Table of Contents
I arrived in Ho Chi Minh city on September 6, 2001. It was strange looking at the city from the airplane at night time. The city light was not like that of the West. It was of a different color, almost dreamy.
The airport was very modern, not much different from other airports of developed countries. I felt joy seeing that Vietnam is not as impoverished or backward as I thought. There was order in going through customs. People waited in lines, not fighting to get to the front of the line, like the Vietnam I remembered in my childhood.
I felt a little trepidation as I approached the customs official wearing police uniform. He didn't say much as he inspected my U.S. Passport and entry Visa. I could read the expression of disdain on his face as he took some time inspecting my documents. I could tell he was thinking of me as a typical Viet Kieu (Overseas Vietnamese) who left Vietnam for a better life. So, I said, "I left Vietnam in 1975, before the liberation of Saigon, and I am glad to see the airport is so modern." He curtly replied in a form of a question, "If not better, then what?" That was the extent of our conversation. I thanked him then proceeded to the baggage claims area.
Some of the pictures of my childhood, and of the time I spent in the United States, I found looking through my mom's photo album.
As an infant
As a four-year old
In high school, 1975-1978
During college, 1978-1983I didn't have any motivation to do any writing since my mother's passing on October 1, 2001. However, I plan to continue with the writing and updating of this website on a regular basis from now on.
Have passport will travelDear Mr. Mark Godwin,
I received your telephone call this morning regarding your reasoning for not hiring me as a teacher at the ILA branch in Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam. During your phone call, you stated the following reasons for not hiring me:
1. I am not a native speaker.
2. I don't have teaching English As a Second Language training.First of all, I want to point out that your reasons are mere excuses designed to hide the fact that your school practices racial discrimination. Specifically, your school discriminates against Vietnamese teachers, including Overseas Vietnamese.
In regarding to the phrase "native speaker," I am sure you are well aware of the fact that different countries speak English differently. For example, the British speak English quite differently comparing to the Americans. Furthermore, even within a country such as the United States, the African-Americans speak English differently comparing to the whites, or shall I say: "European-Americans." Thus, there is no such thing as a "native speaker," since that phrase implies there is one correct way of speaking English.
By the way, are you aware of the fact that both Henry Kissinger, the Secretary of State under the Nixon administration, and Madelyn Albright, the Secretary of State under the Clinton administration, are both immigrants who emigrated to the United States when they were fifteen years old? To you, they are both native speakers simply because they are white.
Secondly, in regarding to not having English as a Second Language training, I would like to remind you that English is my second language. I am perfectly bilingual in both languages: English and Vietnamese. Moreover, I was a school teacher in the United States, and my students were both Americans and immigrants. In fact, it would be reasonable to make an assumption that an educated Overseas Vietnamese would make a better teacher by far, in comparison to white foreigners, since he or she has intimate knowledge of both languages and cultures.
I think the evidences would be conclusive in that your school discriminates against Vietnamese teachers. There is not one single Vietnamese teacher, including Overseas Vietnamese, on your staff. I even have knowledge of an individual who was not even considered for an interview because she is Vietnamese.
I am reasonably certain that most of your teachers don't even have a college education. What they have is a one-month-training, at the most, on how to teach English. Do you think that would even approach the criteria of being a competent teacher?
Sincerely,
Tuan TranWhen I was twelve years old, I went to live with my grandmother. When I was fourteen years old, I left for the United States. I left my family when I was too young, so I really didn't know my parents very well. I mean I didn't know about their personalities or characters as individuals.
I had about three weeks with my mother before she suddenly passed away. It wasn't long enough for me to know her. But I am comforted by the knowledge that she did love me. You see, she was looking intently at the two pictures of my childhood which I posted on this website, and unbeknownst to her, I was watching her facial expression as she was looking at my pictures and describing me as a child.
I don't have many memories of my childhood. The longer I am staying in Vietnam though, the more I remember of my childhood. One day I was looking at the ceiling and I saw a gecko eating mosquitoes, and I remember I used to watch geckos capturing and eating mosquitoes with their very quick movements. I also remember I used to look at the clouds in the sky. The deep blue sky and the swirls of the white clouds that would resemble whatever my imagination would conjure up at the time.
