In 2013, Lycée students embarked on their first Service Learning trip to Vietnam. In partnership with Aide Dentaire Viet-Nâm (an NGO that brings dental care to underserved populations), a small retinue of ambassador students and teachers arrived at the front door of an orphanage in Da Nang. Together with the local kids, they read stories in French and English, made art together, and shared a meal. Next, in the Mekong Delta region, students viewed 28 water pumps that had been recently installed to bring clean drinking water to the flooded village. These water pumps were paid for by fundraising efforts from the Lycée community here in New York City.
The following year, based on feedback from Aide Dentaire, Lycée students collected toothbrushes and toothpaste to donate. They also prepared an activity to promote dental hygiene at the orphanage, and they improvised how to navigate the language barrier by singing and miming how to brush their teeth. Every year they go back, and every year they explore their observations and reflections about the experience through discussion, reflection and writing.
Now that the Lycée is several years into building its Service Learning program in Vietnam, these student discussions from the program’s early days have proven illuminating to reconsider. As we reassess our progress and priorities for the future, we realize that we are grateful, as in institution, to have the time and resources to invest in Service Learning in a substantial way.
Here are a few insights we have learned:
We are guiding students to want to make a positive difference in the world.
Service Learning trips like the one to Vietnam, and our other program in Haiti, are important to the Lycée’s mission. Our school is lucky to be ranked in the top international schools in New York City, and with good fortune comes responsibility. We aim to instill a specific set of values in our young people: courage, compassion, and civic responsibility. Students who graduate from the Lycée Français embark on the rest of their lives as fully-actualized citizens of the world, and our Service Learning initiatives in Vietnam and Haiti are a growing part of what helps prepare them to do this.
As Ines Salvador-Coumont ‘21 explained upon returning from this year’s trip: “Talking to the kids and playing games with them was the best part because we really got to know them.” Ines is one of several students who have visited both Haiti and Vietnam, and she has expressed interest in continuing her service work in college and beyond. “It was really in the last two days that we began to have relationships with the kids,” she adds.
“Going on these trips changes who you are and makes you step back and have a bigger picture on life,” says Zoe Silverman ‘21, who has also participated in trips to both Haiti and Vietnam. “You come back and you appreciate the things you have because a lot of people have so little.”
For alumna Axelle Marcentetti ‘17, who joined the Lycée’s Service Learning trip when the program was still fairly new, the initial interest was manifold. “I was interested in the combination of the cultural exploration in Vietnam with going to the orphanages,” Axelle explains. Over the years, Axelle’s contributions and insights have helped shape the Lycée’s project in Vietnam, even now that she is graduated.
“For many people, the trip is the culmination of the work, whereas for me, the trip was one step. I was always thinking ahead,” Axelle describes her trajectory since 2015. “If we only go there for two days, obviously we are not going to do much in two days. So: what can we do next, once we’ve gained all this new knowledge by going there? What’s the next step? How do we stay in touch? How do we pursue our work there?”
Today Axelle is a student at Stanford, where she intends to pursue humanitarian work as a career. She has returned to Vietnam several times, both with the Lycée and on her own, and she has learned a lot throughout the process.
A successful Service Learning program takes time to build.
The Lycée’s Service Learning program in Vietnam is an evolution beyond what is conventionally thought of as community service. To us, Service Learning is about much more than the end result. It is also about the process of research and reflection. It is about identifying the genuine needs of a community, and then creating a project that addresses those needs. The goal is to instill a sense of civic responsibility, to promote empathy, as well as to strengthen our communities. Service Learning is experiential learning. The system that enables these kinds of relationships does not get built overnight.
“To start, you have to get a foot in the door by finding a partner. You have to feel comfortable where you’re going,” says Vivianne Kurzweil, Director of Service Learning at the Lycée. “You want it to be safe, and you want to make sure the students are well-supervised. In Haiti especially, we had to make sure we had everything in place before we felt comfortable taking students.”
