In this interview, we hear from Kayla Kirby. Kayla is working as a Education volunteer in Vietnam with the Peace Corps. What Kayla shares gives us a better understanding of the work volunteers do. We learn about the challenges, rewards, and personal growth that happens from volunteering in a new place. Kayla talks about living in a different country, working with local people, and dealing with surprise situations. Join us as we learn about Kayla’s journey and see how volunteering with Peace Corps can change lives.
Volunteer Experience and Motivation
Can you tell us more about serving as an Education volunteer in Vietnam?
Here in Vietnam, I teach English at a local high school about a 4-hour bus ride outside of the capitol city of Hanoi. In my role as an English teacher, I work with 20+ classes in grades 10 and 11 and 6+ co-teachers who I sometimes plan and teach my lessons with. I am very involved in my school and participate in English Club and other extracurricular activities that encourage English-speaking practice. Outside of school, I join in on community events, like volleyball tournaments or festivals at the local temple. I also do regular yoga classes with a group of ladies in my community.
I’m volunteering in the first cohort to ever serve in Vietnam, so with that, we have not currently been approved for any secondary projects and our whole focus is on teaching English and activities associated with that project.
What motivated you to join the Peace Corps and choose Vietnam?
I initially chose to join PC because I was interested in potentially working as a Foreign Service Officer after Peace Corps. When graduating from university, I spoke to some family friends who had served as FSOs and they had also done PC before taking that step, so I decided that would be a good first step for myself as well. The more I researched PC and read about its mission of friendship across countries, the more interested I became in joining. After I decided to join, I was excited about serving anywhere and just applied to wherever I would be needed. Vietnam as a post was not available at the time of my application. I ended up getting lucky and receiving my invitation to Vietnam right as they had opened the post for its first cohort.
Living Arrangements and Cultural Integration
Tell us more about your home situation:
My home situation is unique for Vietnam and in general, I live by myself in a school residence or teacher dormitory. During the school year, other teachers live in the residence part-time while they teach and return to their homes closer to the city on their off days. During the summer I live in the residence alone, so I spend a lot of my time at other people’s houses within my community.
My area is rural, we have a couple of cafes, one restaurant, and one large market that’s only open in the morning before 8 am. For food, I often cook at home. Rice is necessary for most Vietnamese meals, so I often eat a lot of rice. PC provides everyone a hot plate, so I’ll stir fry or boil any veggies or meats I’ve bought at the market that day for most of my meals. On busy days, I also buy ramen, banh mi, or xoi (sticky rice) from nearby stalls that sell small meals in the mornings. My room is pretty small, so I often will leave to exercise by joining in on a local yoga class or volleyball practice for the community team. Sometimes I will also do yoga at home, but I’ve enjoyed getting to know my class and exercising in a group.
Any memorable experiences or interactions you’ve had with community members?
More than I can count, honestly. I’d say my most memorable interaction must be the first time I met one of my current best friends in my community. She’s an 89-year-old woman who is one of the most social people I’ve ever met.
I was at the market buying fruit, chatting with the vendor, and this old woman came and ushered me over without saying a word. I walked up to her, she grabbed my arm and walked me across the street into a house, which I now know is her home. She sat me down and invited me to drink some tea with her, we chatted for almost an hour in my broken Vietnamese and her doing her best to understand me and be understood by me.
That day I saw the kindness and friendliness of an individual, someone who, despite not knowing anything about me, outside of the fact that I was blatantly a foreigner, was patient and curious and genuinely interested in learning about me and in helping me adjust to my community life. She’s now been one of my closest friends in my community for the past two years.
Surprises and Challenges
What has surprised you most about Education challenges in Vietnam?
Because the program is still fairly new, the biggest challenge has been introducing volunteer co-teaching into schools that don’t regularly practice co-teaching. Both local teachers and volunteers are still learning how to appropriately co-teach in the classrooms to best help the students learn. There is a language barrier, the class sizes are much larger than in the US (40-50 students), and the curriculum can occasionally feel outdated. Education is highly valued in Vietnam and people look positively towards teachers.
What challenges did you face while working on Education projects with community members?
When working on education-related projects, like English Club, or any English-speaking competitions, the biggest challenge has been determining my role in the projects. While I’m often enlisted to help or even facilitate certain projects, there can be a lack of communication or just general information required to perform any task at its best. After spending a lot of time in my community, understanding the culture better, and learning more Vietnamese, it’s been easier to understand parameters around projects that might not necessarily be given even if asked for.
Advice and Support
What advice would you give to someone considering serving as an Education volunteer in Vietnam?
Learning a bit of Vietnamese beforehand can definitely be helpful, it’s a very difficult language to learn and people appreciate it when you’re able to chat with them. For keeping in touch with friends and family back home, I’ve found Calendly.com can be really useful. It automatically adjusts for the time difference, so it’s super easy for them to book times that are convenient without having to do too much math.
What skills or qualities do you think are most important for an Education volunteer?
I’ve found flexibility to be the most valuable quality across the board. Being flexible or adaptable while teaching helps create more energizing and engaging lessons for students, being flexible with projects gives room for them to change when needed. Having thick skin is also valuable here in Vietnam, as there are a lot of comments surrounding appearance or individual characteristics and abilities, and it’s important to have the skills to redirect conversations when you feel uncomfortable.
How has the Peace Corps training helped you during your service?
The teacher training and the language training are the two most focused sections of training. I’ve found them to be the most valuable. During PST, language training is held every other day, all day. All of PST is spent living with Vietnamese tutors who are absolutely invaluable. I think it’s very important to take advantage of the time spent with them.
Also during PST, we hold “Practicum” which is a week of practice teaching sessions at a local Vietnamese high school with a local high school class. In these sessions, it’s a good chance to take in feedback and apply it to future teaching. Teaching in Vietnam with such large class sizes was unfamiliar to me, and Practicum was a really good chance for me to learn from practiced Vietnamese teachers.
Practical Tips and Language Learning
Anything that you packed or didn’t pack that you’d like to tell future Vietnam volunteers?
One of the best things to pack is gifts for your counterparts and community members! Things like American candies, postcards, and $2 bills make great gifts. I brought some candy for people and ran out almost immediately. Gifting culture is really huge here and shows that you care about people and are thinking of them.
How has learning the language been?
Vietnamese is a super difficult language to learn because it is a tonal language. The pronunciation can be really tough for people who haven’t spoken tonal languages before. Immersion is the best way to learn, but everyone also learns at different paces, so it’s important to not compare your pace of learning with others.
After almost 2 years and A LOT of regular practice, I can read, write, listen, and speak in Vietnamese fairly comfortably, although far from fluently. I live in a community very far from the city, where very few people know how to speak English, this has forced me to be immersed in the language and helped me massively in continuing to develop my language skills. The best thing to do is to get outside, people will normally try to speak to you out of curiosity.
Final Thoughts
12. Any last comments or observations you’d like to pass on to future Vietnam volunteers?
Since I’m nearing the end of my service, I’ve found that I’m already becoming nostalgic for all the “lasts” that I’m experiencing. While it doesn’t mean that I won’t ever come back and have these experiences again, I think it’s even more valuable to savor the “firsts” as they come. So many of the things you experience in service are going to be new and maybe intimidating, but it’s important to try new foods, attend festivals, attend tournaments, ask questions, and make the most of your time.
The content of this post does not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the Peace Corps, or Vietnam Government.
