members such as father, mother, siblings, etc. They inquired more about the family tree and did a vocabulary quiz to help them learn the lesson as quickly and accurately as possible.
  • Saturday (April 10, 2021), in the morning from 8:00 to 10:00 and in the afternoon from 2:00 to 4:00, 13 grade 9 students and 12 grade 6 students participated. They learned to talk about their hobbies through pictures in English, do English grammar exercises, and so on.
  • Saturday (April 17, 2021), in the morning from 8:00 to 10:00 and in the afternoon from 2:00 to 4:00, 9 grade 9 students and 6 grade 6 students participated. They got to learn presentation skills, using 2 “Cs” that are “confidence” and “eye contact” – meaning having interaction with the audience and listeners and practice giving presentations about themselves and their family.
  • Saturday (April 24, 2021), in the morning from 8:00 to 10:00 and in the afternoon from 2:00 to 4:00, 10 9th graders and 8 6th graders participated. They had further practice on public speaking skills in English.

Learning Attitude Observation: The children were interested in the lessons. After 5 lessons, they were well acquainted with public speaking and learned some English vocabulary on topics such as family, hobbies or careers. The class took place happily, the children were united, they supported each other and responded well in class activities.

II – ENTERTAINMENT ACTIVITIES

The library is still open as usual from Wednesday to Sunday for students to come and play, borrow and read books on their demand.

Besides, on weekends, the library and its volunteers organize activities and team games for the children to have fun, communicate and interact with each other to improve teamwork skill and synergize.

Furthermore, the library is carrying out its mission of bringing books to more readers. On Thursday mornings, the library and its volunteers deliver books to elementary schools far away from the library and play with the children during recess.

Some educational activities at EVG Community Libraries.

  1. – EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES
    1. Law Class

Every Sunday afternoon, the EVG Community Library’s volunteers, who work in the field of Law, will hold classes for high school and secondary school students. They will have the opportunity to work together and find out how to look up legal documents and current documents on the Vietnamese Government’s Law Library website.

Besides, the students will discuss the articles, issues, and content of the Law on Gender Equality, the Labor Code, the Law on Road Traffic, the Anti-Abuse Law…

These lessons not only broaden the students’ horizons and give them a proper understanding of the law but also help them see the benefits from legal knowledge, which will enable them to defend themselves, and spark their interest in Law and Legal Studies. 

  1. English class for core students

With a desire to support students from disadvantaged and rural areas, Mr. Nguyen Van Quy, currently a teacher in Tay Ninh, has been spending three hours every week teaching students from the Library. 

The class attendees are the Library’s five core students, most of whom are in the sixth and eighth grades. The lessons are built on the book Discovery 1, which provides learners with foundation knowledge and helps them improve their listening and speaking skills. 

After three lessons, Mr. Quy spoke highly of the students’ fast learning capacity and serious attitude. However, the recent escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic has forced the class to be canceled. It is expected to be opened once the situation gets better.  

  1. Khmer dancing class

After foundational dancing lessons, Khmer dancing teachers of the Library will instruct students on how to stand and sit, to move their hands in sync with the tune and tempo of the songs. In Robam dance, facial expression is considered the key component.

  1. – RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES  
    1. Gathering at the beginning of the month

On the first Sunday of every month, the Library will undertake recreational activities, review the previous month’s operation and offer rewards for the students who show great effort in their learning process and proactively participate in the Library’s activities.

Moreover, to bring about laughter and fond memories for the children, the EVG Community Library also organizes birthday parties for its members each month. At these parties, everybody will sing the Happy Birthday song, give their best wishes to the birthday girls and boys, and celebrate together, creating happy memories. Below is Ngan, who celebrated her birthday this month.

  1. The International Children’s Day June 1st

To establish a helpful playground for children, help them keep pleasant memories, and ensure their happiness on International Children’s Day, June 1st, the Library threw a small party for over 20 children. They played together, gave one another good wishes, then had a small party. That day, the children also learned about the meaning of International Children’s Day and its associated activities in Vietnam as well as all around the world.

Furthermore, the Library shared and explained to these children the activities it has been undertaking, thanks to the support and cooperation of its generous donors who have trusted and worked with the EVG to create a helpful playground for young students.

Besides, the Library still maintains its normal operation and lets the children in to play and read books. This year, the school year ended earlier so on average, roughly 20 children came to play, read and borrow books each day.

