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Teaching in Vietnam

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Teaching in Vietnam

The Real Vietnam
GAP Activity Projects, the leading year out organisation for 17 to 19 year olds, has been organising voluntary work placements in Vietnam for almost ten years. All their placements are for TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language), where volunteers act as language teaching assistants, either in secondary schools, primary schools or higher education.

Rachel Hutchinson did a TEFL placement in Vietnam with GAP Activity Projects. She writes...

'I decided to take a gap year to see more of the world, and experience a vastly different way of life. I could never understand people who were satisfied with remaining in one town all their life, never intrigued to seek alternative ways of living. I wanted an adventure.

I was accepted for a placement in Vietnam, teaching English in Hanoi at the University of Technology. South-East Asia was a destination that I had always been fascinated to visit. It was rumoured as an incredible region for independent travel, and I was intrigued by its varieties of language and cuisine, and excited by the prospect of a climate and environment so different from ours in Britain. I was not disappointed. Vietnam particularly appealed to me: I was interested to discover the ‘real’ Vietnam, and to explore a country that was relatively untouched by tourism.

I found that my GAP experience bore great similarity to a rollercoaster ride: exciting but full of ups and downs. My first lesson was particularly memorable, as during an hour and a half I experienced the entire spectrum of emotions. I will never forget the nerves which churned in the pit of my stomach as I stood at the front of a large classroom for the first time. Before the lesson began, a young, studious-looking male student called Khaí questioned me in very good English as to why I was writing so slowly on the blackboard. My confidence waned as I replied that it was the first time I had used a blackboard, as I had never taught before. I expected him to laugh, but instead he simply asked if I would like to practice the questions on him, before putting them to the class.

The lesson began shakily, as the students tried to convince me that there shouldn’t be a lesson as it was the first day back after their Têt holiday! However, after explaining with a grin that it wasn’t that long since I myself had been a student, and that it was going to be a fun introductory lesson, with a quiz about England, I suddenly won their interest! I left the class on a real high, with students calling my name, and waving their quiz sheets at me to mark!

One of the most rewarding moments of my entire visit happened whilst I was ill with dysentery and couldn’t teach. Khaí brought to my house a typed and bound A4 booklet about Ho Chi Minh! This was a task I had set the class during their previous lesson, but he had specifically requested to finish at home. Considering that most students turned up at lessons without so much as a pen, this effort was astounding! In my last month of teaching, I discovered that Khaí was never actually supposed to be in my class, but he came anyway as he really wanted to improve his English and enjoyed the lessons!

Teaching aside, as many of our students were a similar age to us, a lot of them became our friends also. A really sweet girl, Mai, invited me to spend a weekend at her family’s house, and I was lucky enough to experience the authentic way of countryside life in Northern Vietnam. I’ll also never forget the lesson when my students swept me away on their motorbikes to a girl’s birthday party! We all sat around on reed mats eating cakes and drinking tea, all taking turns to sing! I have an awful voice, so for me this was very embarrassing! They however all sounded wonderful, especially one of the boys, with a surprisingly high and tuneful voice!

During our placement, there was a national holiday in honour of Ho Chi Minh’s birthday. As we were given a long weekend off, we organised a trip with all our volunteers and other friends to hire a boat in Halong Bay, which we cruised around on and visited Cat Ba Island. Watching the sun set over the jagged rocks from our boat is still one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen. It was a great bonding experience between everyone, although trying to co-ordinate a large group of people when we reached Cat Ba was almost impossible! It was a brilliant weekend, full of transport dilemmas, incredible scenery, jungle fun, sweat and laughter.

During my placement I spoke to several travellers who had arrived into Vietnam from Laos, and who gushed over its untouched beauty and hospitable people. When my placement ended I decided to travel round Laos with one of my teaching partners. This was another incredible experience - I loved the temples, the quirky towns, the beautiful landscape and the infectious smiles of the Laotians.'

Anyone that goes away with GAP is provided with a teaching skills course in London before departure, a briefing day, which prepares you for your placement and gives you the opportunity to speak to returned gappers, and an orientation course when you arrive in Vietnam, where you can learn more about the local culture and customs. Add to this a network of staff in the UK and Vietnam who are there if you need them, and a group of like-minded volunteers to meet up with at the weekend and in holiday time!

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