An experience I had was when I planned a trip to a village in Vietnam with a group of my friends in January 2013. The aim of the trip was to improve the standard of English among the students living in the village through organising daily lessons for 2 weeks.
During the first few days of teaching, the students appeared bored in class due to the language barrier. Also, many of them left class halfway as they were disinterested in the lesson. Despite being disappointed by their reactions, my group and I was determined to improve their English standards in our 2 week stay. Thus, we began reflecting on how we carried out our lessons, the teaching methods used as well as how we interacted with the students. After much reflection, we realised that our main problem was in engaging the students due to the presence of a language barrier. Also, as the students were of a younger age group, they had a short attention span which results in them being easily bored by classroom style teaching.
With that, we began modifying our teaching methods. For example, we included actions to go with the words we taught them like acting out how the different animals behave. This allows the students to better understand the words taught.
The English teaching experience broadened my perspective of how English can be taught. This is because past experiences of learning English involved the heavy use of textbooks and examinations as well as conversing in English. In addition, I learnt that we often neglect other forms of communication like action which can be used to enhance our learning.
ES1102 
Hi Gio,
Thank you for the enjoyable post. It seemed like it was a nice and meaningful Vietnam trip 🙂 . It is interesting to know that incorporating physical action into learning is a good way to capture the student’s attention effectively. The language and content is clear and easy to understand.
Here are some of my opinions to share:
-‘my group and I was’- my group and I were
-‘problem was in engaging the students due to the presence of a language barrier’- was unable to engage the students due to language barrier.
– Perhaps you can split the sentence: ‘As the students were of a younger age group, they had a short attention span which results in them easily bored by classroom style teaching’- to:
As the students were of a younger age group, they had a shorter attention span. This resulted in them losing interest through the classroom style teaching.
-‘We often neglect’ – We have often neglected
I am not exactly sure if I am correct… Hope that helps 🙂
This is a most interesting post, Gio, with a clear central focus on your teaching in Vietnam and a fine description. There are a few minor language issues, but overall I really like this reflection. Let’s see what your peer group members have to say.
Hi Gio
I really enjoyed reading your blog post on your trip to Vietnam. It was great that your group and yourself managed to modify your teaching methods to suit the vietnamese students!
One comment that I would like to give is that you mentioned in the post that “Despite being disappointed by their reactions, my group and I was determined to improve their English standards in our 2 week stay.”
In my opinion, it should have been “Despite being disappointed by their reactions, my group and I were determined to improve their English standards in our 2 week stay.”
Thank you once again for your wonderful blog post (:
Chelsea
Hi Gio,
This is a really good piece of writing and I am really glad that you’ve made your January worthwhile. I also agree that learning a language requires more than just textbooks and exercises.
Well, I have found 2 very minor problems:
Last sentence of paragraph 2:
“…, they had a short attention span…”
I’m thinking that it should be “…, they have a short attention span…” ?
Since this is like a general statement of truth?
Last sentence of the last paragraph:
“I learnt that…”
I’m thinking it should be “I have learnt that…” ?
Other than that this is a really good post.
Cheers,
Koonhow
Hi there!
‘my group and I WERE determined to’
‘which resulted in them being easily bored’
‘ALLOWED the students to better understand the words taught.’
Other than that, I admire your courage to travel overseas for volunteer work! I could never do that!
Are you planning on returning?
Elizabeth
Why not cut out the moderation of comments?