Aaliyah, our Gymboree baby has grown from being a whiny baby when she started in Play and Learn 1 to a confident and obedient little girl in Music 2 and Play and Learn 4. We've seen her taking her first few steps to climbing up ladders and steps. Her proud mother Shiuan shares their admirable journey together with us in this short Q and A with her.

 How did you know about Gymboree?   

From "The World" magazine.  

Do you think Gymboree has contributed to what Aaliyah is now?

Yes , absolutely! she did "Learn Thru Play" in Play & Learn classes, expose to music and having chance gather with others children around same age. We can notice she is happy whenever coming for classes and getting more active & willing to mix around.

What are the activities that you enjoy doing together?                 

Teach her lesson thru studying material daily.

Can you give me one characteristic of Aaliyah that you are really proud of? 

“Attentive" during Gymboree Classes.

What tips can you share to new or working moms in terms of spending time together?  

Be more organize with daily routine and time management; having mutual understanding and better co-operation with hubby and nanny. We almost spare all our time with Aaliyah after working hours.........and most important be more patient & enjoying our time with our lovely one whenever together.

By Marlyn 

The Vietnamese style of preparing coffee has gained its popularity and fame world-wide. Premium Vietnamese coffee has successfully combined the western lifestyle of drinking coffee with the traditional charm of Vietnamese culture.  As a coffee lover, I followed the trail of local’s way of indulging and treating myself to a good cup of this world renowned coffee. 

Let’s begin with the traditional iced coffee or famously known here as ca phe sua da. The words ca phe sua da sounds interesting but literally those are the three essentials of this addictive drink, coffee, milk and ice. It is indeed sweet, strong, fragrant and uplifting. It has become my favorite ever since I took my first sip.  

A closer look of my ca phe sua da

  These ladies are preparing my ca phe sua da at the roadside along Mac Dinh Chi Street

A group of University students having coffee break while reviewing their notes at the park

Then there is black iced coffee which is pure, black and intense flavored coffee. The basic coffee menu is quite standard across places. Most locals order coffee by color its color. Black coffee is well, “black” or den. Coffee with condensed milk is called “brown” or nau. Then, you can have it hot or with ice. For example, den da is iced black coffee, and nau nong is hot coffee with milk.

Xe-Om (motorbike) drivers snacking on pure black iced coffee at the park

Just like a shot of espresso, black Vietnamese coffee may not become your favorite easily it is reserved for the addicted only. The coffee is not bitter (if done well), but very smooth on the palate and has that liquor like effects. Sure, it can be tamed by adding some crushed ice. But still it can be overpowering.

Creative 3 coffee at Trung Nguyen Cafe

If you are new to Vietnamese coffee, start with iced milk coffee.  I would recommend trying ca phe sua da first. The large milk portion creates a chocolate like finish which not very overpowering. It is normally served in tall glass or plastic cup in three layers – condensed milk, hot coffee and crushed ice.  

 Vietnam’s coffee culture is something so unique and special that you must experience it if coffee is your thing.

 That’s me on the 3rd from left, having my ca phe sua da together with my friends outside Ben Thanh Market 

 By Melza 

It is said that originally, the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival came about as a way for parents to make up for lost time with their children after harvest season. The harvest was done by September, (August in the Lunar calendar) and the parents were anxious to spend time with their children and do something special with them, as well as to celebrate the harvest which is done after spending much time working hard and away from the family.

The Mid-Autumn festival is named "Tet Trung Thu" in Vietnamese, one of the most popular festivals (Tet) in Vietnam, and became very important to families in Vietnam until now.

Thank you to all the kids and parents who joined us in our first Gymboree Lantern Festival. Children and parents who came from different countries had a wonderful time celebrating and experiencing Vietnamese Tet Trung Thu with Gymbo! See you next year!

By Hoang Anh, Gymboree Team

On behalf of Gymboree Team, I, Trang, would like to congratulate Ms.  Sobiyan, our assistant instructor with the beautiful singing voice on her wedding last July 9th 2011.

This was my first time I attended a Muslim’s wedding party. Every religion has different tradition and distinct style to celebrate wedding events. Ms. Sobiyan, the bride and Mr. Yasin, the groom wore their traditional costumes for the Nikah ceremony. The menu/courses were also a bit different compared to other traditional wedding party.

