On Friday morning, instead of going to the school, as usual, 12th graders from Chu Van An Upper Secondary School visited the Vietnamese Women’s Museum. Braving storm and rain, some 200 students arrived at VWM to attend an extra-curriculum session with an aim to improve their knowledge of the history and culture of Vietnamese women.

Students listening to the docent during their guided tour

Different from his initial understanding of the museum, Lê Hải Anh – 12D2 Grade said: “The media have mentioned the Vietnamese Women’s Museum but I thought it was boring and not attractive to us. However, visiting the Museum, I know it was my wrong understanding because the exhibits here are very impressive. I am very happy about visiting the museum.”

Sharing Hải Anh’s view, many students from the 12th grade specializing in French stated: What is interesting of the Museum is not the interesting figures in history as we have learned in textbooks but is the simplicity of Vietnamese women in their daily life and in the war for national liberation. In particular, I have a chance to discover and learn more about customs, rituals, and traditions of different ethnic groups through images, objects, and interesting documentaries. During the visit, students were very impressed when listening to the docent telling about the great sacrifice of heroines who rendered great services to the country in regaining independence. Sometimes, they were very pleased to try the Thai ethnic group’s pieu headscarf, the H’Mong’s basket with straps, and the Viet’s rice grinding. They asked many questions and with good interactive discussions, they have more understanding of many things which seemed to be very strange to them before visiting the Museum.

Following the museum visit, Teacher Nguyễn Ngọc Hải – in charge of the Mathematics Subject of Chu Văn An Upper Secondary School commented: “I find the Vietnamese Women’s Museum very beautiful and well furnished with good exhibits not only on the cultures of different ethnic groups but also on the process of development of Vietnamese women. I really admire your efforts. We organize this extra-curricular session for students of 12th grade to help them learn more about the history and culture of women and for them to feel relaxed after intensive class hours. The museum docents are very enthusiastic and considerate, providing much useful information to our students. In the future, we will organize more extra-curriculum activities like this.“