Hope you are enjoying the Vietnamese lessons on Flexi right now Things are about to be up a notch. The Vietnamese team are scheduling to make the new level B1. This level will no doubt introduce you to a more complex Vietnamese, both in terms of the language, skills and the cultural/social elements.
On that note, our team would love to hear some insights from you so we can better cater to our students’ needs. Are you interested in learning Vietnamese B1 and what would be your goal? Is there any topic or language aspect that you are curious to know? Is there anything we can improve for the Vietnamese material? We’re eager to hear from you
@Lou-Vietnamese-VN_B1@Beryl2N Is there any aspect of Vietnamese or Vietnam that you are curious to know? What topic could our Vietnamese material team pique your fascination with?
Personally I would love to learn about Vietnamese history, poems, art and movies.
I’ve also noticed that your format is very repetitive (almost the same pattern, learn the new words, match the words, fill in the blanks…). It would be nice to switch it up from time to time, have different kinds of exercises/games for the learning material and make it more challenging for the B1
That’s a wonderful suggestion! Vietnamese history, poems, art and movies certainly have a lot to talk about. We will try to incorporate that in the new level B1. Can I ask, do you have a goal to learning Vietnamese up to B1 level, like for enjoyment, family-related, academic, etc.?
About the repetitive format, I hear you. Our team has been trying out some new lesson and exercise format in the latest published level, which is A2, not A2+ actually. The language difficulty might be below your level right now, but as a part of the creating team, I would personally give some lesson recommendations below for its experimental formatting:
Don’t forget music! I think a lesson could be based around the lyrics of a popular song. You could teach the vocabulary, grammar points, and cultural references from the song – not to mention nuances of pronunciation and tones as used in singing compared to normal speech. This would be especially great for those of us who like to sing, but almost everyone enjoys listening to music, and it can be really exciting to understand the details of a foreign-language song.
Another possible teaching approach would be to assign homework to be done before the lesson, so that the teacher can help check our work and find out where we need more help.
Listening comprehension is the biggest challenge (for me) in learning Vietnamese. I have trouble understanding very basic sentences when spoken at normal conversational speed, even when I know the vocabulary. I will be grateful to find effective ways to improve this skill.
Not sure if it’s related:
Some clozes (text with missing words) are really good for learning, the audio could read the actual answer instead of single words.
I could imagine a lesson about the filling words vạng nha nhé vạy dạ ạ.
Speaking naturally may impact self-confidence stronger than grammar & vocabs. (maybe it’s already in A2, not there yet)
a “growing” anki deck would be awesome as more vocabs mean more organisation. (only if there’s actual demand from your target audience)
Thank you for the excellent recommendations, Matthias. Btw, for your 2nd point, it’s true we have that in A2. It’s a lesson on “bargaining”, a bit complex indeed but definitely very interesting The link is here if you wanna try it out: LTL Flexi Classes - Topic Details
My two cents and shout outs.
I am really enjoying the A2 elementary classes. The subjects are really fun and have various degrees of difficutly. The structure might be a bit repetitive but I am okay with it.
Topics of interest:
Learning how to debate or compare 2 different things would be very interesting. For example, school life vs work life; living in the now vs saving for the future.
News/ interesting current affairs in VN
Reading news articles or social media posts to understand better how people write/speak, whether formally or online/causually.
*Casual Vietnamese websites/blogs for further study resources
I do think granmmar components can be elaborated more. For example, with ending particles (Bargaining Skills class), honestly I use them based on feeling, rather than understanding the grammar/exercises…but that’s how I speak Vietnamese in general, so that could be more a me problem, haha. These grammar concepts could be used in further classes so we have more chance to practice and apply them.
I am interested in improving my general comprehension, vocab and topic range (learning new things). I am less concerned (to an extent) about pronounciation and grammar though.
That’s so great to hear you’re enjoying A2, very encouraging for my team For the ending particles (“Bargaining Skills” class), we had quite a sizeable time dedicated to navigating how best to present the lesson (some behind-the-scene fun fact there). So thank you for the shout outs!
B1 is in production rn. We’re sure to take your suggestions into consideration. They are very valuable insights
I am new to Vietnamese and am just beginning A1. Loving it!! I agree with the above poster that I would love to see more grammar explanations included in the slides or even develop a stand alone grammar lessons or course that could be tapped into as needed for grammar practice. Thank you!
Glad you’re enjoying the journey Judy and thanks for sharing your thoughts
I’m not sure if you noticed but on the MY LEVEL page you can see the focus of each class. We tried to mix it up - with some classes related to learning new vocab, others new grammar and then review lessons to cover some of the important content again.
If you wanted to focus more on grammar maybe try these grammar lessons and see if that helps.
I think it would be fun to have some articles (or summary of them) from newspapers or magazines. A good summary with the essential vocabulary and the link to the article at the end (for further individual reading) would be great! The articles could be about culture, health, education, etc., not about news that will get old soon.
I also think reading about Vietnamese legends or myth stories would be fun. Another possibility would be to read about famous Vietnamese people (whose names are names of streets, for instance). Yet one more possibility would be to read about famous places in Vietnam, in particular, those that have been named patrimony of the humanity”.
That’s great that you mentioned this, Hector. B1 is in production, and we do include some famous Vietnamese myths and legends and literary stories. Hope you will be excited about them as much as we are about publishing them. For short form articles in Vietnamese, we usually avoid too much reading for Flexi, but I’ll give a hint that it sounds very similar to our Free Speaking format which will be available from level B1+ and higher. So, you can look forwards to it in the new levels
Things are about to be up a notch. The Vietnamese team are scheduling to make the new level B1. This level will no doubt introduce you to a more complex Vietnamese, both in terms of the language, skills and the cultural/social elements.
For the ending particles (“Bargaining Skills” class), we had quite a sizeable time dedicated to navigating how best to present the lesson (some behind-the-scene fun fact there). So thank you for the shout outs!