LookAtVietnam – A three-metre model of historic French ship Normandie that was the centerpiece of a project to teach math, history and geography to disadvantaged children in HCM City is now on display in District 1.

Learning ship: Children view the three-metre model of the Normandie, used to teach math, geography and history lessons to disadvantaged children in HCM City.

Under the project, French teacher Delphine de La Farge used the ship to acquaint disadvantaged children at the Phan Huy Ich Centre with several mathematical concepts, historical facts and geographical features including continents and oceans.

Similar lessons are being provided by both Vietnamese and French teachers to children who visit the exhibition.

Apart from the model of the ship, the exhibition also features students’ paintings of the ship.

Le Hung Quoc, president of the city’s Union of Friendship Organisations, said the exhibition was a good opportunity for children to learn more about Vietnamese and French culture.

The Normandie was a French ocean liner built in Siant-Nazaire, France. When launched in 1932, she was the largest and fastest ship in the world that could carry nearly 3,300 passengers and crew members.

Her design features and lavish interiors have led many to consider her the greatest of all ocean liners. The ship had several swimming pools and cinemas as well as theatres.

During her service career as the flagship of CGT (Compagnie Generale Transatlantique), she made 139 transatlantic crossings from Le Harve to New York and some from New York to Rio de Janeiro. She gained the Blue Riband – the prize for the quickest ship – several times. In 1940, she halted operations after World War II broke out.

The exhibition, organised by the Consulate General of France in HCM City, Poussierse de Vie, the Union of Friendship Organisations and the Viet Nam – France Friendship Association in the city, is being held at 31 Le Duan street in district 1 until Sunday.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News