All the food has to be cooked by Muslim people in which they call it “Halal”. They’re a bit particular even with the use of their kitchen tools. All I can say is, I really admire them for embracing their own tradition that is very unique and yet marvelous in their own way.

The wedding was successfully held with the support of their loving parents, relatives and friends.

Here are some of the photos taken during her wedding party:

Hip Hip Hooray! It’s Sobiyan’s day!

Gymboree Team and with their loving family and friends!!!

On behalf of Gymboree team, we wish you all the best!!!

Congratulations!!!

By: Trang To

Have you ever been at a camp before? Go camping at a place which was far away from your country, up to an island. That was my Gymboree camp in Shanghai. It took 5 hours flight from Ho Chi Minh to Shanghai. Ms Leelian and I met at the airport and we took the maglev train to downtown. “It would be a long way”, I thought. We were talking about the train and whoo.. it stopped! We arrived only for 8 minutes because it was a bullet train that travels at 42o kph. Then we took a taxi to hotel, eager to see other people from Asia Gymboree. “Let’s say hello to those who were from Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia! We’re from Vietnam”. We took a bus together to Gym office. A lot of people from Taiwan and China were waiting there. Wow! The Shanghai Gymboree home office is so big with many different departments. There was even a kitchen with a bar.

“Look! Who’s standing there?” They were Ms. Helene and Ms. Gina, the program developer and trainers from the main office, San Francisco, USA. How great! It was an honor to finally meet the important people who developed Gymboree, the Global Leader in Early Childhood Development.

 Together, we all went to Sunny Island by bus. Ms. Leelian always took care of me during the camp. We, as friends, talked about life, especially our daughters like parent sharing time. She stood by me through the play and learn development in the camp.

Those were the great days on Sunny Island. The weather was cool and fresh because of green trees and lots of beautiful flowers blossomed that surrounding the camp area. Ms. Helene and Ms. Gina reminded us that one of the most important things at Gymboree is to have fun. On the last night of camp, we celebrate dinner and dance. I will not forget about the lively performances by the instructors form Gymboree China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. Their performance showed us playful and active ideas through their energy and passionate enthusiasm.

The Japan team couldn’t join us because of the tsunami earthquake therefore we at the camp drew a huge poster of love and support to them.

We spent 5 days on training and having fun together. A lot of good memories we learned from the camp and built friendship with instructors from other Asia countries.

That was Gymboree where a link was made between countries around the world. Thank you Ms Leelian for that valuable chance to the great Gymbo Asia camp. Bye bye camp! Bye bye friends! So much love!!!

By: Hanh

  It has been a year since we started the lovely journey with Gymboree Vietnam!

I got to know Gymboree just by chance when I was browsing online to search for a nursery for my lovely princess, Sisi. She was only about 18 months old and although as much as I wanted her to get exposed to the outside world, I was still worried if I were to leave her at school everyday for the whole week. Among all other choices that I found, Gymboree just came with the perfect fit to my needs – it is the international school, the classes sound very interesting & especially I can also spend bonding time with Sisi.

Since the first time we joined, I already felt everyone at Gymboree is very friendly & wholehearted with the kids. We felt so comfortable to come, to play & to share the thoughts about our lovely children with the teachers & other parents. In a year with Play & Learn and Music class, Sisi has grown up a lot and she has gradually developed her overall confidence, her English, her “talent” to music and the problem solving skill. It is always the greatest pleasure every time I see her enjoy the classes.

Every time we go to Gymboree together I always try to remember some of the songs or games that Sisi likes the most, apply & play with her back home. We really enjoy & bond with each other via those times. From Music class, we have come to have some common favorite songs such as “Mamma Mia”, “Baby Chicks” which mom and daughter can sing & dance along.

Gymboree has become a place for us every weekend. As a “stressful” working mother, I also feel relaxed while playing & spending quality time with Sisi. In fact both of us are always longing for it & I always regard Gymboree classes as the reward for Sisi for being a good girl during the whole week.

“Mommy, go to Gymbo schoooool”, isn’t it lovely? That’s what Sisi tells me every morning. Ok, let’s go to Gymbo today baby. It’s Saturday, yeah!

