Recommended Website:
Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage – Mekong Lifeways
Age Range: 11-16 (The whole family can enjoy looking at the photos; further down in this review is a link to another page on this site which includes a few coloring pages also.)
This set of online photo albums provides a virtual tour of traditional lifestyles of people in the Mekong Delta region of Viet Nam.
The sister site describes a trip taken along the entire length of the Mekong River (not just Viet Nam). This is also where you’ll find the coloring pages.
One tricky characteristic of today’s featured site is that the navigation controls change location from page to page. Here is a quick summary so that you will be able to get through the site without difficulty:
On the first page, the introduction runs down the right-hand column, and you need to select a city from the six photos in the central column. Then, on each city’s main page, you need to scroll down to read the introduction at the bottom of the large center/right column, then select a photo archive from the left-hand column. Once inside each photo archive, you need to read the information at the bottom center of the page, then navigate using the thumbnails across the *top* of the screen. Don’t worry, it’s easier then it sounds. :)
Each photo comes with a short caption; together this montage gives you a little taste for the variety that exists here, and a bit of an idea of what makes each of these six cities special.
Challenge for older students: Try to practice your speed reading on the highly detailed descriptions that appear when you position your mouse over each photograph. (If you missed the description, don’t worry. Select a different photo and then return back right away to the one you were trying to read. :)
I was a little disappointed that this website did not include a map, but here’s another website with an interactive satellite map of the entire Mekong Delta through Viet Nam up to the Cambodian border. Mouse over each dot on the map to see photos of these locations. See if you can find the one that appears on this map and also was mentioned in today’s virtual field trip. (You may have to go back and forth between the two websites a few times and read them carefully :)
Enjoy!
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