Practicing English at the Women's Academy

Everyone in Vietnam that we have worked with wants to practice their English and the students of are no exception!  They want to know English because it is an international language that is often in use for business and education from Vietnam to the United Nations and everywhere in between.

Today we got to practice English with students in the Law and Social Work degree programs.  The students have impressive accents and vocabulary.  It's that hurdle of SPEAKING that needs opportunity!  We had great fun discussing the list of questions and topics the students generated -- everything from what are differences between education and students in USA and Vietnam to what are favorite foods to what do we all think about "fast food" to what are your hobbies to what are careers and jobs like in each country to what's your favorite music.

And although we think the canteen food at the Women's Academy is GREAT (see a photo above) and affordable, the students just knew a better spot down a nearby small street where we could taste a different type of meatball soup.  So we all walked off campus and sure did have a great lunch together!  Those photos are also above -- see Leanna crouched down on a SHORT stool slurping away happily.

While the Academy faces directly onto a major modern boulevard, a side street quickly puts you back into a more traditional, narrow Vietnamese street with small shops (selling rice, clothes, sundries, hair cuts) opening onto the street, sidewalk vegetables and meat vendors, small restaurants, arched entrances of neighborhoods (like we described in earlier post) with pedestrians, motorbikes and the occasional car all sharing the road.  Vietnam is a dynamic place!    

Today we also utilized the wonderful kitchen the Women's Academy provided us -- gas burners, kitchen and cooking utensils to eat a "home cooked" dinner.  The accommodations here are really great and our hosts very thoughtful.