Tet Celebrations 2020

Vietnamese Lunar New Year, also known as Tet, is one of the most important celebrations of the year in Vietnam honouring the arrival of spring. Tet is a time for people to reflect on what has taken place over the past year, and together with their families, to look towards the future sharing quality time together. During this time of year, there are lots of traditional activities happening all over the country. At the British International School Ho Chi Minh City, we marked this special time across all three campuses with celebratory assemblies and Primary Tet Fairs.

Tet Assemblies

At our primary campuses we were very lucky to have musicians who entertained us with traditional instruments setting the scene as we watched in wonder at the fashion show. Our two wonderful compères informed us all about the different regions of Vietnam and seeing the costumes from different regions was fantastic. To end the assembly, we were entertained by some creative and joyful dances.

Assistant Head Teacher of the Early Years and Infant Campus Ms Sarah Curran said: “As I reflect on the assembly it was great to see children from F1 to Year 6 taking part. All this would not have been possible if we did not have such dedicated teaching assistants. A special thank you goes to our two Assistant Head TA’s, Ms Phuc Nguyen Thi Hong and Ms Ngan Dong, who led the team that made the assembly such a special event.”

Over at the Secondary Campus the annual Tet assembly was held on Monday with both staff and students delighting the entire secondary school with a celebration of traditional and contemporary Vietnamese song and dance. A big thank you to Head of Vietnamese Ms Mai and all involved for bringing Tet alive and beginning the holiday season so wonderfully.

Primary Tet Fairs

The Primary Tet Fairs are a highlight of the BIS school year. Ms Chi Ly, Head Teaching Assistant at Junior Campus said: “The children came to the Tet Fair eager and excited to experience various Vietnamese traditional fun games such as “Bau Cua Ca Cop”, target hoops and the bamboo stick dance. They got themselves ready for welcoming the Lunar New Year by joining in some lovely activities like hair making, nail polish and face painting. The children also had the chance to enjoy their favourite foods. Once again, our Tet Fair was extremely successful. It met our targets of bringing joy to our children and teaching some useful knowledge about Vietnamese culture.”

Over at the Early Years and Infant Campus we also saw lots of traditional games and crafts on offer at the Tet Fair immersing the children in the true spirit of Tet. Ms Thanh Duong, Head Teaching Assistant at EY&I said: “The children were so excited to participate in the different activities. Many had their name written in the calligraphy style, and had a small colourful gift of “to he” or the grasshopper made with coconut leaves. With some of our young students, this was their first time making their own Tet card to bring back to show their family. There were also fantastic games for the children to try such as pinning the mouse’s ear or knocking the watermelons. We hope this experience will stay with the students for a long time and wish you all a happy new year.”

We hope all teachers and students, as well as their parents enjoyed our TET festivities this week. It really is a privilege to be living in such an amazing country.

Happy New Year

Chuc Mung Nam Moi