Living the dream... ACCV English Club goes to British Council...

We've had a wonderful development in regards to the ACCV English Club....

British Council Vietnam  has very kindly offered their support and cooperation. This is huge for us. From being squashed in our tiny office, our blind students will now enjoy the wonderful facilities offered to British Council students.

You can imagine the joy and excitement this has brought to our students. They never imagined they would find themselves wandering the halls of a school like British Council (me neither). The past week or so has been a hive of activity with plans for our introductory/training session and the commencement of the English Club this week. Both have gone extremely well.

British Council staff have been wonderful, they have extended a genuine hand of friendship to ACCV. This has not only included access to classrooms and resources, but a real appreciation for the needs of our students. The introductory session was attended by many of the British Council staff, including management, teaching, administration and security. We were welcomed right across the board.

Dat & Hong are taking on a leadership role with English club, with full support of Mai & Huong. Our teacher Matt is facilitating along with British Council staff.  Teamwork at it's best.

British Council staff did very well with their Braille exercises :)

My heart was in Hanoi thinking about the students as they headed off for their first day.  They loved it!

They're living the dream....

I received this lovely report from Dat after their first session.

The early days of English club were held at ACCV’s office; however; the space is not large enough to cover the club. Fortunately, ACCV has received the support from British Council and today we are very happy to attend the first club at British Council. 

I consider that the first club was successful at British Council. English club is really useful for blind students, everybody was very happy.

They can discuss, listen and speak English. 

The students were self-confident to introduce themselves and asked others some questions when they introduced. They learnt more knowledge from the first English club. All students could understand some differences between American English and British English from Mr Leath and Matt. They helped a lot on correcting speaking skill.

English club has created a friendly atmosphere. We also played some fun games and everybody enjoyed it. We all had a good day with a lot of English practice and laughs.

I do believe that our club at British Council will bring English closer to blind people.

Thank you very much.

Kind regards 

Alison & Rose

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Back on their feet......

Our goal at ACCV is to help people who are unable to help themselves. We support them through difficult times so that they don't slide further into poverty. Sometimes it gives them what they need just to hold things together for a while.

It is always great news for us when their circumstances change for the better and they no longer require our assistance. Like little Tuan and his grandmother who we have been supporting for the past few years...

Dear ACCV,

Today, I write you to show my deep gratitude to you for your valuable support for my grandson over the past time.

From receiving your support, it made Tuan deeply understand the value of help as well as difficulties when a person has to suffer from disadvantage circumstance. Now my family is much better than before so I would like to share with the other disadvantaged children by withdrawing from ACCV sponsorship. 

Again, I highly appreciate ACCV’s support and hope that ACCV will further develop in order to help many more disadvantage children in Vietnam.  Thank you very much

Kind regards 

Alison & Rose

MAKE A DONATION

Tax Deductible Donation

(please drop us a quick email so we can acknowledge your kindness)

Every dollar donated goes directly to the children of Vietnam - all administrative costs are covere

Role models....

A few days ago we held a conference with  the Vietnamese government in regards to our English language programme for blind people. There were a number of guest speakers, some of them quite highly placed with impressive titles etc.. But there was absolutely no doubt who were the shining stars of the day.

Everyone in attendance was most impressed by our very own students Dat and Hong. They presented their speeches clearly, proudly and completely in English! I must confess that I sat there bursting with pride. Just a couple of years ago they were very shy and could not speak a word of English.

My how times have changed. Both Dat and Hong have kindly agreed for me to share their speeches with you. Enjoy.

Dear Sir and Madam, 

Today I feel so honored to stand here on behalf of other members in my class and would like to give some personal opinions about learning English. 

Firstly, I would like to share my experiences of learning English which I have collected during my time “wrestling” with this language at English class. 

If you want to master English, the first thing you should do is overcome your fear, your shyness and feel free to speak out. Some people have trouble learning English just because they are afraid of not speaking it correctly as the native speaker or worry that others will criticize their English. Surely the result can not be positive. You lose your self-confidence and your interest in practicing English is gone. I think the best way to master English is to always practice and try to make some time in your daily plan for a regular practice.

Secondly, try to apply all the efficient learning methods. You learn English not only in English class but everywhere, including at home, and on the streets. In fact, there are a lot of methods and English learning materials which can support you a great deal on the way to mastering this language.

Thirldy, create and English space around you, for to learn English efficiently you must constantly interact with it. For example, you can take notes in English, read books written in English and listen to English radio programs. Listening to English conversations helps you improve your accent and enrich your vocabulary.

In my opinion, we should learn English with interest and joy. We can not simply force ourselves to learn it without finding any delight or a need for using it. You should feel at ease during the process of mastering English. Don't overload yourself. Learning with joy and comfort will always bring good results.

Well, those are my experiences of learning English that I wanted to share with you. I hope that somehow it will be useful for you and wish you a lot of fun in learning English. 

I would like to thank you for your attention. And on this occasion I would love to send my thanks to Thanh Tri Blind Association and ACCV, both of which have been helping us to access English language and have brought brighter prospects in life for many blind people like me.

Sincerely

Dat

Dear ladies and gentlemen,

Today I am very happy to join this Conference and share my thoughts on learning English.

With normal people, learning English is difficult, however, with the visually impaired students, it is much harder. Because we cannot see, so we have to face many difficulties in reading, writing, as well as learning vocabulary, especially the lack of books and materials which also makes it more difficult for us to learn English.

Although a few of them can use computers to help with learning English, not everyone can do that. I myself, when participating in English classes which are sponsored by ACCV at the Blind Association, had to face with difficulties. I have also been frustrated, but thanks to the enthusiastic teaching of teachers and the helps of the volunteer students, I have regained confidence.

Try to expand the vocabularies by learning through books and documents in English, the conversation including the songs that you love and especially to create for yourself an environment of learning English at everywhere that you can. Don't hesitate to speak English whenever you can and you should join the English club that you know. It will also help your English skills get much better. If you can do these suggestions well, I believe that you me and  everyone will learn English very well.

I would like to thank to ACCV and thanh tri blind association. You gave me a chance to learn English. It is undeniable that  English is very useful for my life.

Thank you very much,

Hong