I used to smile a lot. I don't think it was by any coincidence that I lost my smile when I was in my thirties. It was around this time when I discovered racism in the United States, and I understood that I would never be totally accepted by the main stream American culture, or shall I say the Eurocentric American culture.
I also realized that even if I had children and they were born in the United States, my children would not be accepted by main stream America due to the fact that they are not white. Which reminds me of the lines from the famous "I Have a Dream" speech by Martin Luther King: "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."
I understood that America is a lie. Moreover, anyone decent and charismatic enough to challenge the status quo would be assassinated. For instances: Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, John F. Kennedy, and Robert F. Kennedy.
Well, I really should be writing about Vietnam, but I can't help it. I am very happy being in Vietnam. I find myself smiling again, and I notice that people here don't treat me like an outsider. I don't detect any of the discrimination I experienced in the United States.
One of the first things I noticed is how the Vietnamese people greet a stranger. For example, "Bac" for someone who is older than your parents, "Chu" or "Co" for someone who is a little younger than your parents, "Anh" or "Chi," which means older brother or sister, for someone older than you, "Em," which means younger brother or sister, for someone younger that you, and "Chau," which means nephew or niece, for someone much younger than you. "Ban," which means friend, is a term used for people without age distinction.
A Westerner might interpret these phrases as ranking within a social order, as in the teaching of Confucianism. However, I think that would be an incorrect interpretation. These terms are exact terms used for family relationships. Thus, they create a feeling of connectedness or a sense of relationship amongst strangers. I myself often feel a kinship toward a stranger when he or she addresses me with one of the above terms. I think it maybe one of the reasons for the low incidence of violence in Vietnamese society.
I am writing this entry and including the photographs in commemorating the 27th anniversary of the liberation of South Vietnam, on April 30, 1975.
The Independence Palace, the "White House" of the former
South Vietnamese government.
This airplane flown by Nguyen Thanh Trung of South Vietnam
dropped two bombs on Independence Palace before April 30,
1975. Thus, caused Nguyen Van Thieu, president of South
Vietnam to distrust his own airforce. Trung was secretly
working for North Vietnam.
This was the first tank that entered the Independence Palace.
Inside the Independence Palace, Meeting Room.
Inside the Independence Palace, Credential Presentation Room.
Inside the Independence Palace, Dining Room.
The original map in the War Room, which shows the location
of the "enemy" force and the location of "friends" force.
The "enemy" in this case is the North Vietnamese, and the
"friends" are the Americans (over 500,000), Australians
(about 10,000), South Koreans (about 50,000), and others.
The total number of foreign troops were over 600,000 soldiers.
Some of my friends on the way to the Independence Palace.
Another picture.I visited the American War Crimes Museum today. The pictures confirmed what I discovered through my research about the Vietnam War while living in the United States.
I am haunted by the images of the suffering. Sometimes I would see images of the people being burned by napalm, of the people being tortured by having long nails driven into their skulls, of the people being tortured by electricity and being thrown out of helicopters, or of children being shot while in their mothers' arms. I tried to comprehend how anyone could do these things, and why the Americans have so much hatred toward the Vietnamese people.
I talked to the Vietnamese people here about the Vietnam War, or the American War as it is called here. I am astounded by the lack of hatred the Vietnamese people feel toward the Americans, and I am amazed by their kindness and their forgiving nature. I think it must be rooted in their belief about karma.
But I am not as nice and forgiving as the people in Vietnam. I lived in America for so long, therefore I can't help but picking up some of the American values.
Some of the statistics from the American War: 6.5 million American males were drafted, with 543,400 soldiers were in Vietnam at one time. The United States utilized 70 percent of the Army, 60 percent of the Air Force, 60 percent of the Naval soldiers, and 40 percent of the Navy.
7,850,000 tons of bomb were dropped in Vietnam (four times the amount dropped during the entire World War II), 75 million liters of Dioxin were sprayed in Vietnam, and 22,000 corporations were directly involved in producing war materials.
The impact on the Vietnamese people was devastating, with 5 million Vietnamese people died, and another 4 million injured.
A picture of Ho Chi Minh and General Vo Nguyen Giap with the
American OSS, the forerunner of the CIA, during World War II.
Later on, the U.S.A betrayed Ho Chi Minh and the Vietnamese
people in the revolution for independence against France.
A CBU or cluster bomb.
A 175 mm howitzer which caused heavy
damages during war.
