"How Do You Say That In Vietnamese?"

"Ms. Montoya, can I teach you how to say 'Happy New Year' in Vietnamese?". This question rolled off the toungue of one of my excited sixth grade boys. Frankly, he was pumped and wanted to teach me important words/phrases in preparation for our celebration of the Lunar New Year on February 12th.

This was my school's first formal recognition of the worldwide holiday and I felt the need to birth the celebration into existence due to our school's high population of Vietnamese students. This is a holiday that is traditional and of importance to my Asian students. And, what is important to my students is important to me. 

Therefore, we pushed the plan forward and decided tp make February 12th a day to not only honor the Lunar New Year, but to also honor our Vietmanese students. The honoring of their culture communicates a desire to know them in the full context of their identity. We are acknowledging those traditions that they hold dear and inturn we are teaching our non-Vietanmese students about a culture that is not theres. 

Here is a summary of the magic that we were able to create on that day.

• Students were encouraged to ditch their uniform for the day and to wear red. We also encouraged our students to wear their traditional Vietnamese garb. We had about 15 students come in their traditional dress...and man, did they look stunning! Their beauty was excuded not only through their dress, but also in their pride. My Vietnamese students seemed to walk a little taller that day...proud of their heritage. 
• Each classroom decorated one of their classroom doors as a red envelope. The red enveleope is an important symbol and practice during the Lunar New Year. They are given as gifts to the young and are signs of prosperity and good luck. Each of the classrooms did a beautiful job decorating their door and encouraging this activity at the begnning of the week increased excitment for the celebration on Friday.
• The high point of our celebration took place during the lunch period. We decorated our "Irish Green" gym with as much red and gold as possible. We covered the tables, hung red paper lanterns, used an ungodly amount of red crepe paper, played traditional music, and qued the projector to play a brief slideshow/video to teach about the Lunar New Year. The lunch functioned as a "Learning Lunch" or a "Dinner and Show" format. The students took their seats and were engaged. Success!
• Followng the video the students  got to come up to retrieve their conmplinentary Vietnamese eggroll and special red envelope. The eggrolls were generosly donated by one of our Vietnamese families and the red envelopes were donated by one of our staff members. Each of the red envelopes had a "prize" inside which varied from a "free dress down day" to an invitation to "help Mr. Caudle lead morning prayer". However, one special envelope had the highly coveted 2 Dollar Bill which is traditionally seen as "lucky money". 

The day was a huge success. The entire school was beautiully decorated. The students wore red and the traditional Vietnmases garb was breath-taking. The lunch and learn went perfectly and the kids were engaged, excited, and appreciative. Although all these aspects made for a glorious day, the most important element was the pride that I saw in my Vietnamese students. They seemed to walk a little taller. They shared their culture and customs openly with their fellow classmates and served as leaders and teachers for the day.

It was a very happy Lunar New Year and I hope that this celebration will be a new tradition for my school. 

Some of my Vietnamese students who worn their traditional garb. Aren't they gorgeous?

Wear your Red. For luck...and sass.

This is Rosa. She is the lovely Dollar Tree cashier. We are tight. She knows I like to party...hence all the crepe paper.

The middle school students made paper lanterns. They love pitching in to bring some festive fun.

The Year of the Ox

These boys are stellar artists. I gave them artistic license over the door.

They delivered!

Lots of crepe paper, butcher paper, and child labor was used to bring red into our gym.

A "learning lunch" to celebrate the Lunar New Year!

The lucky and coveted Red Envelopes.

The Vietnamese eggroll stand! It was the best eggroll (x4) that I have ever had.