I can see..my future of my group !

Vietnam 2014 (Day 3 with “Talking With The Tourists Group”)

So we went to the park which is just 2 blocks away from my hostel. I got to meet a lot of Vietnamese people. Most of them are in college. The “Talking With The Tourists Group” literally means they are talking with the tourists to practice their English. Since these students cannot afford to pay for English training school, they go to the park near backpackers area. They invite tourists to sit and talk with them.

 

Since I am a tourist and is able to speak English well, I had a group of Vietnamese people surrounding me. As expected, they asked a lot about Philippines and about me. We had so much fun even though it was challenging for me to talk to them.

The talk was from 3PM to 6PM. Then, people decided to have smoothie with me and the other two foreigners the group got the talked with who just arrived from the Philippines.

I was so tired so around 8PM, I decided to leave. I was talking non-stop for 5 hours! I got back to my hostel and took a shower after a long day. When I checked my phone, I got literally 68 friend requests and 36 messages on Facebook all from Vietnamese names. They all want to meet me so they can practice their English. OMG! I accepted those with mutual friends and replied to all the messages. I was wondering how did they all know my FB account then I found out that the guy I met in SG posted it on their group website. Oh shoot!

I think this group is awesome. They are all determined to practice their English. I wish I can meet everyone and help them but I am only here for few days.

Link : http://iamryshel.com/2014/07/28/talking-with-the-tourists-group/

SAIGON – TALKING WITH THE TOURIST

It all started with a: “Are you English? Do you have some time to speak with us?”.

This afternoon I was strolling down Pham Ngu Lao, the backpacker area in Saigon, on my way to Ben Thanh market when I got suddenly surrounded by a group of Vietnamese students, like I was some sort of movie star.

“Why not?” I thought. After my catch up with some Vietnamese friends in the morning I had no real plans for the rest of the day. So I sat on the pavement with the students and for almost an hour I was bombarded with questions about my job, my home country, my opinions of Vietnam. My not-married status, together with my age, (yes, these were some of the questions too) shocked some of the girls but I will survive….

With some of the students I spoke to

Although only a handful of the students around me actually asked me questions, there were at least fifteen of them eagerly listening to everything I had to say. They also showed me photos of Vietnam, told me about their studies and their hometowns.

“Talking with the tourist” – as these University students explained to me – is an initiative that gives students in Vietnam the opportunity to practice their English with tourists.  

The Saigon group uses the Pham Ngu Lao park as its area of action. As I looked around while sitting with them I realised that there were at least another 5-6 backpackers in the same situation as me.

These students also hand out a self-made booklet with some Saigon travel tips, from price lists to how to find toilets, how to cross the road, some useful sentences in Vietnamese (which I was unable to pronounce properly…), and a small map of the city centre. And at the end of my ‘interview’ they even gave me a small gift – a handmade bracelet – to thank me for my time.

What a great idea from these kids, and what a nice experience for us foreigners too :-).

So if you are in Saigon and keen on spending some time speaking English with local students, head to Pham Ngu Lao!