VIETTESOL INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION 2025

This presentation focuses on using community, particularly free english club in conjunction with english centers, to promote learner autonomy and motivation. The initial goals of the initiative was to provide a safe, free environment for students, professionals, underprivileged individuals to exchange ideas, discuss global issues and make connections, and most importantly to use English in a stress-free, judgement-free environment. Over time, the community have grown into a dynamic learning ecosystem where ideas are encouraged, eliminating the barriers of embarrassment in using English while motiving learners to voice their opinions and keeping them motivated in their learning journey.
As the community grows, it attracts more passionate voices as well as volunteers, local partnerships, ideas and resources. the bi-weekly session features a variety of activities from hands-on activities, real-life communication tasks, debates, intercultural exchange, presentation, all aimed at improving learners' confidence and awareness.
This talk will walk participants through the challenges and breakthroughs in building this model from the ground up, drawing on reflections and participant feedback. Moreover, the talk will also include practical strategies to make learning more accessible, sustainable and community-driven.