Vietnam
A Voice from Vietnam
What's it like to be a kid in Vietnam? Send your questions to an expert: 11-year-old Tran Vu Hong Son of Hanoi, Vietnam's capital city. We'll forward them to him and post your Q&A's in the weeks ahead.See scenes from Son's life
A Day in the Life
We asked 11-year-old Tran Vu Hong Son to tell us about a typical day in his life. Here's what he wrote:
6:30 a.m. My mother calls me, and I wash, dress in my school uniform and then go downstairs. My bedroom is on the fourth floor of our house. Most houses in Hanoi are narrow but very tall, so one family can be on four floors.
6:40 a.m. We have a light breakfast. I love sausage with French bread.
7:15 a.m. On her way to work, my mother gives me a ride to school on her motorcycle. Not many people can afford cars here.
7:45 a.m. We start the day studying Vietnamese grammar and language, then math. There are 57 students in my class. I'm lucky to sit in one of the front rows so that I can hear the teacher.
9:25 a.m. Recess! My favorite time. I run outside to play soccer with my friends.
10 a.m. Back to the classroom for morality lessons. We learn things like showing respect to our elders and to ethnic minorities.
10:40 a.m. History. We've studied the war for independence from France but not the American War yet. My grandfather fought against the Americans. He doesn't talk about it much.
11:20 a.m. School is out! Some kids go home, but I go to my teacher's house for after-school study. My parents are busy working and they want me to study hard. About 25 kids go to my teacher's house. She gives us cabbage, pork and noodles for lunch. Then we take naps, as most people do after lunch.
2 p.m. Our teacher gives us extra tutoring.
5 p.m. My mother picks me up.
5:30 p.m. I help my mother clean the floors. It can get very dusty, but in Vietnam no one wears shoes inside the house. It's rude.
6 p.m. My only other chore is to feed my cat, Bon. He can't leave our house because someone might catch him and sell him to a restaurant. I don't ever eat cat myself, but a lot of people in Vietnam do, so Bon and I have to be careful.
7 p.m. Our family eats dinner in the kitchen on the second floor, and we talk about our day.
8 p.m. I have a lot of homework. Sometimes it takes me two hours to finish.
10:30 p.m. I go to my own room for bed. Tomorrow, I'll get up and do it all over again.
