Teaching in Translation: Adjusting to Vietnamese Classrooms

By Olivia Vieira

This week I started teaching at a primary school in Da Nang, Vietnam. My students are in grades 4 and 5, and from Tuesday to Thursday morning, I teach six different classes—four grade 4s and two grade 5s. Going into this teaching experience, I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect from myself, the students, or the teachers. I anticipated some challenges, considering I have only ever taught upper-year high school students, and here I was with nine-, ten-, and eleven-year-olds. I assumed the students would be well-behaved, prim, and proper, like little model citizens, and that the teachers would be strict and teach in a very bland, standardized manner.

While I’m still finding my footing with the younger grades, I’m pleased to say that my other predictions were far from true. For starters, the students are noisy, rambunctious, and energetic—no different from the ones back in Canada. They are constantly chatting with their friends, playing games, and doing things when they should be listening. Many are shy, but their eagerness to talk to you often overcomes their reticence. They are so excited to speak with you and are over the moon just to see the “foreign teacher” in the halls or in their classroom. They really make you feel like a celebrity—several of my students even asked for my autograph.

My students gave me pipe cleaner flowers to wear in my hair and an English/Vietnamese book, so I could read to them in English and they could read to me in Vietnamese.

The curriculum and lesson planning are quite standardized, but the teacher I am paired with does everything she can to add elements of pop culture, humour, and relevance to her lessons. Since these students are learning basic conversational English, rather than having a typical boring conversation, she introduced two Asian cartoon characters talking to each other. This made it fun for the students; when she asked, “Who wants to be Pikachu?” hands shot up as though she’d offered candy. She also tries her best to include games that practice basic skills like reading, writing, and speaking. Even on the first day, when I was only observing her class, I had the honour of leading a game of Simon Says.

Now that I’ve reached the end of our second week at the school, and the first week of teaching, I have to admit that my first lesson (Grade 4) didn’t go as well as I’d hoped. It wasn’t due to a lack of preparation, but rather an issue with the language barrier. Since these students have never had a foreign teacher and are still learning basic conversational English, classroom commands and management were a bit of a challenge. However, as the lessons progressed, I became more confident in my abilities. I adjusted my instructions to match the students’ skill levels and used my co-teacher for help, particularly when explaining new games I’d come up with.

The chalkboard after a lesson (left and right of the chalkboard) and an altered game of telephone/whisper I tested with my students (middle of the chalkboard). Students stood in a line and were given a phrase they learnt during class. The student at the front of the line had to whisper the phrase to the student behind them and pass it down the line. Then the final student had to run up to the board and write the phrase out. This was a phenomenal game to play with the students as the rules were clear, they were not allowed to talk (hence it was quiet), and it made them practice so many different skills (listening, speaking, writing, reading, etc.).

I wrote in my agenda, “My mistakes help me learn,” and it couldn’t be more true. With each lesson, I learned a little more about how to adapt to a classroom full of ESL students. The best advice I can offer is not to set rigid expectations for the school, the students, the teachers, or yourself. Also, don’t put too much pressure on yourself to be amazing right away. As I mentioned, you are essentially in a classroom where every single student is learning English. Do your best and don’t be afraid to make mistakes—it’s how you’ll learn, and eventually how you’ll succeed.