Effective English study methods will be the focus of an online exchange forum taking place on June 10 from 9am for readers of Dan Tri and DTiNews.

Guests to take part in the online exchange, from left to right: Mr. Paul Stanton, Ms. Tran Kim Chung, and Phan Tuan Linh.

Readers will have the opportunity to join in a live conversation with experienced teachers from AAC Language & Skills Training (www.aac-edu.vn). The exchange will allow participants to address issues such as the particular challenges commonly experienced by Vietnamese learners studying English, as well as specific strategies for overcoming those obstacles.

Special guests invited to take part in the online exchange program include two AAC teachers, Mr. Paul Stanton and Ms. Tran Kim Chung, and former AAC student Phan Tuan Linh.

An AAC veteran of many years, Paul Stanton is known as an outstanding teacher with a wealth of experience, not only in teaching English but also in teaching Vietnamese students effectively. Paul has acquired a number of major certificates pertaining to English teaching, namely the CELTA and the TESOL. His teaching life has spanned many borders, including Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, North America, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. However, Vietnam has been chosen as his second home. Given the chance to live and work in Vietnam, Paul has managed to learn not only Vietnamese, but also a number of Vietnam's ethnic languages: Thai, Khmer, Tay and H'Mong. It is safe to say that Paul possesses an impressive knowledge of Vietnam's people and culture. Needless to say, he understands well the need to learn English and the challenges that Vietnamese learners often face. Paul's teaching style has been praised highly for its use of a communicative-based approach.

Tran Kim Chung, a dedicated teacher of 10 years, has been teaching English to children aged 5 to 10 since her graduation from Hanoi National University of Education. With her profound enthusiasm, professional knowledge and fondness of children, Chung continues to innovate and improve her teaching methods, many of which have been widely adopted by her colleagues. Her lessons are always lively but it's not just for fun and games -- Chung holds the secret to inspiring her students. Children who attend her classes have been reported to work harder than usual; some students have even managed to uphold a perfect attendance record, never missing a single class in their 3 years of studying English with Chung.

On June 7, AAC announced a scholarship program worth a total of VND1 billion (USD50,000). Readers participating in the upcoming online exchange will be able to learn more about this program and have a chance to win some of the program's scholarships.

Phan Tuan Linh, a former AAC student, is currently in his final year as a Marketing major at Aston University in Birmingham, England. Linh was able to attain an IELTS score of 7.0. The knowledge, skills and experience Linh gained from his years of studying English at AAC have enabled him to adapt well to his new living and academic environment in England.

According to educational specialists from AAC Language & Skills Training, the ideal time for children to start learning languages is at a young age (4 or 5 years old). However, for children and adults alike, it is essential that proper teaching methods be applied, they said. Furthermore, successful study of English needs to be done over a long period of time; attempting to cram huge amounts of learning into a short time frame is rarely effective. The experts also stressed the importance of having Vietnamese teachers. Depending on the exact age and level of students, their suggested approach to learning English successfully is to divide study hours between both native and Vietnamese teachers.

AAC (www.aac-edu.com.vn) is reported to provide high-quality English courses for learners of all levels and ages at reasonable prices. There are various AAC scholarship programs available for 2010.

This is the second time an online exchange will be carried out both in Vietnamese and English, after the first successful one with 20 top UK universities. Readers can submit questions in Vietnamese on Dan Tri at dantri.com.vn, or in English on DTiNews at dtinews.vn. Questions will be answered live and transalated in both languages so that they can appear immediately on both DanTri and DTiNews.

Readers who are interested in participating can submit questions here.