A victim of napalm.
Another victim of napalm.
A re-creation of a political prisoner being
chained by the ankles in a cell in one of
the "Tiger Cages."
A guillontine brought over by the French
during the early 1900's. Later on, it was used by
Ngo Dinh Diem to execute political prisoners.
American soldiers enjoyed mutilating the
corpses of Vietnamese liberation soldiers.
Fetuses of victims of dioxin, from Agent Orange.Le Loi street is the main street in the center of Ho Chi Minh city. This is where all of the big hotels and old buildings are located.
Map of Ho Chi Minh city.
Central Post Office.
The Caravelle Hotel, built during the
French colonial period.
The Rex Hotel, popular during the American War.
The Virgin Mary Church, built during the
French colonial period.
The office of the French colonial officers,
built during the French colonial period.Vietnam is developing very quickly. There are constructions going on everywhere. After the war, America used its influence worldwide to impose an economic embargo against Vietnam. The reasoning for not normalizing relations with Vietnam was the "fantasy" that Vietnam still held American soldiers in prison. In addition, the United States wanted a full accounting of the missing in action (MIA). The truth is America wanted to punish Vietnam for winning the war.
It was only about five years ago that America lifted the embargo and normalized relations with Vietnam. Corporations in the United States exerted its political influence to press for normalizing relations with Vietnam, since a lot of other countries were doing business in Vietnam, and American corporations wanted to cash in on an emerging market.
Vietnamese are ancestor worshipers. In fact, deceased family members are worshiped as well. Therefore, it is very important for the Vietnamese people to know for sure if a relative had died. During the war, the Americans dropped such gigantic bombs that Vietnamese soldiers often disintegrated. To this day, there are appeals everyday on television for help locating missing soldiers.
I have decided to return to the United States and resume my teaching career there. I will continue to teach in Vietnam, and get involved in humanitarian projects, during each Summer. I plan to be back in the United States early this September 2002.
Hate is never conquered by hate.
Hate is conquered by love.
This is an eternal law.Dhammapada
A report to the CSU's Board of Trustees (a governing body for the California State University system) found that more than 48 percent of the 38,086 first-time freshman entering in the 2003 fall semester failed to meet English proficiency requirements, while 40 percent were not even ready for introductory Math.
Remember, these college freshman have already graduated from high school and have been accepted to a university. Their level of education (high school graduate) is about the same as most of the white American teachers teaching English in Vietnam.
It is no wonder why more than half of the Vietnamese students in Vietnam failed the English proficiency test such as the TOEFL, which is a requirement to study overseas, even after studying for years at expensive private English schools with foreign teachers, such as Hoi Viet My (Vietnam-USA Society, English Language Center).
This journal entry is dedicated to the adopted children of the Operation Babylift. Many of these adoptions lacked the consents from the parents, who never intended to give up their babies. To read the entire comic strip by Garry Trudeau, click on this link
Excerpted from Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau
May 5, 1975
April 30, 2004You're the last orphan baby out of Vietnam!
and an important symbol of hope for the free world!!Yeah, yeah..
You've got a whole new life ahead of you-a new family, a new home, and probably even some pretty new name like..like.. Abigail
"ABIGAIL?"!
What kind of name is that for a war victim?!May 8, 1975
Mrs. Rosenthal, aren't you and your husband just trying to atone for our collective national guilt through individual action?
What an awful, CYNICAL thing to say! how could you.. you think.. think that..
Mr. Tran,As I was preparing a lesson on the VietNam or American war as you called it for my class, I came upon your pictures and journal. I must say that I was drawn in to reading your journal by your pictures from your mother. You were a beautiful baby and a handsome young man.
I was disturbed, however, to hear the bitterness and hate that you complain about in others in your own writing. I would like to apologize to you for any injustice that you feel you have received at the hands of Americans. I, too, look at pictures from Viet nam and am deeply disturbed by them. I do think that there was a lot of anger from many Americans towards the Vietnamese people after the war was over. I think that many of our "boys" did not want to be there and in that situation. From what I have learned over the years, many of our young men were traumatized by seeing the deaths of babies and children at the hands of their own people. This trauma turned them into something that could kill without conscience. I do not think that the hate was necessarily with the people of Vietnam but the concept of VietNam. I also think that it was a long time ago and that the hate is no longer existant. Many of our men have traveled back to VietNam to see people that they had made f riends with so long ago. Many men have gone in search of their wives and loved ones that they were forced to leave when the Army pulled out and they were ordered to go.