[ECO Vietnam Group] Annual Report 2016

evg-annual-report-2016

2016 it is a significant milestone that marks the difficult journey EVG has passed but successfully carry out various projects with our partners. These results bring great happiness to communities in Vietnam.
EVG sincerely gives thanks to all friends, our supporters, our partners who always accompany with EVG during the past period. EVG hopes that we will continue to make more meaningful projects.

What is OSL?

I. What is OSL?

OSL stands for Overseas Service Learning.
It is a program from Foreigner’ schools and Universities, in which, a group of elected and trained students are send to developing countries to do community projects. This model is preferred as Service Learning. This is why OSL project is called Overseas Service Learning Projects.

OCIP is a not-unfamiliar phrase with oversea students.

OCIP is a not-unfamiliar phrase with oversea students.

ECO Vietnam Group is proud to be the host for these projects in Vietnam since we were first established in 2009. Together with our partners from Singapore, we have made more than 20 successful OSL projects in poor regions and ethnic minority communities around Vietnam to make a better life and education in these areas.

OSL projects also have another name such as Regional Community Involvement Project or Overseas Service Learning where overseas students to come to Vietnam for providing the support and at the same time to learn from the community. It strictly follow the model called Service Learning.

II. What we have done

In each OCIP, our partners and we have worked for months of research (includes reece trips), preparation and training to come up with the best plan and the best solution for our 2 weeks working in the chosen region.
Since each OCIP has different targets, each with different needs, therefore our projects serve various causes depend on the actual needs of these areas.
For more than 3 years, our Singaporean and Vietnamese volunteers (all are students) have done many jobs from painting classrooms, repairing houses to building roads, kitchens, houses, toilets, and teaching as well, etc.

Harvesting coffee bean in Youth Project.

Harvesting coffee bean in Youth Project.

III. Where have we been?

+  GiaBắc commune , Di Linh, LâmĐồng province , Vietnam

+  PhươngThịnh commune,Cao Lãnh, ĐồngTháp province, Vietnam

+  TânQuới commune , ThanhBình, ĐồngTháp province, Vietnam

+  An Hiệp commune, Ba Tri, Bến Tre provine, Vietnam

+  Lộc Khánh Commune, Lộc Ninh, Bình Phước province, Vietnam

Girls from Paya Lebar Methodist School were building road in Phuong Thinh Commune (Dong Thap province).

Girls from Paya Lebar Methodist School were building road in Phuong Thinh Commune (Dong Thap province).

IV.   Who have we worked with?

Universities:

+ Nanyang Technological University
+ National University of Singapore
+ Singapore Management University
+ National Institute of Education

High schools:

+ Hwa Chong Junior College
+ Saint Andrew Junior College
+ Dunman High School

Secondary schools:

+ PayaLebar Methodist School
+ Nanyang Girl High School

During our five years in action, 1,037 Singaporean students and 708 Vietnamese young people have participated in our projects, with a total spending of 286,739 USD for contributing to community service and education. We have received awards and merit certificates from the government for numerous projects. More than 700 Singaporean teachers and students, 200 Vietnamese volunteers, 30 ECO Vietnam Group members.

Teaching English for children.

Teaching English for children.

v. What have we got?

Through these projects, our young generation of Singaporean and Vietnamese students has had the opportunity to experience a new –different world, to adapt into a different life routine to make friends across countries, to understand, learn and grow together.

Thanks to all the life lessons they achieve from the people they served, from their teachers, EVG’s advisor, their friends and also their self’s criticism during the project, these volunteers have become more confident, responsible and extremely enthusiastic with community service.

They were working very hard like real briklayers!

They were working very hard like real briklayers! – Building the IT room for Gia Bac secondary school

AND ALSO

[Until 7/2012]

1 IT library room values more than 100 million VND for a Secondary School in Gia Bac commune.
+ 1 school-yard (800 meter square) for a secondary school in Tan Quoi Commune.
+  3.5km road.
+  5 kitchens.
+  3 ECO Love Houses for the poor in Phuong Thinh commune.
+ 500 trees.
+ 1000 kg rice for the poor.
+ 1,325,500,000VND
+ 3 Letters of Appreciation from Committee of Vietnam Fatherland Front – Cao Lanh District, the People Committee- Phuong Thinh Commune and Association of Vietnamese Youth League – Cao Lanh District.

OCIPs 2009 – 1/ 2013

OCIPs 2009 – 1/ 2013