Tuoitre News, the English news website of TuoiTre Newspaper, Saturday held a conference themed “English speaking and listening skills” on the occasion of Tuoi Tre 35th birthday anniversary at Phan Dinh Phung Sports Center in Ho Chi Minh City.
The conference was attended by Lillian Forsyth, program manager of Volunteer in Asia, Nguyen Hong Nhung, head of TOEFL at Yola Institute and Truong Cong Ly, a student of the HCMC Economics University, who got the highest score of a TOEIC test recently held in HCMC.
One of the audiences who came early to join the conference is Kim Phuong, a resident in District 8. She came along with her 8-year-old son who has learned English for a year.
“At the second grade, he is already fluent in Vietnamese so I let him learn another language, emphasizing especially on pronunciation,” she said.
“Coming to the conference today, I hope my son can learn some English study skills.”
Ms. Lillian Forsyth started the conference by telling the attendants about a problem she encountered as a professor at An Giang University in the Mekong Delta province of An Giang. Her students, who are trained to be English teachers themselves, can read and write very well but have problem with speaking and listening.
A middle-aged attendant named Hung, whose son is studying in foreign trade, talked with anxiety: “Many young people learn English for years but still cannot speak.”
“I don’t know what they’ve learned at school. I’ve read on newspapers that foreign employers often complain about English command of Vietnamese undergraduate employees.”
Truong Cong Ly also confessed that English, especially speaking and listening, used top be a nightmare for him. “Vietnamese students learn English but they don’t have much chance to practice it in everyday life. It’s like we have a gun without bullets”.
Ly advised those who want to improve their English communicative skills to create an English speaking environment for themselves.
“If you have no one to talk to, just talk to yourself. Choose a topic and practice speaking alone. Your tongue will become smoother and you will gain confidence to talk to English natives”, Ly said.
Nguyen Hong Nhung added: “It’s normal to be nervous when you speak another language. But the point of communication, after all, is to get your ideas across. So you can speak slowly, use simple words in order to be understood”.
Cong Ly also gave his own tips on learning English: “Don’t learn for the exam and then soon forget. Find your motivation and learn English for fun. You can read English books, play English games or listen to English music”.
One student from the audience confessed that she does not want to speak English because she is afraid of making mistakes. Ms. Forsyth asked her: “If you don’t speak English correctly, what do you lose?”
The student answered: “I will be laughed at and then feel ashamed”. Ms. Forsyth explained: “No one will laugh at you for making mistakes with your second language. Some Vietnamese take it so seriously and want to speak perfectly. In fact, you need to make mistakes because you’re still learning English”.
Ms. Forsyth also advised English learners to talk to those at same or lower level to gain confidence.
“Many students come to me saying that they want to speak English fluently in a year but that’s not possible”, Lillian continued. “You need a realistic goal to be done in long term. For example read 15 minutes of newspaper every day. Set easy target and you can take a test every couple of months to evaluate yourself”.
Cong Ly said he did not rush in learning English. “It’s like you want to make a big beautiful statue. You need a big stone, which is your resources and good skill, which is built up by practicing. Both are accumulated by time”, Ly said.
After the conference, we had a talk with one of the audiences - My Dung, a graduate from an American university who is now working in Vietnam. “Studying a broad, I had to speak English to survive,” she said.
“Vietnamese students in foreign countries are actually very smart. I notice some of my friends learn English quicker than other Asian students.
“In Vietnam, we have yet to create an environment for students to improve their English, especially communication skills.”
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