Tea & Talk in Huế

Fourth Stop Huế 21/04/2015 to 25/04/2015
Written by Her

Feeling now like an ambassador of this particular initiative, I will spread the word about the Than Thien Friendly Hotel’s Tea & Talk sessions. Here’s the story;  

Our hotel in Huế, the aptly named 'friendly hotel’, is owned by Mr. Xuan Thuy Nguyen, a remarkable man with huge passion for his business. Born in a time when Vietnam was at war, many of his family members died. Those who survived faced starvation. Realising that he needed to study in order to change his life and stay away from the persistent poverty surrounding him, he worked hard and became one of only two Vietnamese people lucky enough to be offered a full scholarship for a Business Management course in Coventry, UK. He moved to the UK, learned English and acquired the knowledge to set up his hotel in Huế. 

In the hope of assisting more young people, Mr. Nguyen founded the 'Tea & Talk programme' for students to practice their English with foreign hotel guests. He says, "most Vietnamese students in Huế are as poor as I used to be, therefore they just need to “drink tea and talk” without having to pay. I am thankful to hundreds of guests of the hotel and other people who have registered for the “Tea & Talk Program” to help Huế students improve their English speaking skills so that they can have more opportunities to look for jobs in their future”. 

The programme invites local students who are attempting to learn English, to visit the friendly hotel twice a week to talk with guests for an hour in the evening. Topics are chosen by the guests, if they wish, usually specific to Vietnamese or international culture. During conversations, the student must speak English and the guest is asked to help with vocabulary and pronunciation. The most important aspect of the programme is that it is free for all students. 

Upon hearing his story and eager to learn more about Vietnam, we signed up for the programme. We were joined by one English gentleman who was a regular of the programme and the hotel. In total, 10 Vietnamese students attended. They ranged in age from 14 to 34. The group was split so that 1 English speaking guest was paired with a group of 3-4 students. The standard of English among the students was very good as most were studying languages, medicine or international relations. We had fun discussing lots of topics from weather to traffic, cakes to drinking. 

Unusually, a Vietnamese television crew was filming our entire discussion. This particular night happened to be the 77th session of the Tea & Talk programme, apparently significant enough to warrant a news piece by Vietnamese media. During the discussions, one cameraman, a producer and the owner of the hotel walked around our groups, placing microphones in front of us recording and filming our every word. 

Not satisfied with mere clips of conversation, the crew decided they wanted a one-to-one interview with a Westerner. The hotel manager immediately nominated the only western girl in the room! Of course, with the language barrier there was no negotiating the matter. I was told that one of the students was to ask me questions directly relating to my opinion of the Tea & Talk programme, methods of teaching and learning English and my recommendations for the future of the programme! While more than slightly unprepared I did my best to understand the questions posed in broken English and answer as best I could. It was more than a little daunting with the television camera and the hotel manager, iPhone in hand, all hanging on my every word. It was certainly an experience. In the end they seemed entirely happy with my comments and thanked me profusely for ‘helping to make the hotel and the programme very famous’.