Page 9 - BB_Textbook

TEACHER COMPETENCE, CONFIDENCE AND COLLABORATION
use and contribute to this book
are creating a story about being bilingual with purpose to grow the future of Vietnam. Bending Bamboo
is a teacher training program of
Nam Can Tho University and Future Generations University. It equips teachers of the Mekong Delta to research, write, and deploy English lessons that draw on Vietnamese solutions to development challenges. The Can Tho Department of Education and Training has supported and introduced Bending Bamboo to Delta teachers. IEEE Smart Village, one
of the world’s largest professional organizations, and ON Semiconductor have generously provided start-up capital to launch this project.
The process outlined in Bending Bamboo, of training teachers and instructing students, aims to be inclusive and equitable. While private secondary level schooling and evening classes are affordable for only a part of the population, Bending Bamboo invests in pedagogy and technology that can serve all students, regardless of where they live or their family resources. With global classrooms, rural and urban students alike can access world-class materials and bilingual instruction.
Bending Bamboo builds the capacity of teaching professionals to create quality education in six ways: biannual teacher-training workshops hosted by Nam Can Tho University; weekly online teacher forums
Sequence of Teacher Training
JANUARY
TET WORKSHOP
WEEKLY ONLINE FORUM
WORKSHOP
DECEMBER
WEEKLY ONLINE FORUM
ONGOING DELTA RESEARCH, TEXT PRODUCTION, AND TEACHER REPOSITORY BUILD-OUT
SPRING SEMESTER
FIELD-BASED STUDY
FALL SEMESTER
FIELD-BASED STUDY
ACTION REASEARCH ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF BENDING BAMBOO PROCESS AND MATERIALS
provided by Future Generations University; collaboratively taught English lessons via global classrooms with native and non-native speakers of English; library soirees and movie nights; and graduate studies in linguistics and development.
Teachers grow their competence and confidence to spread this process and product. They engage Delta students, who in turn apply their learning at home and in their communities. Teachers, who are so essential to the history and future of Vietnam, become action researchers for improved methods and materials. They are equipped to gather data about life in Vietnam, use new educational tools that connect cities and villages, and build a shared repository of lesson plans. Teachers and students, together, model sustainable, inclusive, resilient,
History of Bending Bamboo
1990
• Can Tho University introduces the Communicative Approach
• CA augments Audio-Lingual Method and Grammar Translation
2000
• An Giang University conceives of iC3 and Bending Bamboo
• AGU text stressing Inter-Cultural Communicative Competence
2015
• Nam Can Tho University launches iC5
• Inter-Cultural Communicative Com- petence, Confidence, Collaboration
• Two-year cycle of iC5 teacher- training to create relevant texts
2019
• Prototype grades 10-12 Bending Bamboo text based on iC5
• Global Classrooms linking peer students of rural and urban schools
• Action Research testing the effectiveness of Bending Bamboo
BENDING BAMBOO
INTRODUCTION 9
JUNE—JULY
MASTER OF ARTS PARTICIPANTS ALL PARTICIPANTS