E.S.L. Teaching Project

William R. Eubank

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During the time that I taught E.S.L. at James Bowie High School in Arlington, Texas, I was always looking for projects that the students could do that were practical. I often used a teaching method that involved students in projects both in their native language and in English. These projects involved writing and translating poetry, developing companion dictionaries for English novels they were required to read, and writing articles in both English and their native language for the high school paper. On several occasions the students' work was published in regional native language publications.

Phong's English version of the project is found here. The Vietnamese version (29K) is in .gif form - so the accent marks could be added - and viewed by visitors that have no Vietnamese display program for their browsers. The article is reprinted as it was originally printed in the Dân Viêt June 3 1994 - that is, there are errors - some made at the time of publication. This project involved many students (offering help in the translation), several teachers (English, E.S.L., Reading, Journalism), parents-relatives, and a community business.

It is my sincere hope that some teacher will read about Phong's project on this web page, will get inspired and that his project will lead to even more learning experiences.

Dân Viêt 43, June 03, 1994, page B7

Boat Building at Bowie

by Phong Dinh

This was chance for me and my classmate in Miss Karen Neal's Reading Improvement Class to do something new, exciting, and more unusual than a regular reading project. You smile and wonder why we do not read a novel by Charlotte Bronte or do something else related to the regular reading subject? It was just because Miss Karen, our teacher, had given out a new project: "make a boat". She did this to change the atmosphere of study in our classroom. Everybody was excited with the new idea and we started building the boat on March 15, 1994.

The students got the rules for entering the Cardboard Boat Regatta at River Legacy Park in Arlington and made plans to enter the contest. They read the plans and then the student designed models of boats that they may make. The model of the boat made by Hai Le (10th Grade) was chosen as the best boat for the students to build. Cardboard, acrylic latex caulk, glue, water sealer and paper tape were bought for the construction of the boat. Miss Neal paid for the materials to construct the boat. The students then transferred the design of the model boat to the cardboard. Students marked the lines, cut the cardboard and glued the pieces together. Students that worked on the boat included Hien Trinh, Ngoc Bui, Huy Dinh, Nghia Nguyen (10th) Anh Luong, Tuan Luong, Hoa Nguyen, Tien Nguyen, Dinh Phong Thanh (11th), Pham Phuong, Minh Bui, Tuan Do, Hao Vu, and Lap Su (12th).

Work on the boat was done during 4th period Reading class and after school. Part of the work was done in English classroom but later the boat was painted in the paint room of the gym. The inside of the boat was painted a white color and the outside of the boat was painted a blue color with a wavy mark around boat that was an orange color. Orange and blue are the school colors for Arlington's Bowie High School. The name of the boat was JBHSR - James Bowie High School Reading. The boat was finished on April 15th. It was 7 feet long, 4 feet wide and had sides that were 2 feet tall.

We had finished a job that everybody had fun doing. With the experience of once being a student in school in Vietnam, I can say that because of poor economic conditions most students in Vietnam do not have a chance to do something that is fun and educational instead of just studying all year.