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Ho Chi Minh City Fireworks on September 2, Vietnam’s National Day (Ngày Quốc Khánh)

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Ben Thanh Market traffic circle at night from OMG rooftop bar. Also, long exposure shot from a pedestrian overpass by Van Thanh Park.

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Saigon skyline timelapse from “The View” bar.

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Saigon Street time lapse footage from pedestrian overpass. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

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Saigon River timelapse, Ho Chi Minh City

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Karen long-neck village in Thailand.

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Test Timelapse footage at ‘Dương Vương‘ traffic circle in Saigon. My first timelapse.

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Hoi An Docks + Da Nang Peninsula

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Waterfalls and Hoi An docks + Little boy running from dinner.

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Hoi An and Da Nang sunsets

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Da Lat, Vietnam

Elephant Falls

Silk Farm

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Some shots from a night of shooting in the poor neighborhood in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City. i came back to this neighborhood with my friend Sam

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The CELTA

About three weeks ago, I finished the most academically-challenging 4 weeks of my life.  The CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults) is a grueling ESL course, which most international teachers will have heard of and all accepted trainees will dread. The course is offered worldwide by Cambridge University at international institutions and has gained a diabolical reputation due to its difficulty.  Essentially, it’s a boot camp for new teachers to learn how to teach English as a second language. But once you have the certificate, it’s a ‘door opener’ for many international jobs.  I did mine at ILA in HCMC, Vietnam from June 22-July 17.

On the first day of the course we had our orientation and tour.  We met the other trainees through a “Find Someone Who…” activity where we’d ask others about what they did on the list (pictured).  We had a varied international group of 14 hailing from 10 different countries: USA(2), England(2), Ireland, Vietnam(2), Canada, Finland, Australia(2), Scotland, New Zealand, and Israel. Some had teaching experience while others had never taught. There were backpackers who decided to teach a year in Vietnam, people who wanted an intro to teaching, and even one guy who was an English teacher in Kurdistan, Iraq. During the orientation, the tutors (instructors) went over our schedules and the layout of the course. We would be teaching 8 lessons over the span of 4 weeks. After about 2-3 lessons with a specific student level, we’d switch classrooms to a new level.  The CELTA has a grading system: Pass, Pass B, and Pass A. They told us you can fail, but the tutors would let you know and help you as much as possible to avoid that. I was confident I wouldn’t fail, but decided it best not to go for any grade in particular. After orientation, we were then split into three groups and each group was matched with one of the 3 levels of adult Vietnamese students: Elementary, Pre-intermediate, and Intermediate. My group of 4 had Intermediate first. In the mornings, 2 of us would teach while the other 2 observed. We were the only group of 4 and therefore had a free session to interact and play games with the students. Our first tutor was Joe and after our lesson we’d meet with him as a group and discuss our feedback from teaching. To me, this was the most valuable part of the course. When I taught in Korea, I knew I made loads of mistakes. The problem was I couldn’t always identify them and even if I could, I didn’t know how to correct them. With 4 other people observing, you become painfully aware of your mistakes. However, rather than becoming too self-conscious, I found the feedback incredibly helpful and welcomed it. It was done constructively and was never taken personally.

Tutors: There were 3 tutors total- Richard was the lead tutor along w/ Joe and Mike. They were probably the best teachers I’ve ever observed. They also served as a good teaching model and we were encouraged to steal their ideas along the way. Joe was with Intermediate, Mike with Elementary, and Richard with Pre-Int.. Before teaching a new class, 2 of us would observe the other teachers who had been teaching so we’d know what the class was like. The tutors were also what made the CELTA enjoyable and productive. All three tutors had that great English sense of humor (dry, witty, and morbid at times) and kept the classes engaging. There were many classes that I went through where I didn’t feel bored once.  And for someone as inattentive as I am, that is an impressive feat. The tutors genuinely cared about your progress and that made all the difference in the course. Its also a delicate process teaching teachers: I can imagine it being a tightrope act of not coming off as condescending, especially considering many of the trainees on the course were experienced teachers.  After talking with everyone after the course, though, nobody had anything really negative to say about the tutors. I think they were the most important aspect of the course.

Students: Each class had about 11-15 students on any given day.  They were mostly university students, but there was a doctor and some business people as well.  What made them a great bunch to teach was that they were hand picked specifically for being taught in the CELTA. They were the most perfect students you could have- They wanted you to succeed and if they saw you struggling, they’d volunteer and try to help you. Unfortunately, typical students are rarely like this and will not be so forgiving or cooperative. However, its great to have a classroom full of ideal students when learning to become a teacher. Though its unrealistic, you can see what your class should be like if well managed.

After the feedback session, the 2 teachers with classes the next day would meet with the tutor and receive help planning their lessons (the others went to lunch).  They walked you through it and answered any questions you had.  This was also incredibly valuable to me because lesson planning was always my weak point. And when I say “weak point”, I mean I’d never done it.  Teaching in Korea, I really had no time to plan a decent class. Now I had the chance to control every aspect of my class and I began to realize how difficult and overwhelming this was.  One is tempted to get overly elaborate and creative with the lesson, however I found simplicity is best and easiest.

