Wonderful weekend in Bac Giang

Thanks to Iatss Forum Program, Vietnam Iatss Forum Alumni (VIFA) and Singapore Iatss Forum Alumni (SIFA), 1400 children of primary and secondary schools in Vo Tranh village, Bac Giang province have new books to read and wonderful English lessons. The books giving ceremony and English classes were conducted in the weekend of March 29, 2018.

                                               Two boxes of English books from SIFA

                                                  Students are happy with new booksThe team started the ceremony by introducing their names and having the children to play game. The children were all very excited about meeting and talking the international friends from Singapore.

In the afternoon, a workshop on presentation skill was conducted to teach the children how to present themselves in public. The children in rural villages are very shy in usual. They wouldn’t  have a chance to learn presentation skill until they go to university.

The children were taught the basic technique to present. They were all very excited about learning and having the opportunity to practice this new skill in English.

After learning basic presentation technique and sample sentences which are used to introduce oneself, each student came upfront to present.

There was a male student who had a difficulty in presenting in English. At first, everyone assumed that he was too shy to present. However, when he was asked to introduce himself in Vietnamese, he did it perfectly. So the problem was he didn’t know how to speak those introduction sentences. He was given another chance to present. But before presenting, he got 10 minutes to memorize those sentences. He was then selected as one of the candidates for the presenting competition at the end of the workshop.

The male student had difficulty in speaking English

In the end of the workshop, all students became more confident and were ready for the English presenting competition.

Students gathered for presentation competition at school yard

The children were then divided into classrooms to read new books and study English. Better Life Vietnam will work with school teachers to manage the use of the books and encourage the children to read.

The weekend trip was successful and a memorable experience to all the children and school teachers of Vo Tranh village. We left the village and wished we could do this English teaching activities regularly.