Our Unit 871 Instructor, Caleb, spotlights his interaction with a promising student to share English Learning Insights.
For the past few months, I’ve been teaching the advanced class known as Alpha in Lana’s English language training (ELT) program. Although this particular cohort of students were lower level than previous ones, so far the class has shown a great deal of enthusiasm, hard work, and adaptability. I’ve been impressed with a number of students who focus well, ask good questions, and participate in the classroom activities. As result, a number of students who started out at quite a low level have shown marked improvement. Working with them has given our team a great deal of English learning insights.
Student Spotlight: Captain Dzung
One of these students in particular is a young Air Force Captain named Dzung (pronounced Zoom). I sat down with him and was able to hear about his career in the Air-force. Captain Dzung is from Hanoi, and first began to study English in school when he was 10 years old. He continued to learn English until he was 16, when he began to focus more of his time on science and engineering classes. In University he completed a degree of automotive engineering. When he was 24, he decided to join the Air Force. “I joined because I liked machines – especially planes,” he told me. After joining, his automotive experience allowed him to work on an airbase in charge of the motor pool. “I manage the buses and trucks that are used on the base.”
Regarding his work in English, Captain Dzung hadn’t really spoken much with English speakers. “This is the first time I had so much time working with a person who speaks American English. Usually, I just practiced ‘Vinglish’ in school as a boy in school,” he commented. He felt like the extended time to practice and learn English 5 days a week was making a major difference to his overall English abilities. Captain Dzung shared his thoughts on how he was making progress in the class. He thought the practice of giving street directions was one of the most useful and interesting exercises, and he felt that one of the best activities in class was the speaking practice.
A Common Challenge for New English Speakers
Captain Dzung had one area of difficulty. “Listening is the most difficult; I sometimes can’t identify the words, and have trouble with new words that I don’t know.” I asked him, “What do you think has been the most helpful to the class?” From his perspective, the speaking and listening exercises were always a big help. He also wanted to do more online quiz practice and more vocabulary given as homework. “Whenever we check the online quiz afterwards, I think we always learn a lot of new things.”
Looking to the future, he hopes to continue to improve his English. He even wants to take IELTS courses next year and take the IELTS test soon afterwards. “I also want to be able to help teach my future children English when they are still young,” he said to me, and then added, “I want to be able to work with people from other countries who come to Vietnam.” Given his hard work and enthusiasm in class, I have no doubt that he will be able to do so.