Lesson Planning: I found lesson planning to be the most challenging thing for me (and it still is). I gradually improved, however it was insanely time-consuming.  I was staying up till 3am on average, and that’s even after using the night before to plan.  I’d compare lesson planning during the CELTA to writing an essay in high school the night before its due, except doing that every night for 4 weeks including weekends.  I’d never worked so hard in my life- I’ve also never been so sleep deprived. I’d stay in the teacher planning room till closing at 8pm and finish the rest over a cramped desk at my guesthouse.  In the mornings, I’d get to school at 7:30am and print out my materials, etc. This meant, on average, I’d get about 4 hours of sleep every night. As the course progressed, it grew increasingly demanding. The course was designed to gradually wean you off pre-planned lessons and slowly forcing you to create your own. Our first lesson plan was already planned for us and each subsequent lesson plan would remove segments until you were planning every aspect of your lesson.

Audit: Around the third week of the course, a representative from Cambridge comes out to observe the course and makes sure it meets Cambridge’s standards. The rep observes our classes, but does so to make sure the tutors are grading appropriately. Though it seems small, this is what helps keep the CELTA’s lofty reputation. After feedback and tutor lesson planning, we’d go to lunch, usually with our groups. I had a great group during the CELTA: Sam from England, Francis from Ireland, and Vietnu from Vietnam. It was great going to lunch together and briefly getting our minds off the course. Its very much like a bootcamp in that the bonds you make are deeper than they would be under normal circumstances. Because we all suffered together, we understood each other to a higher degree and could empathize with each other. After lunch, we’d head back to class for a few hours of Teaching theory (Pedagogy).  The subjects would be things like managing Teacher Talk Time(TTT) or Functional language, etc. These were really helpful and it was great to be able to apply them immediately. Throughout the course we also had to complete 4 Assignments. They usually took the form of short essay, but required a lot of research and adapting materials. The assignments were Pass/Fail and if you failed, you only had one chance to resubmit. Fortunately, the tutors would provide the reasons for your failure and you could resubmit for a pass. At the end of the course we had a small party on the center rooftop with our students. To mark the end of the course, all the trainees, instructors and HR had lunch at a Vietnamese BBQ place.  Over the next few days we went out drinking in celebration of the course being over. We said our goodbyes to those who were leaving (though there actually weren’t many).  Most people decided to stay and teach with ILA (like myself). So in reflecting on the CELTA, I found it to be one of the most productive times of my life. I’d worked harder than I’ve ever worked before and had to push myself further than I knew I could go. The four weeks of sleep deprivation seem to have been worthwhile as I accepted a job offer a few weeks ago from ILA.

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Grandpa and Grandson in alleyways of Ho Chi Minh city.

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I had a brief break from the CELTA last week and decided to venture into a neighborhood in District 1 HCMC with my Canon 5D M2. While shooting some sunset shots on one of the tenements, a fellow photographer living in the building saw me and invited me to his place. He had just picked up his kids and we talked about the city, its past (he was born during the Vietnam War) and the neighborhood’s long history. His 2 boys’ English was near perfect and they were incredibly bright. They also told me they liked watching American Ninja Warrior and I told them I watched the Japanese version when I was younger. The younger brother was climbing all over the house (as seen above) while talking about his love of learning English. It was just a really great experience- the kind that make me love travelling so much. I took my leave and walked around the block a bit more. It is in really bad shape, with rats darting in and out of the street, a strong stench of sewage, and trash everywhere. I came across some men playing chess and a guy playing guitar (really wish I could play better- we could’ve jammed!)  He had his grandson nearby and I got a really cool shot with the 2 of them together(next post).

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Sunset from last night in Saigon. It was unbelievably beautiful. Taken from the roof of the ILA building where I’m taking my CELTA course. It was a nice break before a night full of lesson planning.

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Tonight I went on a walk around the block with Sam, one of the other trainees on the CELTA course who is staying at a guest house next to mine.  We had dinner at the corner shop nearby and explored around the neighborhood.  We heard marching band music coming from one of the alleyways and went closer to investigate. A man waved us to walk through and we squeezed past the small band, which was complete with trumpets, clarinet, and saxophone. It seemed they were playing as part of a ceremony because they were standing in front of a small Buddhist shrine. We couldn’t tell what it was for, but I’ll ask my students tomorrow what it was.  We continued walking through the alley and explored the neighborhood deeper.  First, there was a random shrine to Mother Mary that we found with fluorescent lights and fresh flowers in front of it.  We walked further past various homes and we could see people sitting and relaxing in their homes. They’d smile and say hi and some would even point us in the right direction, thinking we were lost. Navigating the alleys is like being in a giant maze- there are a lot of different directions you can go but there are some dead ends and you have to retrace your steps back to the last turn.  We finally emerged on the other side of the neighborhood onto one of the larger streets.  We found a smoothie stall with a very persistent owner. After I ordered and Sam said he’d pass, she made a sad face and kept handing him the menu until finally he caved and bought a smoothie. We retraced our steps and hit another dead end while exploring, but eventually made it back to our guest houses. It felt incredibly safe in the alleys as there were mostly women and children and families there and everyone was very friendly.  They mostly thought we were lost and pointed out the right direction. There was something otherworldly and entrancing about the alleys. It definitely won’t be my last time walking exploring the neighborhood.

UPDATE: I asked a a Vietnamese trainee about the band. It was a funeral, but they weren’t sensitive to photos. Apparently funerals don’t have a negative connotation. They’re seen as removing stress from the deceased and their family. I really like this view of death.