I was born a year before the war ended. I do not recall the feelings and only know about them through my parents and history but I can say that I do not agree with many things done there. However, please do not hate a whole nation becase of their government and the governments mistakes. Do not hate all of us because of a few bigots either. Take each and every person as an individual until you find a friend.
From your description of Viet Nam I would hope to visit someday. It sounds truly lovely.
Sincerely and with outstretched hands of friendship,
JLF
Hello JLF,
Thank you for your email. I certainly don't hate all Americans. In fact, I don't hate any American simply because that person is American. I know that any hatred I feel will only harm me ultimately, and not anyone else.
Mistakes were made by the American government during the Vietnam War. However, the American people as a whole was also responsible, since they didn't stop the war. I think a lot of Americans would feel that I hate America and Americans from my writings.
By the same logic, should the Jewish people hate all German people because of the Holocaust? Certainly, the German people as a whole didn't stop the Holocaust from happening. As for me, I can't hate anyone simply because they are ignorant.
It is a lot like what Jesus said as He was dying on the cross: "Forgive them Father, for they don't know what they are doing."
Sincerely,
Tuan Tran
P.S. One can't ever have too many friends, but even one enemy would be too many. I am more than happy to have you as a friend.
In Vietnam, especially in Ho Chi Minh City, there seems to be a great demand for international schools. The Vietnamese parents want their children to be enrolled in expensive private international schools, with the most popular ones being the American international schools. The tuition for these international schools is exorbitant, about one thousand U.S. dollars a month.
However, the people in Vietnam are not aware that the U.S. educational system is failing. Due to the No Child Left Behind Act by Congress, elementary and high school students are required to take and pass both the English and Math test for their grade level. In 2005, only 23 percent of the grade 12 students were proficient or passed the Math test, and only 35 percent were proficient or passed the English test. (source below)
Furthermore, there is an achievement gap between minority and white students. Minority students, such as Black and Hispanic, have lower scores than white students. There are various arguments as to why there is an achievement gap between minority and white students. However, there are evidences that students of color tend to perform better in school if their teachers are of the same race. Therefore, one can reasonably argue that a contributing factor of the achievement gap is the white teachers' inability or unwillingness to identify with the racial and cultural backgrounds of students of color.
Now, we have the facts. First, the U.S. educational system is failing, yet parents in Vietnam are flocking to American international schools so that their children can have an American education. I even saw one parent putting two one-hundred U.S. dollar bills in an envelop for a school administrator because the school "accepted" her child. Second, most international schools in Vietnam only hire white foreign teachers, even though most of these teachers have no teaching degrees or even college degrees, while Vietnamese-American teachers like myself have a hard time getting a teaching job in Vietnam. A lot of these white teachers think they are superior to the Vietnamese people. They have no interest in anything Vietnamese, except for the women.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Educational Statistics.
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/pubs/main2005/2007468.aspA Journal Summary of My Teaching Experience in Vietnam
I left Vietnam on April 30th 1975. I was fourteen years old at the time. I was taken in by the United States as a refugee, and I was relocated to Olympia, Washington. I lived in a white foster home. I graduated from Capital High School in 1978, Western Washington University in 1983, and the Evergreen State College in 1988. I studied in the Teacher Education Program, which later became the Master in Teaching Program.
I was married to a white woman for two years after graduating from Western Washington University. For most of my life in the United States, I thought of myself as a white person, even though I don't look white. All of my friends were white. My experience is not unusual for people of color in America. We identify ourselves with the dominant white culture, as an oppressed person would identify with the oppressor. It is a survival mechanism.
I felt everything was fine. I was in an ignorant bliss until I discovered about racism in America. Racism has always existed in America. It first appeared in the Americas when the white men began their conquest and colonization of this continent. But I was in denial. I thought I was white.
I went through a gradual process of transformation, which culminated into a full blown identity crisis when I was about 37 years old. In a way, I am thankful to the Evergreen State College for hastening this process, even though what they did to me was wrong.
