Table Setting Activity

Lesson Objective: To help people better understand Vietnamese culture during the French colonial period, they will recreate their own dining table using images from the Technique. This exercise will allow them to explore the influence of French colonizers and critically consider what information might be missing.

One image in the Technique is Repas au dehors. (Thực [ăn] cao lâu, Meal outside). This image features five individuals sitting around a dining table engaging in conversation while eating an elaborate meal. 

The table on the top seems to feature a shared entree that the diners bring to their own bowls to eat with their chopsticks. The table below features what appears to be some type of dish feature a bowl. Could be soup?

How would you form your dining table? What can you learn from using the images from the technique and the background information on these images?

Print out the following worksheets and  form your own dining table? What would you include and why? What would you like to do differently than what the Technique did. Get blank sheets of paper so you can draw your own additions!

• As you are creating their dining table, ask yourselves:

  • What information is missing from the images? What do you wonder about the people who are eating? 

  • When looking at the items that could go on the table, what do you notice about some of the utensils or food items?