Members of IZI Hue practice communicating with foreigners.
Experiencing English
The Vespa café (4/42 Nguyen Cong Tru St., Hue City) on Sunday afternoon is bustling with the iziShare program. About 50 young people are enjoying the English lesson from MC Vo Ba Hai, a member of IZI Hue. Hai is not only sharing academic knowledge but also combining every single English sentence with funny situations, making the class laugh, and everyone raises their hands to answer question. Most of the students are pupils, students, some are in grade 5, or some have worked for several years. Every Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, this café is so vibrant with 3 English-learning programs: iziBreeze, iziShare and iziDiscovery.
Besides weekly programs, IZI English Community in Hue has organized many interesting events. The “Zero to Hero – Turning the fear of English into motivation” organized in September attracted about 1000 young participants. Not only sharing about the fear of English and ways to get over it, skills and experiences to master English from number 0 through practical interaction, the programs also deliver a message about values of life and of youth in English.
Nguyen Quang Gia Khanh, freshman from College of Sciences – Hue University shared: “I have participated in many programs of IZI for 3 years. I came here at first because of curiosity. Day by day, I am attracted more by a positive atmosphere: friendly, funny, comfortable, relaxing way of learning instead of rigid theories, interesting games and interaction that are helpful for memorization. IZI brings me a new method of learning English, improving the ability to communicate in English confidently. Furthermore, I am taught about soft skills, values of life through inspirational stories.”
Tran Thi Thu Thuy, Vice President of Vietnam IZI English Community, Representative of IZI English Community in Hue said: “Previously, students looked for classes or center for learning only. Nowadays, they want a hospitable English environment with practical activities and experiences. Learning English must be fun and inspirational. The environment should motivate students to be more creative to learn English effectively. With that aspiration, IZI English Community in Hue was founded in September, 2014.”
At first, the Administration Board included only 5 people with 3 teams: Academic, Marketing and Event teams. Now we have 20 members. When it was founded, the iziShare (level 1) only provided basic knowledge about pronunciation, intonation, grammar. After 1 year, IZI Hue has organized iziBreeze (level 2) to practice “jabbering” in English through daily situations, and iziDiscovery (level 3) to utilize knowledge in practicing listening, speaking, communicating with native speakers. All of the programs are free.
Devoting their youth
The impressive thing is, despite working without pay, members of Hue IZI (mostly graduated students) are energetic, active and professional. Every week, they spend 3 mornings meeting and writing syllabi as well as 3 afternoons rehearsing the whole event. The Academic team is composed of top students from English Department, Hue University of Foreign Languages. When there is an important upcoming event, every member has to work until 2-3 am.
Thuy said: “Over the last 3 years, IZI English Community in Hue has been determined to maintain a welcoming atmosphere with plenty of experiences for young people in the city. IZI is the first non-benefit English speaking community in Vietnam. Without any sponsors, every member of the Administration Board devoted entirely themselves in order to create a valuable and beneficial learning environment for the youth in the city.”
In addition to maintaining the weekly program, IZI Hue has organized about 100 major events. With the program "English for Hue cyclo riders", young students have trained 50 riders to communicate with foreigners, promoting the beautiful image of Hue to visitors. The City Inside program broadcasts images of Hue to hundreds of young people, bringing them to experience the cultural values of Hue to understand, to love and to spread them to international visitors.
Tran Thi Thuy Duong, a fifth-year student of Hue University of Medicine and Pharmacy, member of IZI Hue said: "It is always said that young people in Hue are more disadvantaged than other provinces and cities as they are not confident enough with poor English communication skill. IZI aims to provide English knowledge and confidence to you by equipping you with communication skills, teamwork skills and leadership skills through experiential activities. "
According to Duong, more than a year ago, when she had not yet participated in IZI, Duong was a very self-deprecating student, knowing only the way from home to school. Duong wanted to find a changing environment, and IZI was the perfect environment that pulled her out of the shell. "I was so impressed by the professionalism and enthusiasm of IZI members that I decided to participate. Since joining this community, I have found myself more confident. Many young people do not have any passions or desires, IZI creates an environment to dare you to try, to find the target and to develop your exceptional ability. Meanwhile, you must understand the value of youth that is devotion, the meaning of sharing and receiving. Many of us since joining IZI have changed positively. "Duong said.
Story and photo: Minh Hien