1. Problem analysis

In Vietnam, English is a compulsory subject from 3rd grade onwards. Students in public schools are mostly taught using the traditional methods of grammar exercises and vocabulary cramming. As a result, both students and their teachers are trained to be experts in grammatical structures and vocabulary – but few of them can speak the language when they leave high school.

Based on the statement of the EF English Proficiency Index^[1] attempts to rank countries by the average level of English language skills amongst those adults who took their exam. Vietnam is in place 34 of 80 countries worldwide and 10 of 20 in Asia with a score of 52, which is considered a moderate proficiency. While the Southeast and Ho Chi Minh City’s and Hanoi’s regions respectively, are regions with the highest English proficiency within Vietnam; the rural and mountainous regions, on the other hand, have the lowest proficiency.

In June 2020, BeCause conducted Focus Group Discussions (FGD), local meetings and field visits in Yen Bai, identified in alignment with promoting intellectual empowerment by delivering educational resources to underprivileged students, especially students from low-income families or from minority backgrounds who require additional financial support. We met with our key stakeholders including local authorities, school leaders and local teachers.

The local authorities and schools surveyed (field group discussion, local meeting and field visits) were very enthusiastic to participate in promoting intellectual empowerment because they have learned about how the development work in other areas have helped the local government to satisfy local needs, meet official educational standard targets and understand more about the areas they serve. The target beneficiaries (described below) are the potential members of the project in Yen Bai. Department of Education and Training (DOET), local teachers and students has seen very high demand for English proficiency throughout Vietnam and especially in Yen Bai Province because they bring not only tangible resources but opportunities for greater voice and engagement to the whole community, especially those who are typically neglected or marginalised in development and decision making processes.

During the FGD, BeCause also had a meeting with VUFO and the DOET in Yen Bai to look at lessons learned and additional requests from local partners from the 2018 project and use the learning to improve the project proposal for 2020 – 2022.

In response, BeCause, along with its key stakeholders, have developed this project through the provision of English teaching volunteers for government officials and students in Yen Bai. The aim of English learning program is to create an opportunity for Vietnamese students and our key stakeholders to boost their English and improve their confidence. At the same time, it is an exciting opportunity for international volunteers to get to know about Vietnam, its culture and country.

1. The project location

BeCause’s target population is located in the mountainous region of Yen Bai province. Therefore, our new project area spreads across various geographic and socio-economic contexts to allow for comparative analysis and enhanced cross-learning. Yen Bai province is one of the poorest areas in the north region of Vietnam, facing poverty and often natural disasters.

Yen Bai is an agricultural based province with a total natural area of about 6,899 km². Yen Bai has experienced a rapid increase in natural disasters in recent years, including flash flooding, landslides, extremely cold weathers and droughts.

Table 1: Key statistics from target province

Objective 1: In 36 months, government officials and local teachers in Yen Bai will boost their English proficiency to support their working

Objective 2: In 36 months, the project is boosting English and improving their confidence for 500 students in Yen Bai

Objective 3: In 36 months, international students get to know about Vietnam, its culture, country and development works.

1. Expected outcomes

Project objectives leading to the following key project outcomes:

Outcome 1: Increased engagement of local stakeholders to ensure the program is sustainable.

• 80% of project stakeholders statistically acknowledge the benefit of the project

Outcome 2: Increased English proficiency, primarily focus on speaking & listening skills for the local government officials, teachers, and students

• 500 students and 60 government official, teachers are trained
• 80% of direct beneficiaries statistically acknowledge the benefit of the project

1. Who will benefit from the project

The project aims at improving English proficiency for BeCause’s local partners, teachers and students coming from the mountainous regions of Yen Bai. BeCause will have essential selection criteria to choose target beneficiaries. Here are basic criteria to select our target groups. If a student/government official/teacher meets the criteria mentioned above through the interview; she/he will join the English classes.

Other requirements

Students, government officials and teachers who join this program will commit to attend at least 2 sessions/week, each session lasts for 60 minutes and in 3 months. In total, there are at least 24 sessions in a course. To assure the quality of the program and commitment of the students, each selected student will need to make a deposit of VND230,000 before joining the program. This deposit will be returned by the end of the program IF the student does not miss more than 2 sessions during the whole course.

1. Our English volunteers’ requirement

Vietnam is the place to go if you want to experience a unique culture while teaching in a professional environment. Mountains, hot springs, a fresh cultural perspective, and a welcoming population are just a few of the reasons why people come to Yen Bai. Volunteer teaching for BeCause, a non profit organization in Yen Bai is a powerful way that volunteers can make a difference while exploring Viet nam. By providing English teaching for our key stakeholders and student in marginalized areas, they are able to access greater opportunity in terms of further education and their careers

In order to teach English in Yen Bai, our requirements as follows:

• have at least 18 years old
• a Bachelor’s degree
• a clean criminal record because you directly work with children to file a certificated police background check
• teaching certification, such as TEFL, is preferred but not required
• willing to do volunteer at least 3 to 6 months in Yen Bai

What will BeCause and our key stakeholders support

The project fees listed on this proposal are the most current and apply to all applicants. These are the official fees for BeCause.

• BeCause For Hope is U.S based nonprofit organization operating since 2011 in Vietnam.
• We require our participants to spend a minimum of three months working in English Teaching Project.

We have always been an independent organization with no connection to (or support from) any government organization. As such, we require a project fee from our volunteers and interns to help cover the costs involved with providing proper support and arranging quality international volunteer projects. We work hard to keep our fees as low as possible and have some of the lowest volunteer and internship project fees offered throughout Vietnam.

What we require fees for volunteers and interns.

1. Tasks of English teaching volunteer

As part of this program in Yen Bai, you will be paired with full-time English teachers for our key stakeholders/teachers and students on daily rounds from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday. Each assignment takes place in BeCause project site in Yen Bai,

This assignment during your English teaching is primarily teaching based. You will follow our key stakeholders on daily rounds. Each stage of teaching is carefully monitored and evaluated to ensure the teaching program.

Your role in class depends on the school and our key stakeholders as well as your own comfortable level. You will be paired with a Vietnam teacher and have the option of going into class with this person and simply helping out with daily lessons. However, for the Vietnamese American who fluently speaks Vietnamese with the confidence and the drive to do your own lesson planning – leading your own class.

The time you will spend in class depends on the schedule to be finalized among our key stakeholders and the school as well as the time of year. Generally, you will be in front of students from 20 – 25 hours per week. Volunteers can donate more time planning and possibly helping out with projects at school

1. Monitoring and evaluation

Upon the project’s objectives BeCause has various methods of collecting data and project monitoring that keep track beneficiaries attendance and performance monitored

Table 2: Data collection methods

The statement of EF English Proficiency Index: https://www.ef.com/wwen/epi/regions/asia/vietnam/ ?