John and Melissa

A new Aussie teacher arrived last week, with his partner, Melissa. He plans to take up a 12 month contract at VAIE here in Hải Phòng. John has already taught a few classes and will fit in very well. It's amazing what a small world we live in... he and Ian were comparing notes and it turns out they have both worked at the same prison in Briarfield, Victoria in years gone by... they know many people in common, (both guards and prisoners)... small world!

Of course I told them about the wonderful students in the Nam Phap Church class, so this morning they came along. There were plenty of students present - all of whom were delighted to welcome John and Melissa to the class. Many of the old students have moved away or found employment and we have a whole new crop of students joining the class, so we began by going around with each student introducing his/herself. Then they played a couple of games and broke into small groups to discuss "The three most important contributions made by women in society".  John and Melissa joined in the discussions and were very impressed with the level of English and the high degree of intelligence in our students.

After class a few of us took them to Sunflower Cafe for a coffee and sữa chua nếp cơm.

Thảo, Melissa, John and Xuân

Dat, Tuấn, Trung Ho, Trung and Sáng

It gave John and Melissa a chance to get to know some of the crew. Melissa has done her TESOL International Teacher's Licence too, but isn't confident yet to put her hand up for a teaching post, so she will begin with a class on Thursday mornings. I know that she'll find these classes are stress free and very enjoyable... a great way to break the ice and get some teaching experience.