I went back to Vietnam in 2001 when I was 41 years old. At the time, I decided to return to Vietnam permanently. Since then I have returned to Vietnam three times. The transition back to Vietnam is a long and difficult process. I am a product of the Vietnam War, but I have lived most of my life in America. I have assimilated two very different cultures, between that of East and West, of individual freedom and family obligations, of a lack of tradition to a very deeply rooted tradition. However, the most painful thing for me is to see a form of identity crisis in the young people in the South of Vietnam. It is the same thing I went through in America.
To recognize this form of identity crisis, it requires a global perspective. Vietnam was colonized by the French for 100 years. The French left in 1955 after they were defeated by the Viet Minh, led by Ho Chi Minh. Immediately after that, America invaded and occupied South Vietnam until they were driven out by North Vietnam on April 30th 1975. Thus, the people of South Vietnam have lived continuously under colonial oppression by the French and the Americans.
This colonial and imperial oppression confer a sense of racial superiority complex in the oppressor and instill a sense of racial inferiority complex in the oppressed. This is similar to the experience of African-Americans during slavery. Therefore, the Civil Rights Movement led by Martin Luther King in 1964 is a revolt by black people against the systemic oppression of white America, much like the Viet Minh revolt against French colonism which culminated into the decisive Battle of Dien Bien Phu and the French withdrawing from Vietnam. The only difference is that Martin Luther King adopted Gandhi's non violent protest, or "ahimsa" in Sanskrit.
After the Civil Rights Movement, the black people had their black pride movement with phrases such as: "black is beautiful." But the Vietnamese never had their Vietnamese pride movement. They were immediately invaded by the Americans. This racial inferiority complex is the root of the identity crisis in the young people of South Vietnam, and its manifestation is the practice of reverse discrimination towards "Viet Kieu" or Overseas Vietnamese like myself.
After the communist victory in 1975, the United States declared a trade embargo on Vietnam. Using its influence with the World Bank, America also prevented the World Bank from lending money to Vietnam for postwar reconstruction. Thus, Vietnam became isolated from the world. The English language was no longer in demand. When the trade embargo was lifted in 1995, a lot of Vietnamese needed to learn English in order to work for companies doing business with the West. There was a severe shortage of qualified English teachers.
A lot of private English language centers started to open in Vietnam beginning in 2000, especially in Ho Chi Minh City, the economic center of Vietnam, as opposed to Hanoi, the political center of Vietnam. These English language centers would hire any white person walking in the door. These white teachers are being paid more than ten times the average salary of a Vietnamese worker, or about ten times the salary of a medical doctor. In Vietnam, as in the United States, only the very best students are accepted into medical schools.
Most of these white teachers have no college degrees or teaching credentials. Even more shocking is that a lot of these white teachers have criminal records in their countries, such as the convicted pedophile Gary Glitter the rock star from England, and John Mark Karr, the confessed killer of the child beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey in the United States. Both have taught English in Vietnam. Most recently, the homosexual pedophile from Canada, Christopher Paul Neil, who posted pictures of himself sexually molesting a dozen of young boys in Vietnam on the internet, was captured in Thailand. Christopher Paul Neil also taught English in Vietnam. These are only the cases that became public. Imagine the number of cases that have not become public. (Updated February 24, 2008)
Most women in Vietnam think that white men are handsome. Vice versa, they think they are ugly comparing to white women. There is a new trend in Vietnam that women try to look white by dyeing their hair, and even having eyelids surgery so that they look more white. As I mentioned before, this perception is rooted in their racial inferiority complex.
This perception makes young Vietnamese female students especially vulnerable to being seduced and sexually exploited by white teachers. This is common knowledge amongst white English teachers in Vietnam. Just about every white teacher has seduced and sexually exploited their students, even virgins under eighteen years old. There is even a video being sold on the Internet, which depicts a real life event of a white male teacher having sex with a group of teenage female students.
When I first returned to Vietnam in 2001, I applied for a teaching job at English language centers. Most of them told me they don't hire "Viet Kieu," or Overseas Vietnamese, even after I presented my resume, college degrees, and teaching credential. They said they only hire white teachers. In fact, they also hire local Vietnamese teachers, to teach mostly English grammar, who would teach for one-fifth of the pay of a white teacher.
I found a job teaching American Literature to Vietnamese students at a high school. Most of these students have studied at English language centers with white teachers before. However, their command of the English language is very limited. Furthermore, their knowledge of the American culture and literature is practically zero. What they know about America is from watching MTV or Hollywood movies. They think America is a rich country with no poor people, and that almost everyone there is young, slim, white, and beautiful. I realize then my job is not only to teach them American Literature, but also to teach them about the real America.
