I had my most enjoyable job in the last 6 years last year. I went to 4 different cities in Vietnam, teaching English to English Teachers in regional Vietnam. This post is about my week in Phan Rang in Central Vietnam, about 340km from Ho Chi Minh City.
Most of them have learnt their English from Vietnamese teachers and for some of them, this was the first time they have ever had the opportunity to speak with a native English speaker.
Because they and their teachers aren't confident speakers, they emphasise grammar and written English in Vietnam schools. Vietnamese know their grammar rules better than any English speaker I know however they cannot speak English well. In Vietnam, all study is to pass exams, not to gain knowledge.
When I did my TESOL course (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) in 2014 we had about 10 students, 9 native speakers and 1 Vietnamese student. In the grammar exam, 1 student got 100% (guess who!), the highest Mark for the native speakers was around 80%, I got 51% and 3 failed (2 Englishmen and 1 Aussie).
So, to spend a week in each city and have the chance to mingle with English Teachers was a real joy.
I took the opportunity to mix business with pleasure. Instead of catching the bus, I rode my motorbike (well, scooter - 150 cc Sym Excel step through)!
The average highway speed in Vietnam is 40 km/hr so with a couple of rest stops it took me 8 hours.
I took the above photos about 45 minutes south of Phan Rang.
This is the place we studied - Trung tâm ngoại ngữ (Foreign Language Centre).
It was one of the smaller classes of the 4 with about 30 students.
Phan Rang is home to a large proportion of the Cham People who migrates from India about a millennia ago. They are Vietnamese Muslims who have their own language.
The guy sitting on my knee in the main photo is Cham and his name was totally unpronouncable for me, so I called him Harry!
Of course, one of the first things I do in any new place is to find the best coffee shop in town.
Although I like Vietnamese coffee, I really love espresso and it can be difficult to find outside of the major cities of Hoc Chi Minh and Hanoi.
Luckily I have friends who live in Phan Rang and they pointed me to a couple of nice coffee shops.
The last photo is just for fun. Most foreigners (myself included when I first arrived) have a good laugh when they see "Phuc Tea". In Vietnamese it is pronounced "Phoop" (or close). English pronunciation is different ....
