Teaching English to Underprivileged Children in Vietnam

Details

Mission and objectives

Founded in 2010, Better Life Vietnam (BLV) is a non-profit organization that works to improve education conditions for underprivileged children and youth in Vietnam. In 2016, Better Life Vietnam was registered as a Social Enterprise, under the name, Cuong Thinh BLV Social Co., LTD. With the vision to help reduce the burden for the poor families of Vietnam, Better Life Vietnam has dedicated its efforts to encourage knowledge and support children in getting the education they deserve. The organization’s three main projects include Books Library, Scholarship, and English Class.

Context

According to a recent report, only 10.5% of graduated students in Vietnam have some degree of English proficiency that can be applied career-wise and 51.7% of students who graduated college cannot communicate in English even though English is part of a class subject from primary school level. Teaching and learning English are not efficient at public schools where English education relies heavily on grammar and does not focus on speaking and communicating in English. Universities often teach their students about advanced grammar and vocabulary that is rarely used in real life. A large number of students and employees have to go out to re-learn English at private English centers to adapt to the market’s requirements. Students who come from low-income families in the city and in rural areas have especially hard time with learning and practicing English. Currently, English is on track to be the most spoken second language in Vietnam, however, compared to their city counterparts, these students are at a disadvantage and do not have the chance to study at English centers with native English teachers. English teachers in Vietnam are lacking in both quality and quantity. According to a report done by the Ministry of Education and Training 1, only 70% of English teachers got certificate level B2 (CEFR) in the English proficiency test. B2 is considered to be a standard that a teacher must achieve. However, a large number of English teachers in Vietnam can neither pronounce correctly nor communicate well in English, including those whose B2. In order to address this, Better Life Vietnam has launched an Online English Class Program to provide underprivileged children and youth an opportunity to practice English with foreigners who are from English speaking countries.

Task description

To that end, we are seeking the support of Online Volunteers to play a role in teaching English to help Vietnamese children to practice their speaking. Each Online Volunteer member is assigned to teach 1-3 group of children (1-3 hours each week). Specifically, we need your help to: 1) Teach the children how to pronounce the words/sentences properly; 2) Correct their mistakes. Each session lasts for an hour. Most of the sessions are in the evening ICT (7pm, 8pm). Some sessions are in the morning or afternoon in the weekend. Lesson materials are provided. Online Volunteer members are also welcomed to create their own lesson materials if they have experiences in doing so.