This is a very challenging task. I have to teach American Literature in English to students with limited command of the English language. Fortunately, the school is using a very good textbook. It is the Pacemaker American Literature textbook, for high school students in America.
On Monday each week, I would give the students a worksheet I created for the story they are reading for that week. The students worked in small groups to discuss the story, using my worksheet as a guide. I created the worksheets with the purpose of getting them to understand the story and to think about the social and cultural aspects of America as well. I would let the students struggle with trying to understand the story for most of the week. Then on Wednesday, I would give a lecture about the story to help them get a more in-depth understanding of the story. On Friday, they have to turn in their answers for the worksheet.
I found this method of teaching American Literature to be very effective. Within three months, the students improved a lot in their reading comprehension. They also gained a new appreciation for the different literary styles and genres. Their writing also improved a lot as well, since I carefully read their answers and provided written feedback on their writing.
My second teaching job is at the University of Education Foreign Language Center. I taught TOEFL to university students. TOEFL is a very difficult test designed by Educational Testing Service (ETS) to test English proficiency of foreign students who want to attend a university in the US. This test consists of speaking, listening, reading, and writing.
I found that the key to teaching TOEFL is to get the students to understand the similarity between speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Starting from reading, I wanted them to understand the main idea of a paragraph, and how one paragraph is connected to the next paragraph based on the logical progression of ideas. Finally, how the writing is organized around a thesis that the writer is trying get across. Then I tried to get the students to see that speaking, listening, and writing also have the same process.
The second aspect of teaching the TOEFL that is just as important is to help the students understand contextual meaning. For example, if there is a word that they don't understand, then they have to try to guess the meaning of that word within the context of the sentence. This idea is inherent in learning a native language. However, most Vietnamese students don't seem to know that the same process should be used in learning a foreign language.
My third teaching job is at an international school in Ho Chi Minh City. All of the other international schools only hire white teachers, and local Vietnamese teachers as teaching assistants. They don't hire Overseas Vietnamese or foreigners that are not white. This particular international school is a Singaporean school, and they have Singaporean teachers, so they decided to hire me as a teacher. I am teaching a second grade class. The students are from Singapore, Taiwan, Korea, United States, Canada. One-fourth of the students in my class are Overseas Vietnamese, or half Vietnamese (their fathers are from another country, and their mothers are local Vietnamese).
It is interesting that the parents who voiced their objections to my being hired were the local and Overseas Vietnamese parents. Also, the local Vietnamese teaching assistants, all of them are young female teachers, don't like to have an Overseas Vietnamese teacher like myself on the teaching staff. They prefer to be assistant teachers to white teachers, and most of these white teachers are males. It is also interesting that the local female assistant teachers would get into romantic relationships with the white male teachers and causing the working environment to be very difficult for Singaporean teachers and Overseas Vietnamese teacher like myself.
This school uses the Singaporean curriculum, which is modelled after the British curriculum. I found that teaching at an international school is very similar to teaching in the USA. First of all, I have to establish classroom rules and consequences in order to manage the classroom. For the consequences, I also wrote the I Can Do It Form as a way for the students to take control over their behavior. This is also a way to inform the parents about the students' behavior in class. I also wrote a letter to the parents at the beginning of the year to introduce myself to the parents.
I found that communication with the parents is the key to get the students to behave better and to perform better in school. Every week, I wrote a weekly progress report for each student in class. I email the weekly reports directly to the parents, since some students would not even show the weekly reports to their parents. Secondly, I also create a weekly timetable, which would let the parents know what the students will be learning each week, and the assignments they have to do for classwork and homework.
Since these students are international students, with most coming from non-English speaking countries, I discovered that reading a story aloud to them each day is crucial for their development in the English language. Most of them truly enjoy listening to the stories. I also require each student to read two books that they check out from the school library each week.
As for speaking, I require each student to do a book report in Science, both in writing and orally in front of the class. Finally, I created a play about Sleeping Beauty Meets Nobita (a character from the comics book Doraemon) for the students to perform at camp.
