Children practice wrapping spring rolls - a dish with strong Vietnamese identity.
Children across Australia are currently on their winter break. However, the question that many teachers and Vietnamese parents are struggling with is how to help their students and children have fun and useful activities, stay away from phones, iPads, TVs and connect more with their native culture right in a multicultural Australia.
Understanding that sentiment, Dr. Tran Hong Van - Principal of VietSchool, a Vietnamese language school in Sydney - organized a special playground called "Holiday Fun Day" completely free of charge for both the school's students and students from other schools to participate, with a series of creative, cultural andeducational activities.
This is the special point of “Holiday Fun Day” because the event shows the spirit of connecting the Vietnamese community with the local community.
From creative recycled craft activities such as making stuffed animals from socks, crocheting, making glass stone paintings, collage, coloring to preparing Vietnamese dishes and playing folk games such as capture the flag, tug of war, and performing arts such as drumming... the "Holiday Fun Day" event took place on July 14-15 at Wangal Park (in the suburb of Croydon in Western Sydney) brought a lively, connected and authentic Vietnamese experience to the students.
Dr. Tran Hong Van - representative of the event's organizing committee - said that the message of this special event is not only to help children have fun but also to nurture their love for their native language and culture. Through diverse fun activities, children with different interests can choose the games they love.
Always considering Vietnamese as “the language of the heart,” Dr. Tran Hong Van said that organizing folk games and using Vietnamese in all recreational activities is also a way to help children learn Vietnamese, without necessarily having to sit at a table, have books and notebooks to learn, thereby creating excitement and attraction for them.
As one of the parents who participated in the program with her child with the earnest desire to preserve Vietnamese for her child, Ms. Thuc Anh - a Vietnamese expatriate living in Australia for nearly 30 years - could not hide her excitement and enthusiasm. For her, preserving Vietnamese for her child is very important.
Drum performance with the song "Lac Hong Bloodline."
In Australia, the environment for Vietnamese children to be exposed to their mother tongue is very limited, mainly within the family. Therefore, by taking her child to events like “Holiday Fun Day,” she hopes to help her child integrate into the Vietnamese community, get to know Vietnamese-speaking friends who want to maintain their Vietnamese language like her, in addition to allowing her child to participate in useful, interesting games that are “deeply Vietnamese” that Vietnamese children living in Australia normally have little opportunity to experience.
According to her, these are both fun games and collective games that help children connect with each other and connect with their national roots.
Always keeping in mind that “no matter where I go, I am still Vietnamese,” Ms. Thuc Anh said that preserving Vietnam’s cultural identity and preserving the Vietnamese language is always her top priority to help her children maintain connections with their grandparents, relatives and acquaintances in Vietnam.
One of the most anticipated activities at the “Holiday Fun Day” event was making paintings from glass collected on the beach, combining art and creativity while conveying the message of environmental protection. In addition, folk games such as tug of war and capture the flag brought a bustling atmosphere and created connection for the children.
When asked about her feelings after participating in activities and games at the “Holiday Fun Day” event with her friends, with her good Vietnamese, Cherry Pham could not hide her excitement because her team won first prize in the tug of war game.
She said: “Among the games today, I like tug of war the most because it shows the solidarity of the group. I think that if we are united, we will have strength. I find Vietnamese folk games very interesting and make me very happy.”
At the end of the 2-day event, Vietschool teachers, volunteers, parents and especially the children were all excited because the program was successful beyond expectations and eagerly awaited the next useful and interesting "playing while learning" sessions.
Sharing about future plans, Dr. Tran Hong Van said that Vietschool has a very impressive traditional drum team that has performed at many traditional Vietnamese festivals in Sydney, so it will continue to maintain its activities to be able to participate in more community music and cultural programs.
In addition, Vietschool has just opened a completely free program called “Learning Vietnamese with Kindergarteners” for children aged 3-5 years old studying at kindergartens in Sydney city who have registered to study with Vietschool.
Dr. Tran Hong Van said this is an initiative that is highly supported by the school's Board of Directors and teachers because it helps "sow the seeds" of Vietnamese from a young age.
vietnamplus.vn
Source: https://baolaocai.vn/gan-ket-tre-em-goc-viet-tai-australia-voi-coi-nguon-qua-cac-tro-choi-dan-gian-post648792.html
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