Article to be published in TEFL Magazine

It's 7:30am and I'm approaching the staff room of ELS Language Center in Ho Chi Minh City with the last minute intention of devising a game for my students. A thunderous, "Good morning Teeeaaaccchhherrr!" explodes at me as six of my uniformed students bound down the hallway and onae younger boy pokes another before they rush into a classroom to get their energy out before class begins.

It's a long day for both the teachers and students. Six intensive hours pass by as we work our way through complex grammar structures, essays, stories, sentences, electives and fun. The Vietnamese are always good-humored, regardless of what challenging or complex activity you may throw their way. As the day ends we all pour through the hallways. Some of us are drained from the hard work, while others are energized, but there's always a general feeling that there has been a lot accomplished and a considerable improvement has been made. As the day ends, songs and smiles recede down the hallway as we walk off, enthused by the prospect of what might be achieved tomorrow.

I had never considered being a teacher before I decided to move to Ho Chi Minh City. When I graduated from New York University in May 2004 with a degree in Journalism, I took a look at my panicked fellow graduates and decided I was not going to fall into a 9-5 corporate pit. Instead I packed my bags, bought my ticket and propelled myself thousands of miles across the globe to a sliver of Asia called Vietnam. My initial intention was to travel and teach English as a means to get by. My goal was to spend six adventurous months teaching conversational English at minimum hours and to focus my energy on absorbing the country and culture around me. Little did I realize that my initial journey would transform itself into months of dedication to 30 hour weeks, academic teaching and a job that sticks with me when I sleep and never leaves my side.

My friend told me about the job. He told me that a new school was opening in Ho Chi Minh City and the director was looking for fresh, motivated and excited teachers. The prospect of working for a start-up, internationally recognized language school immediately appealed to me. ELS is an English language center that first opened in Washington, D.C in 1961. Since then, ELS has taught English to students from over 140 countries and has become the world’s largest network of campus-based, English language programs. ELS first opened its doors in Vietnam on the campus of American Pacific University in Ho Chi Minh City on October 1, 2004.

My first day of teaching was frightening. I entered our 14 student school and was certain that I would be an immediate failure. The day before I began teaching I wrote in my journal, "Will I be faced by insolent faces in strong defiance of learning? The uncertainty is killing me. I'm aware that I'll most probably encounter charming young Vietnamese students eager to learn more about me and my language and that everything will be fine. But for right now, the teacher terror has taken hold..."

The next day I luckily encountered the charming young Vietnamese that I had hoped for. All of my classrooms were filled with eager, polite and helpful students who were and have continued to be respectful and enthusiastic. Two months later, our branch of ELS evolved from a tiny school with three full time teachers to one of eighty students. The transformation took place overnight. One day we arrived at school to be greeted by sixty fresh faces from Vietnam Airlines who were eager to learn and to become proficient in the English language.

All of these new students were sponsored by Vietnam Airlines as a mutually beneficial package. The students get to study at ELS until they are proficient in the English language and then will transfer to a college in the United States to hone their aviation skills before they return to Vietnam to continue working for the airline. The students have been given a time limit within which they must complete our course. Failure to complete the course in the allotted time would send them into thousands of dollars of debt. As a result, the students that we have accepted into our classrooms are motivated and committed to their studies. There's a dedication to education and language enrichment that most experienced teachers here have rarely experienced.

Our students hail from diverse backgrounds. Some are from wealthy Vietnamese families who drive cars, wear fashionable clothing and live in nicer neighborhoods. Some, however, are not as privileged. But whether rich or poor, there's an enthusiasm and energy that I never saw in my student days.

Given the difficult history between America and Vietnam, one would think that there would be a mistrust of Americans. In fact, neither I nor any American with whom I have spoken has ever experienced discrimination or hard feelings. In fact, it is really quite the opposite. Our students are enthusiastic and full of praise for the United States as a place to live. While many do share the popular sentiment across the globe that America's foreign policies are less than desirable, they look beyond this fact. The general feeling that I have encountered is that the American War is a mere dot in the 2000 year history of war in Vietnam. Most Vietnamese welcome the tourists and Americans to their countries as friends and allies and are enthusiastic about the effects of tourism on the economy of Vietnam.

Our students, who have been given the opportunity to study in the U.S, see the country as a means to a better life and a way to improve their and their family’s economic status. It is amazing to encounter the jovial spirit of a population that was so wronged by a nation yet has been able to put the past behind them and move forward. It is indicative of the personality of the population as a whole, as this country is filled with gentle, kind and enthusiastic people with an eye on economic improvement.

Throughout my time at ELS, I have observed many cultural differences between the studying and learning ethics of the Vietnamese and American classrooms. One of the strongest distinctions is between the traditional lecture approach of the Vietnamese classroom and the communicative approach of the American. None of my students are used to being prompted for engaged listening and personal responses. My students have told me that they were rarely, if ever, asked for their opinions and ideas by their Vietnamese teachers and instead, their traditional learning environment has been one of absorption as opposed to immersion. It is therefore remarkable how easily they have adapted to our learning style. We are rarely, if ever, faced with blank faces or bad attitudes. Any game, activity or idea is usually snapped up with glee.

One of the major challenges we have confronted has been original responses. Plagiarism has been a recurring problem which has mystified our staff. One of my students recently submitted an explanation that seems the most logical. It seems that the traditional means of responding to teachers is a regurgitation of facts instead of an interpretation and effort to make an idea original. Instead of being encouraged to think freely and submit original ideas, many of our students have always handed in essays filled with their teachers' words and ideas instead of their own. One of my students told me that creativity is frowned upon and discouraged by traditional teachers. This explanation has made sense to me because it reflects the Vietnamese culture and the ideas of expression in society. Free thinking and creative minds are not encouraged and at times, are frowned upon.

The average day of class in our Ho Chi Minh City school is rewarding yet challenging. Our teachers work over-time to coach our students while they work rigorously to perform well. While the heat pervades the outside world, we crunch together in an effort to really learn and from any angle one can see we are really succeeding.