School Trips to Ho Chi Minh City for International Students
If you had to introduce your hometown to a visitor using just one object, what would you choose? Ask your students before they travel to Vietnam. A rice bowl, a football shirt, or a bus ticket might start a lively debate. Once they reach Ho Chi Minh City, turn the question around. What can an object on display tell them about someone who lived here, and what would they still like to ask?
For international schools visiting Ho Chi Minh City, two destinations offer different ways into the city. At the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History, students can explore Vietnam’s past through objects. At Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens, they can investigate the natural world in an urban setting. Both visits work well with mixed-language groups because students can begin by looking, sketching, or comparing before they need the words to explain a discovery.
Explore Vietnamese history at the Ho Chi Minh City Museum of History
The museum’s collections span Vietnamese history from prehistoric times to 1945. They also introduce cultures of southern Vietnam and other parts of Asia. For first-time visitors, a map of Vietnam and a simple timeline make useful companions. Have students locate Ho Chi Minh City in the south, then use the dates and places on exhibit labels to give each object a setting of its own. Explore the museum’s collections.
For primary students, try an object hunt in pairs. One child sketches an object from a display while the other tries to find it using the drawing alone. Once they find a match, ask, “Which detail gave it away?” A child who is still learning English can point to a handle, trace a pattern in the air, or name a colour in their home language.
For lower secondary students, invite each pair to choose an object with a familiar purpose. If they choose a bowl, what looks familiar about its design? What do its material, shape, or decoration make them curious about? Have students check the exhibit label before drawing conclusions about who used it. The comparison gives them a starting point while leaving room to discover something specific to Vietnam.
For upper secondary students, ask small groups to write a short museum label for a reader who has never visited Vietnam. They must decide which date, place name, or cultural reference needs explaining. A partner then reads the label and asks one follow-up question. This works particularly well for history and English classes exploring how writers introduce an unfamiliar subject to an audience.
Discover urban nature at Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens
A science-focused school trip can begin with a question every visiting student can answer differently: “Which plant would you want to show someone back home?” Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens offers conservation education programmes for different ages and grade levels. Schools interested in a guided session can contact the education team to discuss a topic and confirm the language available for their group. View the zoo’s education programmes.
Primary students can make a botanical postcard. From the path, each child sketches a leaf on its plant, paying attention to its outline and veins. On the back, they write a sentence that would help a friend recognise it. Back at school, display the drawings and descriptions separately and let classmates match them.
Secondary students can use the visit to practise field observation. In pairs, they watch one animal for five minutes and record its activity every 30 seconds. Agree on descriptions such as walking, feeding, and out of view before starting. Older students can compare two groups’ records and discuss why observers watching the same animal sometimes report different results.
A half-day itinerary for a visiting school group
Choose one venue for this sample itinerary. The timings begin when the group arrives, so the school can plan transport separately.
| Time | Suggested activity |
|---|---|
| 8:30–8:45 | Meet the guide or group leaders, identify the meeting point, and introduce the day’s question. |
| 8:45–9:30 | Explore one gallery or garden area, leaving time for students to ask questions. |
| 9:30–9:50 | Take a water and restroom break. |
| 9:50–10:35 | Work in pairs on a sketch, museum label, or wildlife observation. |
| 10:35–11:00 | Share one discovery with the group and explain which detail led to it. |
| 11:00–11:30 | Collect student work, regroup, and prepare for departure. |
What international schools should arrange before the visit
When contacting the venue, share the students’ ages, group size, preferred language, and learning objective. Ask whether an English-speaking guide is available on your date, which activities require advance booking, and where the group should meet. Confirm accessibility needs and photography rules before asking students to complete an assignment with a camera. For learning tours at Saigon Zoo and Botanical Gardens, the venue directs school groups to its Zoo Education Centre. Check school group booking information.
When students return home, invite each of them to choose one sketch, observation, or object from the trip to share with someone who has never been to Ho Chi Minh City. Give them two prompts: “Here’s what I noticed” and “Here’s what I’d still like to know.” A leaf drawn from life or a question about the maker of a bowl gives them a story about Vietnam they can tell in their own words.