TANGIBLE LEARNING: UNIS Hanoi's Cultural Collection provides hands-on learning opportunities for students to learn about Vietnamese heritage.

Credit: UNIS Hanoi

At a new parent orientation day at United Nations International School of Hanoi in 2019, a Vietnamese parent touring campus looked around the school’s library and suggested bringing more Vietnamese culture to the space through decoration.

“We’re located in Hanoi, Vietnam. But when you’re on campus, it could be anywhere,” says Emma Silva, former Director of Advancement.

“Especially in the library,” adds Hà Đinh, Philanthropy Manager.

The parent, an owner of a local gallery that showcases authentic Vietnamese artifacts, proposed donating baskets to hang from the library’s ceiling. What happened next sparked the three-year development of the UNIS Cultural Collection, an on-campus museum and learning resource to explore Vietnamese heritage.

Initially, the donor and her business partner at the gallery gave 204 artifacts—including baskets, clothing, arrowheads, and rice cutters, representing 13 of the country’s 54 ethnic groups.

“[Next, we thought,] ‘How can we make this meaningful?’ Decoration is lovely, and recognizing and celebrating culture is a good starting point, but we’re a school—how do we work together to make this into an educational project?” says Silva.

COLOR CONNECTIONS: Color-coded exhibits, like this map of Vietnam with different-colored regions, offer connection points for UNIS Hanoi's younger students.

Credit: UNIS Hanoi

The team involved school librarians and curriculum coordinators to develop the collection into an educational project, eventually deciding that a physical space on campus to house the artifacts would be the best way to accomplish their goals. A current parent and museum technician and an alumni parent and designer brought their expertise to help create the space.

The group was passionate about making the museum a rotating exhibition that would allow students to pick up and touch the artifacts. The presentation also needed to appeal and be accessible to UNIS Hanoi’s students from ages 3 to 18.

The resulting exhibit used color to organize information for younger children, featuring a map of Vietnam with color-coded regions, a timeline with color-coded periods, and colorful graphics to represent each of the 13 ethnic groups.

Older students can access the online learning resource the team curated to catalog the artifacts. It presents fact sheets in both English and Vietnamese, which the gallery provided with its donation alongside professional photography. The resource also links to videos Grade 7 made about the Cultural Collection—another way for younger learners to connect with the artifacts.

“We wanted to create a learning resource which could be used by our students, our international community, parents who are learning about this new country in which they've arrived, and local schools when they come here to visit. We saw that this could be a massive resource globally,” says Silva. “Every school should be a bridge between cultures [and] an educational resource for people to learn about their own culture and different cultures. If schools do this, curiosity drives that celebration of difference at such an early age.”

Soon, the collection will be expanding to represent an additional nine Vietnamese ethnic groups through more artifacts.

“[The donor] is so happy; she sees the journey and the impact that her kindness and generosity has given back to the community,” says Đinh.

ETHNIC DIVERSITY: The UNIS Hanoi Cultural Collection features Vietnamese baskets, pottery, jewelry, and more. Soon the collection will expand to represent a total 22 of the country's ethnic groups.

Credit: UNIS Hanoi