TRIP ABROAD: Annaliese Boyd, 16, Emily Couper, 15, head of social sciences Murray Armstrong, Sorajan Peters, 15, and Natalya Baker, 15, of Tauranga Girls' College are excited about the possibility of heading to Vietnam in 2016.
TRIP ABROAD: Annaliese Boyd, 16, Emily Couper, 15, head of social sciences Murray Armstrong, Sorajan Peters, 15, and Natalya Baker, 15, of Tauranga Girls' College are excited about the possibility of heading to Vietnam in 2016.
History is drama and Murray Armstrong plans to reinforce the point to his students during a trip to Vietnam.
Murray Armstrong, the head of social sciences at Tauranga Girls' College, travelled around Vietnam from April 20 to May 1 to pave the way for a school trip in 2016.
MrArmstrong spent his time exploring places significant to the history of the Vietnam War, known there as the American War.
He returned from the trip last week with thousands of photos and a plan to take senior students on a similar journey in two years' time.
"The trip won't just benefit the kids who will go on the trip later, but also others I teach because I've had that personal experience. History is drama, if you can teach the history with the drama, that's the hook for the kids. If you can bring personal background into a lesson, that makes it more interesting."
While in the country, Mr Armstrong visited sites significant to the Vietnam War, such as the Ho Chi Minh Museum, the village of My Lai and the Cu Chi tunnels.
My Lai was the site of a massacre of up to 500 unarmed civilians by American forces in 1968 which became a big focus of the anti-war movement.
Mr Armstrong said he was involved with the anti-war protests in the sixties so the site was particularly significant for him.
A must for his class trip was a visit to the Cu Chi tunnels, a vast network of tunnels and rooms dug by the Viet Cong and used as as a stronghold.
Mr Armstrong said he had met a group from Rangi Ruru Girls' School in Christchurch while on the trip and after speaking to them about their experience, discovered they had found it rewarding.
Mr Armstrong also learned of other places to take his future class trip.
The trip was sponsored by Active Asia and Mr Armstrong was one of six teachers nationally to get a place.
