On a golden sunny afternoon at Dewey Ocean Park, the students from 2 Seoul were eagerly preparing for a special Vietnamese language lesson. Under the guidance of their teacher, the children tidied up their desks to make the classroom ready for an exciting activity: performing a play based on the folk tale Tam Cam.
The lesson began with the children choosing their favorite characters from the story. Tam, Cam, the stepmother, the king, the elephant, and the soldiers were eagerly selected by the children. In no time, the classroom was filled with lively dialogues from this famous Vietnamese folk tale.
Prior to this, the TDSers had spent three lessons delving deep into the Tam Cam story. Today’s lesson allowed them to express their creativity by embodying the characters and organizing fun activities, such as the slipper-fitting contest from the story.
Teacher Vu Nguyen Quynh Huong shared: “Tam Cam is a fairy tale that has been cherished by generations of Vietnamese people. Through this story, we not only learn about characters like the fairy godfather, the stepmother, Tam, and Cam, but we also recognize deep moral values. The story reflects the concepts of good vs. evil, right vs. wrong, but more importantly, it emphasizes the pursuit of virtue and the rejection of evil so that everyone can become better.”
At Dewey, students do not simply receive knowledge passively; they are encouraged by their teachers to critically analyze and discuss details of the story. They are free to express their opinions on the events, characters, and even rewrite the ending as they see fit. This approach helps them develop critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and nurtures empathy.
The second graders presented creative and surprising new endings for Tam Cam. One child innocently shared, “I would just punish Cam lightly so she stops doing wrong, but I don’t want her to be too harshly punished.” These ideas reflect the children’s purity, kindness, and compassion, as they don’t merely view the characters through a black-and-white lens of good vs. evil but also try to put themselves in the characters’ shoes to find peaceful solutions and help everyone improve.
Today’s lesson was not just a simple drama performance but a journey of exploration, experience, and a deep appreciation of humanistic values in life. Through Tam Cam, the children not only learned how to behave towards others, but also developed their sentence-structuring skills, the ability to view issues from multiple perspectives, and above all, the lessons of compassion, forgiveness, and moral guidance. Most importantly, the children had a joyful learning experience.
