Learning More than English

The children arrived at the office before I arrived back from dinner once again. They were very eager to learn as they waited for my instructions. I couldn’t do it without Nghi and Nhi and Ngoc who has arrived early to help the children. Nhi and Nghi are colleagues at my office and Ngoc worked in the office next to ours.



We started the lesson with the simple phonics software intended for children 4 to 8 years of age. Although the words were simple, it emphasized on the pronunciation and the difference between consonants such as the hard “c” in “cat” versus soft “c” in “circus”. The children liked the repetition and the software allowed them to replay things as much as they liked. Some children were very serious about taking notes and seem to be very intent on learning the language. Others were just having fun and laughing as the played the game in much the same way that they would in the play ground. The carefree spirit of most of the children was contagious and brought laughter upon myself as they puzzled their way through the games.



We progressed into more challenging games which tested the children on common use of English. There was a choice of American and British English. I instructed the student to choose American but some did choose British. It had lessons such as in directions, prices and clocks. These lessons began to stretch the abilities of some of the children’s ability to decipher the meaning. I encourage them to repeat whatever they hear. The words spoken in the software is annunciated with great clarity. These lessons prove to be difficult for some to repeat.



The bus which drove them did not arrive so we ran over 2 hours. Teaching pass 9 at night, I concluded the lesson. But the two boys suggested that we continue to study all night. Their excitement amazes me even after a long lesson. This time, they were not accompanied by the nanny so the oldest child who was about 19 was the adult. We concluded the course by going over words that we did not understand. I explained in Vietnamese to the best of my knowledge with some trepidation. Ngoc stepped in to fill in the Vietnamese. I myself am a student as well, learning Vietnamese and the appreciating the amazing spirit that these children possess.