Teach English in Chudun Zhen - Linyi Shi

When you visit Vietnam, you will be amazed the first time you hear locals talking to each other using their native language. But once you start to stay here for months, you will soon find out that there are a few problems and difficulties that a lot of locals kept on doing in terms of speaking the English language. A native's tongue in Vietnam is difficult to comprehend and to puzzle out when they start to speak in English. Maybe it's because of the way they speak their native language involving 6 different tones, intonations, accents and they way they pronounce their digraphs are all different from what they really seem. For instance the Vietnamese word "không" which means "no" in English is pronounced as "cohm", they pronounce the English word "idea" as "I-D". Although you may get used to if you start to live here, but that is not always the case to some foreigners and to other people visiting here. 2 out of 10 improficient Vietnamese may understand what you have said in English, but their pronunciation is kind of hard to understand when they reply to you, that they sometimes feel annoyed or offended when you start to ask them to repeat what they have just said. You could even notice that there are a lot of jobs regarding English tutorials in Vietnam. No discrimination or racism involved, but this is a fact. They can process the words they hear, but somehow they stutter in letting the words out of their mouths with precision. If given an opportunity, I want to help other locals here fix that. I don't want them to feel confident in the way they speak in English today without them acknowledging that they are just doing it in the wrong way. I want them to be confident to speak English with them knowing that they are using it in the correct way just like a native English speaker does. That is not their fault though, we can't blame them in their current state. You might wonder where all of it started. It is just a wrong habit of usage and lack of correction. For example, the Vietnamese street vendors. These Vietnamese vendors did not even study English, they just repeat single English words that they hear from some foreigners like "same-same" to somehow be able to communicate with the foreigners just to make a deal and get profit from them. So the locals around them who heard the bargain, thought that the foreigners fully understood those vendors without consideration soon accepted these wrong habits, english structure, pronunciation, etc. Many locals in wet markets don't even know English numbers, they will hand you out bills and show you how much you need to pay. All of these habits were then passed from generation to generation, which led to an outrageous misconception of the whole English language that became a nasty habit. Once a person uses the language incorrectly, it then becomes a habit that will continue to exist for a long period of time that the whole community will soon adapt and accept as correct. One more problem that Vietnamese locals have is the lack of desire, inspiration and interest to learn English. They don't see the benefit of learning it, thinking why would they even bother studying the language. Studying it would just be a nuisance for them. They struggle in pronunciation, intonation, run-on sentences, idioms, vocabulary, etc. These problems may be encountered and should be corrected by Vietnamese teachers teaching the language to avoid the wrong usage of English that lingered on for too long. Like many other Asian countries, Vietnamese learners find themselves helpless and not improving. Yes, at first they might feel overwhelmed, especially the beginners with no experience of the language. Just like when I first started learning the language. I'm a Filipino and my native language does not have that much contrast in English language. Which kind of gave me an advantage and a bit of ease in studying English. But Vietnamese language compared to English, there are a lot of adjustments. So, somehow I understand their problems, knowing that they feel they are going to a whole different world. But no work can ever be done if we don't get right into it. The young people who study in an International school can't talk or reply to you properly, they just smile and laugh at you as if what you're saying is something weird. Which comes to my conclusion that the English language isn't properly taught in their class. Vietnamese teachers teach it, but maybe they don't really put it into practice. Some local students might tease other local who speaks English until they become embarassed and not use it at all. The teachers probably teach English using/speaking their native language, giving the students a right to do the same in class. Because of this, some English learners prefer to travel abroad and study at an English speaking country instead. Studying TEFL/TESOL I learned a lot of ways and varieties of methodologies that I can apply in teaching locals English. The correct materials, classroom management, etc. which will motivate and encourage them to learn the language thoroughly and the correct way. These future learners of English should put a cork in these wrong habits. Enough with "Vietnamese English" and start learning real English. Whether they like it or not, they need to acknowledge that the way they learned the language is wrong and should start implementing the right way to do it. They have potential, everyone has. They just need guidance. Here is an example of how they speak. From English Breaking course video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOz7y-cyUpQ