For writing, I require the students to write one story each week. The topic of the story is related to the topic of the English unit we are studying for the week. I also created an email account for each student in the www.epals.com website. This is a website located in Canada. This website is a portal to connect students from all over the world. The students can learn about other cultures and make friends with students in other countries. It is also a very good way for the students to improve their writing skills.
In conclusion, I encounter the same problem in Vietnam as in the USA, specifically the discrimination in trying to get a teaching job. However, the teaching methodology is similar, and the training I received at Evergreen in the Teacher Education Program has been invaluable.
It seems a lot of white English teachers in Ho Chi Minh City don't want the truth to come out. They don't want the Vietnamese people to know that most of them don't have a college degree from an accredited university, and a lot of them have sex with their students. On top of that (no pun intended), they make a ridiculous amount of money teaching English in Vietnam. An amount of money they would be unable to make in their own countries given their educational level.
This week, a white teacher at my school made a photocopy of about half a page of my writing, with one sentence he strongly disagrees with, and handed it out to other white foreign teachers. The sentence is: "Just about every white teacher has seduced and sexually exploited their students, even virgins under eighteen years old." Two of the teachers decided to confront me. One entered my classroom while I was teaching and said I shouldn't be a teacher. He threatened to talk to the principal to get me fired. The other called me by a four-letter f word, and threatened to put me in a hospital.
It would be inconceivable that any educated person, who is a teacher, would do that in a classroom in America. If they had done that to me in their own countries, I am sure they would have been fired by the school district or arrested by the police. Such is the white English teachers' disregard for the law in Vietnam. They also seem to forget about the freedom of speech accorded to every individual by the law, in their own countries, as well as in Vietnam.
Anyway, I decided to do a search on the Internet today to find out if anything I wrote about white English teachers in Vietnam is so out of line or so grossly incorrect. I found out about the big brouhaha in Korea with white English teachers bragging on the Internet about how easy it's to get a job teaching English and have sex with Korean women.
I found two of the postings below from a website to be very informative and funny:
William
Posted January 12, 2005 at 5:20 pm | PermalinkI've gotten an MA in Education from a well-known university in the U.S, as well as teaching 6 years at an inner-city school. There is an inherent process in getting a B.A. and M.A. in Education which weeds out incompetent and ethically, unsuitable candidates from becoming an educator/teacher; a six year process. Moreove, when one applies to a school district, he gets to have his fingers printed, FBI background check, etc, etc. As a teacher, I would spend a minimum of 60 hours per week "working" as a teacher; a pay less than what a grocery checker would make.
As a teacher close to gaining his tenure, I was thinking about taking a year off to teach English in Korea. Out of curiosity I frequented a well-known, so-called "teachers" forum, a-hem "Dave's ESL Cafe," for a year or two.
The amount of sleazy and filthy topics had me wonder whether I was actually at a "teacher's" forum. The negativity about Korean culture and the ridiculing of its people were quite common. The frequent posting of topics about having sex with Korean women or some delusional idea that if you are a Caucasian male teacher, you would have no problems have sex with different Korean woman every night is probably the main reason why Hagwons are filled with filthiest of filth from the Western countries. Based on what I learned about Korea, I guess you can't blame these losers for the English teacher problems; Hagwon system has to take the blame as well.
Of course, this is not to say that there weren't good, competent, and honest teachers; the bad ones tend to make the loudest noise just like the classroom.
I am not surprised by this type of reaction from the Korean fringe groups. I just wish that Korea implement some type of standard in hiring foreign, English teachers, just like Japan? A minimum of English degree and some teaching experience, or non-English teaching plus a teaching credential.
CH
Posted January 12, 2005 at 6:04 pm | PermalinkA friend of mine who taught English in Japan called these white guys who teach English in Asian countries 2/10s. As in they were 2s in the US. They come to Asia and suddenly, they're 10s and they can bag any lady they want.
I'm not a defensive Korean guy who wants to protect his "territory" but a Korean American woman (who happens to date a white guy back in the States). Aside from the fact that these English teachers make creepy Asiaphiles in the States seem like sensitive gentlemen, I'm also just shocked, simply shocked that Korean women are attracted to these men. Behold the power of English! I mean I know there is this national obsession with the language, but come on. Get glasses! So many white male English teachers here are such pale pasty sad little sacks. Not to mention they're dumb as rocks and have absolutely no inclination to learn the culture. Oh well-they might be studs for a year but they'll have to return to their home countries someday, where all they'll have is a jar of vaseline and a subscription to porn sites.
