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laugh at me and tourists wouldn’t want
to talk to me,” he says. “But once I faced
my first experience, it gave me courage.”
The street lessons have vastly im-
proved his and his friends’ English skills
over the past two years. It’s a skill they
regard as vital: “English is very impor-
tant as it gives me a better chance to
get a good job or even study overseas,”
Duc Thuy says.
And it’s not just in person that Duc
Thuy practices – he also uses YouTube
videos to learn to speak fluently.
In 2015 Vietnam will join other
countries in the region in the Asean
Economic Community (AEC), spurring
young people to boost their English
skills to become more attractive to em-
ployers and be better able to compete
in the job market.
Malaysia, the Philippines and Sin-
gapore already have the advantage of
strong English skills among their young-
er generations.
Dung, a Vietnamese language
teacher for foreigners living in Hanoi,
often has to write English words on the
whiteboard when her students cannot
understand what she is saying. As a
teacher she knows thousands of English
words, but sometimes her pronuncia-
tion and accent cause problems.
“Sometimes I have to get my pupils
to write out words when we don’t un-
derstand each other,” Dung says with
a laugh.
Now she attends a special course on
conversation skills three times a week to
improve her speaking skills and help her
in the classroom, which she thinks will
come in handy once the AEC begins.
“The AEC will push forward invest-
ment in Vietnam; of course, English will
be used, but the Vietnamese language
will still be needed for businesspeople
to communicate with locals,” Dung says.
Sixteen-year-old Phong studies
English for 90 minutes three times a
week with a Vietnamese teacher at a
state school, and she is lucky to oc-
casionally have a lesson with a visiting
foreign teacher. Phong uses his free
time to talk to the foreign teachers to
better his pronunciation.
“I’d love to talk to more foreigners
as they are able to help me improve my
English speaking,” he says.
Phong is bucking the trend in Vi-
etnam – a high school student, he is
able to speak English conversationally.
He plans to take special English classes
when he reaches university.
“I think speaking English fluently
will be useful for further work or even
studying overseas,” he says.
Meanwhile, office worker Hang be-
lieves learning English will make life
easier in the AEC, helping communica-
tion and cooperation in education, work
and trade. However, she worries young
people who cannot speak English may
be at risk of missing out on jobs.
SOCIETY AT LARGE