Playing the part

So far, all of the activities that I've planned for my 3rd year speaking class have been group activities. While reshuffling the class has brought out some of the wallflowers, the fact that they were in groups had let some people fly under the radar. Today, half of the class members received a character, and the other half were interviewers. Instead of letting them prep a script or a story, this activity made students think on their feet and speak spontaneously and casually. Moreover, I got to hear every single student speak. I discovered some students that I'd never noticed were in my class, and I discovered some more talented students who hadn't previously stepped into the limelight. I was happy to see the more advanced students draw out their less confident peers during the interviews.

I had literally never heard this guy speak until today.

I've noticed that my students often have a hard time with activities that require them to be imaginative or creative. It's not that they don't want to do them; they just can't come up with much. I wonder whether this is because of language limitation or because it's not something that is usually asked of them. Probably a combination of both. While most of the pairs stuck with the basics in the interviews, some of them really impressed my by getting into character and even sharing invented childhood stories. One of them, who was supposed to be a famous singer, even burst into song on demand.

Như, the class's singing sensation

In the afternoon, Morena and I went to a new place for lunch. It was nothing special, but after four weeks of cycling through the same food stands except when Trang takes me elsewhere, it was nice to have a change. On the way back, emboldened by our first foray off the beaten path, I stopped at another new place for an after lunch refreshment: sinh tố bơ, an avocado smoothie. I didn't even know if they served it at this cafe, but I successfully inquired and ordered.

Back to basics: rice, pork, and green beans

Avocado smoothie, an acquired taste

Last night, after English club, I asked some students if they would like to join me and Morena for dinner tonight. We met up today at five, and they took us to a nearby place for phơ chay, vegetarian phơ. It was tasty, but I wasn't a big fan of the crouton-esque tofu squiggles.

Last time I went out to dinner with these students I expressed curiosity in bò lá lốp, and we had agreed that next time we would try it, so after our phơ we crossed the street for round two. Bò lá lốp is beef wrapped in leaves and then grilled. I'd walked past the bò lá lốp place several times and whenever the guy was grilling it always smelled really good.  The bò lá lốp itself is pretty small, so I thought it was just a small snack, but I discovered that there was much more to the dish. It ended up being a full meal in it's own right and we had a fair bit of leftovers.

Bad picture, good food

Take a sheet of rice paper, add some greens, some vermicelli, some cucumber and carrot and starfruit, then the bò lá lốp, and then you roll it up like a spring roll and dip it in brown sauce. Repeat. I'm definitely adding this to the circulation of dinner options.