UNC Chapel Hill: APPLES Service-Learning Program: For Students

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Development and Society in Contemporary Vietnam

This program is eligible for the Phillips Ambassadors Scholarship (UNC-CH undergraduates only). To learn more visit the Phillips Ambassadors website. Once you apply for this program, you will find an application for the scholarship on your status page.

In cooperation with CET Academic Programs, APPLES is pleased to provide an opportunity for students to spend the fall semester exploring culture, society and development in Vietnam. This is an intensive program designed for all students with an interest in Vietnamese language, Vietnamese Studies, international development and service-learning.

The program offers the unique opportunity to experience the culture of Vietnam through immersion in the local environment. Most exciting is the opportunity to live with Vietnamese roommates, as CET's program is the first US-sponsored program to offer this to its students. Students will be able to immerse themselves in Vietnamese culture and interact with their Vietnamese peers in ways that were previously impossible.

Students will spend the semester in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest and most market-oriented city. Life in Ho Chi Minh City is colorful and vibrant, with high-energy street scenes juxtaposed with several hundred years of tradition. An organized study trip to north and central Vietnam is also included in the program. As a part of this trip, students travel to Hanoi in the north and to cities of historical and cultural interest in the central region, including Hue, Danang and Hoi An.

Term: Fall 2009
Dates: August - December
Application Deadline: Mid February
Reflection Seminar: Enroll in Spring 2010: Tuesdays or Wednesdays, 2-5pm (service) and Thursdays, 3:30-4:45 (seminar)

Mid February: Applications due to Study Abroad
Late February: Applicants interview with APPLES
Early March: Study Abroad notifies nominated participants
Late March: Intercultural Competency Workshop
Late March: Pre-Departure Orientation
Mid April: Ropes Course and Reflection

In the spring, APPLES prepares students for their experience through a comprehensive orientation program focusing on issues related to cultural awareness, cross-cultural service, travel logistics, teamwork and communication.

The Orientation highlights the importance of linking the global experience with local service-learning, application and reflection after returning to North Carolina. In addition to the Orientation, students participate in a half-day Ropes Course and reflection experience prior to departure.

CET's Vietnam Immersion is a fifteen-week program based in Ho Chi Minh City and includes a ten-day study tour to north and central Vietnam. Students study the Vietnamese language for 5 hours/week (5 UNC credit hours total for the language program). Students also take a Vietnamese Studies survey course (3 UNC credits), and one other elective course (3 UNC credits). Students may pick from topics such as: Visual Anthropology and Media Studies in Urban Vietnam, Modern Vietnamese History, Vietnam's Economic Development, The War with America, Vietnam's Environmental Issues, Comparative Religious Traditions, and Vietnamese Literature.

While in Vietnam, participants undertake a service-learning project for 10 hours per week and participate in a weekly service-learning course which integrates academic coursework and reflection with community service (3 UNC credits). This allows for a level of interaction and practical experience that is hard to achieve in the traditional classroom, and thus supplements and complements the rigorous academic curriculum.

For the service-learning experience, students work with an international or local organization, such as an NGO focused on environment and development, a center for children with Agent Orange related afflictions or a training school for visually impaired teenagers and adults. Participating in a service-learning placement allows students to:

CET students live with Vietnamese roommates in a student guesthouse. Past CET students agree that living with a local roommate is one of the highlights of studying abroad, as it allows them to experience local student life and to build important social connections. Vietnamese students are asked to participate in all CET activities in order to create as many opportunities for informal interaction as possible.

Students should expect simple but comfortable conditions in each guesthouse. Rooms typically include simple furnishings, air-conditioning, private telephones, and ample space.

All meals are included in the program cost. Most students commonly eat with fellow students and roommates at one of the downtown area's many diverse restaurants, which have delicious food at low cost, using a meal stipend that CET provides on-site. Students also occasionally have group meals at the guesthouse.

Students are encouraged to participate in the program-sponsored excursions to places of interest. CET arranges activities for students each week, including visits to cultural and historical sites, performances, museums and art galleries. Special dinners, excursions, and other events involve Vietnamese roommates and provide CET students with more opportunities to share time with their Vietnamese peers.

In addition, all semester students participate in a study-tour through northern and central Vietnam. The trip begins in Hanoi and includes visits to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, other sites in the capital and a day trip to Halong Bay. Students may also have the opportunity to attend traditional village festivals. In the central region, students explore the history and architecture of Hue and Hoi An, investigate archeological vestiges of the ancient Cham civilization in My Son and Danang, and visit such sites as the DMZ (former de-militarized zone), Bach National Park (a former French hill Station), or the Phong Nha cave complex. Students are presented with a broad introduction to issues of contemporary Vietnam, thus enhancing their course work in Ho Chi Minh City. All expenses on this trip are covered in program fees.

On returning to Carolina, students enroll in “Connections”, a 1-credit reflection seminar that compares the lives of new immigrants in North Carolina to that of their origin countries.

The seminar explores concerns for health, education and social justice through selected readings, class discussion and reflection. Returning students engage in local service-learning with newly arrived immigrants. As mentors, they provide assistance with activities supporting school achievement and facilitation of bilingual fluency for middle or high school immigrant youth.

To obtain contact information for the current GSL Chair, please refer to the APPLES' Organizers directory.