Herrro, my name is...

Unfortunately, "Herrro, my name is..." were the introductory statements made by approximately twenty Vietnamese young adults whom we hope to have relatively conversant after four meetings.

That's right: fellow college junior Matt and I are tackling the exciting, often frustrating, and highly open-ended internship with the Triangle Center for disadvantaged youth. The goal is to teach the youth, aged anywhere from fifteen to twenty-one, hospitality skills useful for working in a hotel or restaurant environment. As Viet Nam is currently marketing itself as a tourist destination with beautiful beaches and multifaceted culture, learning English to communicate with the American, British and Australian tourists is immensely valuable.

I learned from my Vietnamese buddies that the public school system has incorporated English language studies in their mandatory curriculum starting as early as age 6 and continuing through the college level. However, the kids Matt and I deal with come from a variety of backgrounds that are very discouraging to education.

"We want to get to know you. What is your name, how old are you, what is your favorite food?"

We spoke as slow as molasses and smiled maybe sweeter than molasses. Confronting blank stares with enthusiastic gestures and simplistic chalk-drawings, the kids answered as best they could in English and made nametags. It was a very good thing we'd brought a pack of Crayola markers and colored paper, because these kids had nothing but their clothes and a fierce curiosity about the foreign, Vietnamese-ignorant kids their age.

Matt and I decided to teach them English that would be most practical in a restaurant or cafe setting. After compiling a list of vocabulary, we chose the categories "People in a Restaurant," "Drinks," and "Silverware."

The kids knew virtually no English beyond “My name is” and occasionally helpful terms like “apple,” “chicken,” and "Aquafina.”

Names, age and 1 favorite food (many apples, chicken, bananas, 1 orange juice and 1 dog) later, we were reconfirmed in our assessment of a limited English vocabulary. The class delighted in competing with the other side fo the class and repeating Matt’s “WA-TER, WA-TER, WA-TER”. We had them repeat, recognize the words with games and tossing the ball to the students selected to pronounce.

Next time we have planned a game of bingo (you can see our prototype to the left).

The kids were mostly interested in learning the English and listening carefully to our emphasized pronunciation. With the exception of a single mishap in which a boy drew a large naked monster on the wall, there weren't signs of the infamous behavior of which we had been warned.

My guesses: either they were on extra-good behavior, we don't know them that well yet, or there is a different cultural perception of "bad" behavior here than in the States. More educated observations to come.

After the internship Matt and I wandered along the street to pick up a sugar cane juice and a quick bite at a cafe to review/regroup/react to our hour-and-a-half of English lessons.

We weren't offered menus (odd, we thought), and the girl laughed rather heartily when Matt ordered a "sinh to dau" (strawberry shake).

She's rather pretty, I thought to myself. Looking around, all the waitresses are rather pretty.

Hmm...suddenly the absence of a menu, lights, and female customers dawned on us. We looked at a nearby tabletop and saw a naughty photo under the glass.

Ohhhh man.

I'm still hoping that this was a Vietnamese version of Hooter's and not the Moulin Rouge, but it wasn't very clear. Anyhow, we moved on after a few unsuccessful attempts in Vietnamese to ask what there was to order other than food and drink (we were painfully curious).

The pastry shop and pirated DVD stores were our next stops, and we had a lovely taxi ride back to the guesthouse. (We walked further than we had thought, hailed a cab and were surprised when he took us about two blocks further on the same road. Somewhat embarrassing!!)

All-in-all, the internship seems like a fabulous opportunity to give the kids some tools in searching for a livelihood in hospitality. We have to do considerable lesson-planning and avoid cheesy games at which young adults would scoff, but they seemed to like us. Probably helped we gave them M&Ms at the end.

Either way, can't wait for Monday's lesson with another group of 25. We'll work with roughly 60 kids throughout the duration of the internship, and Mon/Tues/Fri from 1:30-3pm seems hardly enough time. We'll negotiate more!

In any case, the kids now say HELLO instead of Herrro. Progress already!