On the 15th March 2016, at WASS, we organized a special event which we called, “Journey to Origins”. This was based on a game show and the event ended in a happy atmosphere with many WASSers receiving many individual as well as team prizes. This was an opportunity for students to gain more knowledge about the history of the Hung Kings, and was created to develop a greater sense of pride and patriotism.
It’s easy to see that many young people have good historic knowledge of other countries rather than about their home country. When they were asked about Vietnamese history, they were confused, and couldn’t answer even simple questions. That is enough proof to know that learning history at school only by memorizing wasn’t effective. This method doesn’t encourage the interest of students. At WASS, we always create a range of innovative activities which help students to be keen on gaining new knowledge. At WASS our teaching methods follow “Learn to play – play to learn” – fun contests to nurture and encourage students to be more interested in their national history.
As follows, on the morning of the 15th April, during the first homeroom period, members of our WASS community were gathered to participate in our “Journey of Origins” game show held to commemorate the death of the Hung Kings (March 10th of the Lunar calendar).
The questions revolved around facts about the Hung Kings: legends, famous landmarks, capitals, officials…in the early days of our nation. The questions of the game show were in the form of a crossword and points with participation by the secondary and high school students at WASS’s conference hall. The 11th-grade class won 1st place in the game show and in second place was the 6th-grade class, both classes were overcome with joy.
Looking at the excitement and enthusiasm of the students in the game show, it was obvious that “the youths don’t care about Vietnamese history” theory is wrong. Within each student there is still a love and passion in finding and discovering our national origins. These are a free, creative and innovative learning method which rekindle the passion of students.
“Every inch of this land was paid for with the mountains of bone, rivers of blood and sweat of generations of our ancestors. And so, the duty of protecting the country doesn’t belong to any individual. This is the responsibility, and sacred mission of every person who has the blood of Lac Hong flowing within them.” That is the message WASS wants to give to our beloved students through this compelling historic game show.
