Officially launched late last year, the ‘Teaching English To Orphans’ (TETO) programme exclusively for children from Da Nang’s SOS Children’s Village has to date proved effective. 

A view of a English class at the Da Nang SOS Children’s Village

TETO is a charity programme which was funded by the Alumni Small Grants Programme 2017 of the United States Department of State.  The intention is to offer free English classes to the orphans who are being cared for at the Village. 

The programme is being jointly managed by the US Consulate General in Viet Nam and the Da Nang authorities.

The Head of the Management Board of this meaningful programme is Ms Le Thi Thien An who is a talented and strong-willed woman.  Most notably, she participated in the Study of the US Institutes (SUSIs) for Student Leaders in the past. 

SUSIs are 5 - 6 week academic programmes for foreign undergraduate students between the ages of 18 and 25.  They are designed to enhance trainees’ understanding of the United States, and to develop their leadership skills. 

To date, TETO has attracted the participation of over 25 enthusiastic volunteers who are graduates and undergraduates from Da Nang’s universities.  In particular, these young people have a high level of proficiency in English, and want to share their deep sympathy and love with disadvantaged children.

Ms An said that TETO aims to facilitate the disadvantaged children access training courses on English skills, especially inspiring them to communicate in English confidently.  Besides, there are many interesting extracurricular activities for these children to enhance their life skills.  Included are yoga, team building, mini-talks on culture, learning styles, fine arts, and physical movement activities.

Under the TETO programme, the Village’s 50 children who are Years 2 to 7 pupils, attend English classes at weekends.  Each class is taught by a main teacher and 5 assistants.

Ms An said that she and other volunteers feel very happy to become actively involved in teaching English to these disadvantaged children.  The TETO voluntary teachers’ greatest happiness is to see their trainees make substantial improvements in their English skills day after day.  Also, through such a meaningful programme, these young volunteers have the opportunity to make even greater dedication to the whole community.

Huynh Tan Tuong Vi, a Year 8 pupil, said that she was once bad at English, but now she feels confident to communicate in English with her peers.  Another learner, Year 7 pupil Duong Thi Kim Thoa, eagerly said that she is very interest in such free English classes in which she learn about how to enlarge her vocabulary, and enhance her pronunciation skills and grammar.  Also, Thoa is eager to participate in numerous interesting outdoor games to enhance her listening and speaking skills.