As successful as our Service Learning program now is, that success has not always felt easy or guaranteed. During one of the early trips in 2014, a few of our 10th-graders remarked on the complexity of the visit, and they expressed regret at the shortness of the encounter. For example, some students expressed frustration that they had not prepared better for the language barrier. They assumed that the children would speak at least some French or English, but it turned out that they did not. Even basic interactions required them to resort to Google translate, and other creative ways of speaking, which left them longing for better communication.
Fortunately, thanks to efforts by Lycée staff—Vivianne Kurzweil, as well as Service Learning Integrators Marie-Odile Couture and Florence Germain—the school’s relationship with Vietnam’s orphanage community continues to strengthen and grow. Their dialogues have grown more meaningful and more nuanced. Over the past five years, the Lycée’s trip leaders have gotten better at listening to the staff at the Maison Hoa Sen orphanage (under the directorship of Thuy and Jean, two amazing caretakers who our students are very fond of), to understand more practically how their orphanage’s needs fluctuate from year to year. More focus and time is now given to the small handful of projects that, every year, are identified as top priorities for the orphanage.
Compassion is a constant process of listening, trying, reflecting and improving.
For Marie-Odile Couture, Lycée biology teacher and secondary SL Integrator and the real mastermind behind our Vietnam Service Learning trip, this shift toward more enriched conversations and on-the-ground collaboration has been a long but rewarding journey. When Ms. Couture first started going to Vietnam, 10 or 11 years ago, her efforts were more focused on direct aid: fundraising, digging wells, building boats and bridges, donating bicycles and laptops. And she continues to spearhead these kinds of direct initiatives. This year, the Lycée brought ten refurbished laptops, which will be used by students at the Maison Hoa Sen orphanage. For the past three years, the school has also brought 400 kg of clothes, thanks to collection efforts by APL, our parents association. Additionally, they brought lesson plans and activities that were more tailored to what the house has said it needs.
During this year’s visit, Lycée students re-painted the interiors of the orphanage and continued their 3-year-running tradition of cooking a joint meal of crepes, together with the local children. Perhaps most impactful, though, is a new English language-learning exchange, which our students have worked very hard to design. In collaboration with trip chaperones Mathieu Cladidier, Nathalie Roussel, our students prepared English lessons, activities, videos, and quizzes to leave with the kids to practice all year.
“Knowing English in a country like Vietnam—which has such a heavy tourism industry—is a good way for a lot of these orphans to escape the cycle of poverty that they’re in,” explains John Tasevoli, Lycée art teacher who participated in four service trips before becoming an official co-organizer.
“We prepared lessons about vocabulary and pronunciation—body parts, color, clothes. We prepared videos for different levels of TOESL preparation, from beginner to advanced.” says Ms. Couture. “It is great because the students can use it right away.”
Our time and attention is the most valuable thing that we can give.
“Voluntourism is something that really makes me cringe,” says Axelle Marcantetti. “People need to know that this is a real commitment. They’re not going to just take selfies with the kids, they’re actually going to do great things there. They have the potential to have so much impact.”
So if you are wondering why we did not Instagram our November Service Learning trip to Vietnam, the answer is that we felt a simple social media post would fall short. Instagram is not the appropriate platform to convey how much thought and collaboration has gone into building this service program—on all sides. And if you are curious about ways that you can get involved, the school’s Service Learning program directors cannot emphasize enough the importance of staying in touch with kids in Vietnam after each year’s trip. It’s not hard to send a letter or a video to your friends in Vietnam every once in a while.
In addition, even if you never actually go on a Service Learning trip, you or your parents can help by donating money or books or school supplies. You can also talk about the program with your network of friends and colleagues. Raise awareness, and keep in contact with those kids in Vietnam. Be the next generation of citizens of culture and courage!
About the Author :
Rachel Veroff joined the Lycée’s Communications team in 2018. She brings to the school her interest in storytelling and bilingual culture.