Today's journal entry is a public service announcement to all of the schools: English language centers, Vietnamese schools, and international schools, in Vietnam.
An American citizen's criminal record can be easily obtained by any employer, as a condition of employment, especially when it is related to working with children. This can be done by having that individual's fingerprints be taken and checked against the FBI database of all convicted criminals in the United States.
In Ho Chi Minh City, the IOM office (International Organization for Migration) will take an individual's fingerprints and have the prints processed by the FBI. I would request the IOM office directly mail the fingerprints, instead of having the individual mail the fingerprints to the FBI, and have the results sent to the school directly. The cost of having the fingerprints taken and processed is fifty US dollars. The address of the IOM office is:
IOM Sub-Office in Ho Chi Minh City
1B Pham Ngoc Thach Street
District 1
Ho Chi Minh City, VietnamI am sure the process would be similar for citizens of other countries. The school can contact their embassy directly for further information.
One can also check to see if a college in the United States and Canada is an accredited college, or a phony college, at www.chea.org. For accreditation in other countries, their embassy would also be able to help the school to find out if a college in their country is accredited or not.
To find out whether an indidual's college diploma is real or not, one can check at National Student Clearinghouse to verify degree and enrollment. If a college is not listed on this website, one can contact the Registra's Office of the college directly to verify a college degree and enrollment.
I recently read about myself on an electronic bulletin board for foreign English teachers in Vietnam. A guy by the name of Jerry, wrote the first posting about my website, asking them to read only one page of the website, to try and stir up problems for me. After that, I am amazed at the number of threats and negative postings about me. The following is one of the postings by "saigoncowboy."
saigoncowboyIt seems that this writer, "saigoncowboy" is trying to portray me as being mentally unstable, by quoting something I wrote out of context, without giving the readers the benefit of reading my whole website and making their own opinions. Quoting someone out of context is simply being dishonest - intellectually dishonest.Joined: 16 Jun 2007
Posts: 47PostPosted: Mar Tue 25, 2008 9:59 am
The web page has been deleted and new material has been added. What is disturbing is that the new material is just as damning. This guy isn't just shooting himself in the foot but in the head.
I feel sorry for him. He is lost. Saigon is not a good place to be lost.
The following is a paste from his current page: One week later, four policemen and a community mental health counselor showed up at my apartment. They said the counselor at Evergreen told them I made a threat to shoot school children. They delivered a "No Tresspassing" order and told me I am banned from the Evergreen State College, and the Olympia School District, and all of the surrounding school districts as well.
The Olympia newspaper ran a story about me the next day about the "threat" I made. The Olympia School District sent letters to all of the parents about me. They circulated my name and picture, along with what kind of car I drove, to all of the schools. The parents demanded I'd be arrested. The community mental health counselor told me to be careful, and that my life was in danger.
Even the Buddha, one of the greatest beings that has ever walked on this Earth, could be portrayed as being mentally unstable, if I quote one sentence from one of his sermons out of context. Furthermore, the Community Mental Health Therapist would have involuntarily committed me to a mental hospital if I was mentally unstable, and I could never have taught again in the United States.
Secondly, this writer, "saigoncowboy," is a lier. He wrote that the material he quoted was "new material has been added." He doesn't know that my website is one of the websites that is archived by www.archive.org, an internet archive in the form of a digital library of internet sites. The passage he quoted exists from the beginning of my website in 2001.
Finally, one of the good white English teachers, "magic8ball," tried to defend me, but he was threatened and intimidated by "xyz."
Even though I am living and working in Vietnam, I still follow the news in the United States. The more I am learning about Barack Obama, the more I like him. I like him not because he is black, but because I believe he is a man of integrity and honesty. I am moved by his speech regarding his minister, Revevend Jeremiah Wright. I am moved not by the passion or the rhetoric, but by the sincerity and honesty of his speech.
But knowing that America is a racist country, I don't think Obama will be elected as the next president of the United States. It will be unfortunate for America, because Obama is the one who will be able to bridge the racial divide in the United States, in addition to creating a better image for America to countries that are predominantly Muslim.
I left the United States because I didn't like the racism in the United States. I hope America will prove me wrong by electing Barack Obama.