By: Ms. Thanh Huyen (Sisi's mom)

Gymboree has launched its first ever Book Camp to celebrate the International Children’s Book Day (ICBD) which is celebrated every year on the 2^nd of April. Gymboree encourages the children that reading is essential and fun. Studies show that access to books remains vital to reading development and Gymboree Vietnam has created an environment where kids are free to explore and participate in uniting activities plus engaging a reading experience.

 Why at Gymboree? Gymboree’s unique approach of parent-child involvement contributes to a child’s development and boosts his confidence, class participation and performance to explore and learn. We tell stories and bring them to life with interactive fun games and activities after each story.

 During our story camp, we featured award winning and famous books written by famous authors like, Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. He wrote The Cat In The Hat in response to a perceived literacy crisis in the United States.  In the mid 1950s, many Americans were asking themselves: Why can’t Johnny read? Pulltizer Prize- winning author John Hersey challenged Dr.Seuss to write a story “first graders wouldn’t be able to put down.” And that’s just what Dr. Seuss did. Using vocabulary of only 236 words. Seuss’s 236 words revolutionized the way children learn to read ultimately making enormous and positive impact on the looming literacy crisis in the United States.

 The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss also celebrated its 54^th anniversary and we are proud to introduce this book to all our young ones and many more to come. So don’t miss out our next hot picks from Seusville.

These are the four books we have launched during our Book Camp:

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Giraffes can't dance, this book talks about Gerald a giraffe who can’t dance and bullied by other animals. All the jungle's got the beat, but Gerald the giraffe has four left feet. Such is the dilemma in this British team's bouncy if informative picture book about self-esteem. Andreae's rhyming text has a jaunty rhythm that's likely to spark interest in the read-aloud crowd, in spite of a heavy-handed message.

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Another book was Animal Boogie by Debbie Harter's book allows children to guess which Indian jungle animal will appear next, and the lyrics encourage them to participate in the movement story. The boys and girls depicted in the story, one on each page discovering the featured animal, are ethnically diverse and include some with disabilities.

We also had the book we all go travelling by written by Sheena Roberts. This rhythmic, I-spy journey to school through various landscapes makes an ideal introduction to colors, modes of transportation, and, of course, music. Having them make the "vroom vroom" and "rumble rumble" type noises gets them ready for more complicated speech sounds while keeping them entertained.

Keep on Boogie-ing and oogie-ing kids as we go on another adventure with us, The Gymboree Team.

Below is our parents’ handout that we have included in the activity book during the story camp.

Quotable Reading Quotes

Here are some of our favorite quotes about reading, learning and teaching. If you have an inspiring quote to share, please let us know!

 “So please, oh PLEASE, we beg, we pray, Go throw your TV set away, And in its place you can install. A lovely bookshelf on the wall.” 

            - Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 

 “Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.” 

            - Emilie Buchwald 

 “There are many little ways to enlarge your child’s world. Love of books is the best of all.” 

             - Jacqueline Kennedy 

 “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn, the more places you’ll go.” 

             - Dr. Seuss, “I can Read With My Eyes Shut!” 

 “There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate’s loot on Treasure Island.”

                - Walt Disney 

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 http://www.readingrockets.org/books/fun/quotable?theme=print  

 http://www.randomhouse.com  

 www.starfall.com  

 Stay informed! Check our website.  

Thank you very much to all those parents who supported our first ever story camp. We had fun exploring, playing and bringing story to life with you.   And for those who missed it, do not worry because we will be having more and more story camps for you. And we are hoping to see you all there!J  

   Ingredients:

·        1 cup glutinous (sweet/sticky) rice

·        1/2 cup sugar (to taste)

·        1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa or chocolate powder

·        2 1/2 cups water

·        Sweetened condensed milk

How to make Champorado:

Cook rice in a medium size saucepan with water. Stir constantly.

When rice is ready (rice should be somewhat transparent), add Cocoa or chocolate powder and sugar. (Stir constantly)

Serve in bowls with swirls or happy face of sweet condensed milk on top.

Enjoy CHAMPORADO....  

       Ms. Marlyn Abutal

  (Gymboree Instructor)