Volunteering at Chua La Go Vap in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

I commenced my volunteering stint at the Trung Tam Thien Nhon, a language training school run by Chua La Go Vap, a Buddhist temple in Go Vap District, last Tuesday. This is the second time that I am teaching English to non-native speakers. However, unlike my volunteering experience in Dharamshala, India where I was doing informal conversation classes with a only few Tibetan students and monks, I am dealing with more students, ranging from 20 to 30, in a class this time, which makes it much more challenging.

I am really glad that I stumbled upon this free volunteering opportunity from one of the forums in Couchsurfing. Worthy of note here is that the language school is managed by the Chua La Go Vap (Leaf Pagoda), a Buddhist temple. The pagoda provides a number of free foreign language classes such as English, Chinese, Japanese, French, etc. to anyone who is interested in learning but cannot afford the steep fees of private schools in Ho Chi Minh City, making it a popular language school not only in the Go Vap District but the entire city. 

Yes, students do not pay for anything to be accepted! They can also choose from numerous classes that run in different times of the day. Classes normally start at 9am and end at 9pm. The school is continuously accepting foreign volunteers and interns, mostly from AIESEC, an international youth-run, non-governmental and not-for-profit organization.

My first day teaching at the Speaking and Listening class at the pagoda was a learning experience. I did not know exactly what to expect from my students but I prepared myself for the worst. As suggested by my fellow volunteer, Jenny, I made a short power point presentation about the history and geography of the Philippines, my chosen topic for the lecture, while also introducing new vocabulary words.

Upon the start of my lesson, I immediately realized a huge problem in the class composition. Not every student has the same level of English proficiency. Others are more advanced than the others. As I went on speaking, I could very well see in many of my students' faces that they were lost and clueless. I had to repeat words several times, speak more slowly and clearly, and choose basic and simple words for them to understand what I was talking about. I know there is a learning curve to this and my first day has somehow tested my patience.

Fortunately, most of my students were attentive enough and very eager to learn. Many of them were curious and fond of asking questions about myself and the Philippines. It must admit, though, that communicating with my Vietnamese students was a challenging task because not only am I not used to their accent, I have also never taught in a huge class before. I think I have to devise some innovative ways and easy exercises in the next lecture so everyone is given the chance to speak up. After all, the primary goal is to improve their speaking abilities. I look forward to the succeeding sessions.

Vietnam

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Xin Chao! Arriving in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Xin Chao! Yesterday was the beginning of my nomadic adventure and things have been good so far. My arrival in Ho Chi Minh City was a pleasant one and full of good surprises. The airport looked so much better than it was when I first visited the city seven years ago.

I arrived past 1am and had to kill time and take a nap at the airport. I was very happy to see two floors specifically built for waiting passengers. I found a good spot at the third floor where I managed to lie down comfortably on a sofa and get a few hours of sleep, enough for me to feel recharged.

Before 7am, I left the airport. I initially planned to take the taxi to Gia Dinh Park, the agreed meeting place with my volunteering contact person, Dat, who I met in Couchsurfing, but the cheapskate traveler in me decided to just walk to the destination as it's less than 2 kilometers away as shown in GoogleMaps. Dat and I agreed to meet there at 8am and he would take me to the Pagoda in Go Vap District.

It was a long walk but a good re-introduction to how crazy the hustle and bustle in Vietnam is. Upon exiting the main gate of the airport, I was immediately welcomed by what the country is most known for – motorcycles and the frenzy that comes along with it!

Looking for the agreed place was harder than I anticipated. GoogleMaps was functioning erratically and not loading my exact location. I had to stop and ask several people if I was indeed going to the right direction. I did a couple of wrong turns which made my walking journey to the park longer. Fortunately, I printed out the map that Dat sent me with the name of the street of our meeting place. Without it, I would most probably get lost and resort to taking the taxi. 

So after walking for an hour, I finally found our meetup location along Nguyen Thai Son Street close to the park's intersection. I arrived a little past 8am but Dat was nowhere to be found. I was already second guessing myself if I was in the right spot because the location was not exactly in the park but in the vicinity of it. To confirm it, I tried sending him a text message but unable to do so as my roaming was not activated yet. Damn! Fortunately, I saw a coffee house with free wifi in it just a block away! It was a life saver.

It was a timely discovery as I didn't take my breakfast at the airport and was already starving. I ordered a chicken Ban Mhi then connected to the free internet and immediately messaged Dat via Whatsapp, informing him that I was at the Serena Coffee next to Nguyen Tuan Street waiting for him. Ten minutes later, he arrived. What a relief! We talked a bit and ordered an odd-tasting lemon juice with seeds in it before heading off to the volunteering place.

I hopped back on Dat's motorbike with my helmet on to the Pagoda. It was a good 20-minute travel experience traversing the busy streets and alleys to Go Vap District. The traffic was already building up that morning and I was stunned by the Vietnamese riders' driving skills. We arrived safely at our destination without encountering any mishaps even though the motorbikes were a few inches away from each other. The Vietnamese rival the Indians when it comes to driving!

Upon my arrival at the Pagoda, I was welcomed by Jenny, a cheerful Vietnamese girl, who also volunteers in the language training school. Dat introduced me to her and brought me to the apartment where I'll be staying. It's a two-floor house close to the Pagoda. At present, three other foreign volunteers are living there. Two from the Netherlands and one from Japan. Jenny showed me the sleeping space on the second floor and I chose my spot on the right next to the stairs.

Later in the day, I was introduced to other staff and volunteers at the Pagoda and we talked about my preferred teaching schedule at the school. I opted to conduct my classes every Tuesday and Thursday. Can't wait!

Vietnam

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