The English Corner

Friday night I attended The English Corner. Volunteer native-English speakers (usually tourists to Ho Chi Minh City, like me) get the opportunity to meet Vietnamese English language students. And Vietnamese university students get to practice their language skills with fluent English speakers. Great learning opportunity for everyone.

Eight other people and I got a briefing on the evening's agenda. Then we split up, and each received 13 Vietnamese students. Each group sat in a circle, on short plastic stools. The theme of this evening was "History Makers". There was a crossword puzzle of international, historical figures. And then discussion began.

So interesting talking to these students. They were a few years younger than I (ages 20-24), most of them are majoring in things like business marketing or material engineering, or like subjects. Everyone was really motivated to practice both their English speaking and listening skills.

We discussed the nature of history and history-makers. Then we wandered from the subject to talk about other things. I wanted to know about their impressions of Americans. The first two automatic responses were promiscuity and gun violence, in that order.

The first student wondered how two people, just having met, could get intimate in such short amount of time. He wondered if Americans' romantic lives were as they are represented on the news and movie screens. The second student said he thought of America as a frightening place where many people have guns and violent acts are prevalent. (Actually many travellers from other western countries had this same impression.) The whole group was curious to find out if these representations were realities. I tried to assure them that we're not all nympho- or homocidal-maniacs.

For most English-learners in Asia, speaking and listening are much more difficult than reading and writing. This is because they have plenty of tests, but not much opportunity to talk to fluent English-speakers.

The host of The English Corner, SOZO, runs two cafes in Ho Chi Minh City, where they provide employment training, etc. for underprivileged people.
http://sozocentre.com/