Nguyen Duc Nguyen, 18, is satisfied with what he learned from the Noi Now English club, where he is encouraged to talk with native English speakers, and says it is the best way to naturally and gradually enhance his skills.

The Noi Now English Club was founded by Nam Phan and Aaron Stevens in the summer of 2019. The club hosts weekly meetings, with location, frequency, and formats posted in the club’s Facebook Fanpage. Through activities led by qualified native volunteers, participants can quickly improve their pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary while overcoming lack of confidence, which seems to be the biggest barrier to learning English. Nam Phan said: “The idea of creating the club is inspired by the mindset of helping Vietnamese students learn more about the American culture and improve their speaking and listening skills. American volunteers will create conversations based on latest events and latest news, which creates flexibility throughout the whole session. Anyone can come and only have to buy a drink in those coffee shops where we host meetings. We’re thinking about opening our own coffee shop that has a speaking room, where there will always have at least 1 native speaker ready to talk with club members.” 

The Noi Now English Club was founded by Nam Phan (R) and Aaron Stevens in the summer of 2019 (Photo: Noi Now English Club)

Co-founder Aaron Stevens has been in Vietnam for 6 years, lived in Ho Chi Minh city for a few years and moved up to Hanoi teaching English. Aaron and Nam Phan started the club as they realized that a lot of Vietnamese students, even if they have a very good English teacher, don’t always have the opportunity to practice their conversational skills with native speakers. The two wanted to give Vietnamese students an opportunity to practice and turn it into a no-cost event. Their hope is that over time, students taking advantage of the opportunity will improve their conversational English skills, both speaking and listening. Aaron said: “Our hope and our goal is that as students are spending time in Noi Now English Club, taking advantages of the opportunity to practice with a native speaker, that they’re going to be able to improve their listening skill, especially getting to hear conversation from a native English speaker more than they normally would, and then to be able to improve their speaking skills, being able to have a conversation, not something that is rehearsed or practiced but just at the moment, in real time, being able to listen to conversation and participate the conversation with their own thoughts and ideas.”

Noi Now English Club is not a conventional school with books and blackboards, but a place where everyone can share, teach and learn (Photo: Noi Now English Club)

Nguyen Quang Huy is a third year university student. He found the club on Facebook and decided to join as he was impressed by its interesting weekly activities. His English has improved and he got a job as a private tutor at an English center in Hanoi. Huy said: “The reason I joined the club is because I wanted to improve my background knowledge, and my English speaking skills, listening skills, and the way I think in English. You just need to go there, and talk about anything you want. I feel really lucky to be a member of the club and want to invite some of my friends to join to.”

Volunteers Brooke Berry and her husband, Josh moved to Vietnam last year and began teaching at an international school here. The couple wanted to help volunteers with Noi Now English Club because they saw the club as a perfect way to get connected to Vietnam by building relationships with students, using their ability as native English speakers. She said: “We love Vietnam, its people, its food, and its culture. We worked for a university in the United States and wanted to continue to have the relationship with university students here in Vietnam. We love that Noi Now English club provides a free way for students to practice listening and speaking. Many students that have attended the club have improved their expressive vocabulary, pronunciation skills, comprehension, and speaking. We have loved watching the university students came in to English Club the first day, very shy, and weeks later, talked so much that we never thought they were shy. Most people have gained confidence in speaking and listening. We always love to see new faces at our English club.”

The club’s Facebook Fanpage: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2549892371749397/

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