During November 1996, Dr Kathryn Gow and I spent several weeks based in Ba Ria. My job was to do my best to make friends with everyone and through them learn about the needs of this small but quite diverse community. One way for me to do this was to help people with English. English is the preferred language for students and professionals, shop keepers and government workers. Many children learn English in school and their parents join crowded after-hours tutorials at community centres and schools.
Many teachers hold private classes and tutorials.
Since the government wage is so low, these classes may be the teachers' main source of income. They have problems with common usage and pronunciation. They may not understand variation among English dialects. Without help, they have trouble translating terms and idioms based Western cultural notions. They are unlikely to learn this in a provincial town.