VietCorps is fortunate to have a strong team of talented and enthusiastic high school students living in different parts of the U.S. They spearhead various projects, including serving as mentors in our English program, which provides students in Vietnam the opportunity to practice conversing in English with American students. 

Our Student-to-Student English Tutoring Program
In today’s global market, the ability to speak clear and concise English with confidence is more important than ever. While students in Vietnam may have studied English for several years, the opportunity to practice speaking and conversing with native speakers of the English language may be limited.

In 2020, we introduced an English tutoring program to create the opportunity for students in Vietnam (primarily high school students) to be tutored by and to practice speaking/conversing in English with native speakers who are high school students in the US.  After three years, our program has connected more than 30 tutors, who are American high school students, with more than 70 highly motivated Vietnamese students.  The program has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from tutors, students, and parents.  One parent has told us: “My daughter much more confident speaking in English to others.  She can listen and speak much better than before.  Importantly, she is no longer as shy as before.”

Each year, with our American students graduating from high school and going off to college, we conduct a new round of recruitment of new tutors and tutees during the summer.  Our of hundreds of applicants, we select between 15-20 tutors and approximately 40-50 tutees per year.  The tutoring sessions are then scheduled to start at the beginning of September and last for one academic year.

• Minimum Qualifications of Vietnamese Students
  For the tutoring sessions to be productive, the Vietnamese students between the age of 15 and 18 and must have certain minimum English proficiency in order to participate in this program. In the registration process, the Vietnamese students will be asked to provide their English proficiency level. After the initial meeting, the subsequent program will be adjusted to the student’s level of English proficiency.

• Background/Qualifications of US Student Volunteers
  The U.S. students are native speakers of the English language and are academically strong students at their high schools. Note that most of the US tutors are non-Vietnamese American high school students and will not be able to converse in Vietnamese. The tutoring sessions will be conducted only in English.
• Format of Tutoring Sessions
  Depending on the availability of U.S. tutors, each session will be either (1) one-on-one; or (2) a small group format with one US student and 2-3 Vietnamese students in order to create a comfortable environment for the students to practice conversing in English. The U.S. tutors will provide suggestions/feedback to the Vietnamese students on ways to improve their English speaking skills. To provide some structure, there could be an informal lesson plan based on the English proficiency of the Vietnamese student. The sessions will also be structured to be fun, informative, and include the sharing of experiences; students may talk about their school life, hobbies, interests, music, and more.  
• Initial Session/Parent Participation
  For the first meeting, parents are welcomed to sit in and observe in order to gain comfort with the format of the tutoring sessions; however, in subsequent tutoring sessions, we believe that the tutoring sessions should be more productive if they are between the US student tutor and the Vietnamese student.

Virtual Sessions
The tutoring sessions will be done through Google Meets or another virtual meeting platform. A meeting link will be sent to the US. tutor and the Vietnamese students. Both are expected to turn on their camera during the tutoring session. Parents of either the tutees or tutors can join of one of the early sessions to learn about the format and structure of the tutoring sessions.

Scheduling of the Tutoring Sessions
Due to the time difference between Washington, D.C. and Vietnam (Vietnam is ahead by 11 or 12 hours), the tutoring sessions will be scheduled by the tutors and tutees based on their schedules.

No Charge to Participate in this Program
This is a volunteer program in which US students wish to volunteer their time to help Vietnamese students improve their English skills. There is no cost or charge to participate in this program.