Summer English Program - 2007

This is the second time Education For The Poor (EFTP) has sponsored the Summer English program in Viet Nam. This year sessions were conducted in Saigon, Hue, and Ha Noi with about 600 students attending the sessions.

EFTP’s first Summer English program was organized in the summer of 2006 in Saigon with one volunteered teacher teaching conversational English to about 100 students. Because of the dedication of the inaugural teacher Miss Jaclene Huyen, the program was a smash hit thus generating greater demand for the program in summer of 2007. To satisfy this demand, EFTP expanded the program by sending six volunteered teachers to conduct classes in all three regions of Viet Nam - North, Central, and South.

EFTP provided financial assistance to the volunteers by paying for their rooms, meals, and transportation costs during the five weeks duration of the program. The volunteers paid for their round trip airplane tickets between U.S. and Viet Nam. EFTP also paid for all expenses to conduct the sessions such as printing of learning materials, or extracurricular activities such as the cultural field trip (to build rapport between teachers and students while at the same time giving the students an environment to practice their English speaking skills).

EFTP provided the following learning materials that were used in the program:

• Manuals: "English Grammar", "International Phonetic Handbook"
• Books on CD (3 Disney books, How To Get Your Point Across In 30 Seconds Or Less (to help the students in their interviews for jobs), Full Steam Ahead (to help the students set goals and vision for their future)
• Books: Let’s Go Picture Dictionary (for beginners), People Like Us Too (this book contains topics for conversation exercises for intermediate and advanced levels), A Year In The Life Of An ESL Student (for advanced and intermediate levels), Hooked On Phonics (for all levels)
• DVD: English Pronunciation and Vocabulary (for all levels)
• Computer Disk: Learn And Speak American English (Learning exercises for intermediate and advanced levels)

EFTP worked in cooperation with contacts in Viet Nam such as Thach Bich Center (Ha Noi), Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer in Ha Noi and Saigon, Archdiocese of Hue, Sacred Heart Congregation (Hue), Thien Am Center for the Blind (Saigon) to conduct the sessions. These contacts provided personnel and facility support to:

• Schedule classrooms; obtain teaching and audio equipments
• Advertise the program to students in the neighborhood
• Register, evaluate, and group students by English skill level (Group A – beginner, Group B – intermediate, and Group C – advanced).
• Print and distribute learning materials to students
• Arrange for rooms and meals, and ensure security for the volunteered teachers
• Provided teaching assistances for the classes
• Supervise the classrooms, and coordinate all activities during the program

The teachers were all volunteers who have been carefully selected by EFTP to ensure that they would be dedicated to leading students to achieve the main goal of the program. Six teachers came to EFTP from diverse educational and professional backgrounds with various levels of experience. However, they all shared a common ideal to help Vietnamese students to improve their English skills. All teachers have been native English speakers so that they can help students pronounce English words as good as a native speaker. Six teachers who were participating in the 2007 Summer English program were:

• Mr. Calvin Cao Đình Chương, Bachelor in Business Finance
• Miss Becky Thái, Bachelor in Biochemistry
• Mr. Vũ Quốc Trụ, Engineer, Architect, High School Math Teacher
• Miss Mến Nguyễn, Bachelor in Accounting
• Miss Betty Ngọc Phạm, College Student in Molecular & Cell Biology
• Miss Christina Lưu, College Student

The opening ceremony for the program in Hue was conducted at Sacred Heart Congregation facility, presiding by Archbishop Stephen Nguyen Như The, Archdiocese of Hue, with the attendance of priests, nuns, teachers, teaching assistants, and students. Speaking at the ceremony, Archbishop The observed that now Viet Nam has joined neighboring countries participating in the World Trade Organization, “thus, the most important thing is language skill; if we don’t have the ability to speak foreign language then we cannot work with foreigners”. “I had to learn French”, Archbishop The said, meaning French was a popular language in his time, just as English is during the present time. Mr. Le Van Hung representing the students expressed the happiness of a poor student in Hue when he can join the program. He expressed the gratitude that the Archdiocese has paid attention and created an opportunity for the students to advance in life.

The main goal of the English program was to help students sharpening their English communication skills so that they can advance in their academic activities, as well as giving them better chances to acquire high paying jobs while Viet Nam is entering into the global trading environment. In order to meet this goal, the English program emphasized conversational and pronunciation skills. The daily activities for the students consisted of:

• Phonetic Activities – The teachers worked directly with students to teach them how to properly pronounce words based on international phonetic signs so that they know how to pronounce new words as they encounter them after the program has ended.
• Conversational Activities – The teachers assigned a conversational topic, divided students into small groups, and let the students converse with each other while the teachers were rotating among the groups to coach them.
• Pronunciation Activities -  The teachers led students through reading exercises; or students were watching DVD and pronounced words along with the DVD. These activities helped students developing pronunciation and intonation skills.

The following is a summary of the feedback from the students about EFTP English program in the summer of 2007:

• The booked handed out to students were easy to understand and clear contents. I could learn new words from “Picture Dictionary”. I could learn practical grammar rules from “English Grammar”. I could learn how to construct sentences through “Winnie The Pooh”. Things I don’t like: nothing (everybody said this).
• This program is very useful to me (all students had this same comment).
• The teachers were excellent! (everybody agreed on this point).
• The teaching method was innovative.
• The program was too short (everyone said 5 weeks were really short).
• I would like to thank EFTP for coming to Viet Nam. English is currently a necessary skill for Vietnamese students and EFTP has come to our aid.
• I wish that EFTP can conduct longer program, and have more sessions so that students do not have to be crowded in the classrooms.
• I wish to convey to EFTP that you have helped Vietnamese students to speak better English by organizing this program. Even though you are on the other side of the globe, you have contributed to the building of  a prospered Viet Nam.
• This is the first time I attended the English program organized by EFTP. I am very satisfied with the program and wish that this kind of program will continue in the future.
• Even though the English program was short, the program has helped students to read and pronounce English words properly, the listener could understand the meaning, and the speaker has confidence when interact with other people. These are very useful skills in interacting with foreigners.
• In the past few summers I have attended several other English programs by other organization. I like EFTP program the best. This program has helped me tremendously in pronunciation and conversational skills.

Aside from the feedback from the students, the volunteered teachers also shared many valuable lesson-learned so that the future programs can be improved:

• It was very hard to keep the young students focusing on the learning activities. We need to find a different way to teach the young students, find teachers who have experience teaching young students, or limit the program to students who are at least 14 years old.
• We should recruit more teaching assistants who are fluent in English so that they can participate in a more meaningful way in the daily activities with the students.
• Some teaching materials were not practical in the teaching process. We should re-examine and improve the teaching materials.
• Many students have shown great improvement in their pronunciation, especially with those sounds that are difficult for Vietnamese like the sound “Th” (as in “The”).
• "I had a great time teaching in Hue this summer and I would like to return to teach another summer course with EFTP.  I have shared my experiences with a number of my friends and acquaintances and a good number of them have showed interest in joining up with EFTP.  I feel that the cause is a worthwhile one and I hope that I’ll be able to stay involved with EFTP; be it as a summer teacher or any other role/position that may need to be filled." - Calvin Cao