"Students in this project have exceeded my expectations."​

Azenith Decierdo | The Philippines 

I’m Azenith. I have been teaching English in a physical classroom sitting for 11 years now and in a virtual learning environment for about 5 years. I joined the Viet-Skype project-teaching English online to Vietnamese students from the different schools in Vietnam since 2018 and it has been a wonderful experience so far. I’ve taught and practiced conversations with students with different language levels and intellect through Skype and Zoom. Working as a volunteer in this project has helped me a lot especially in honing my teaching skills. Students in this project have exceeded my expectations. Their language abilities are far greater than what I have thought. When a topic is introduced, they can easily explain, discuss their thoughts and ideas clearly, such as the ones that I have practiced with-from the School of Gifted students in Thai Nguyen, Vietnam. I enjoy every online meeting with them. To the organizers: Roger Gillespie and Ms. Yen Tran, I wish to thank you both for having me part of this online teaching / Viet-Skype Project. This is not only a great opportunity for me to polish my skills but also a way for me to expand my knowledge and opportunity to know more about the Vietnamese culture and their lifestyle. I admire this project’s goal and I feel very proud of us for our contributions in helping students expand their knowledge and language skills through distance learning. This opportunity also reminds me that opportunity is a “give and take” or in other words, you teach students and in the same way you can learn a lot from them.