Working as a tour guide at hoi an green travel company

Translate information about Cham island and Japanese covered Bridge from Vietnamese to English...7 3.2.2.2.Guiding the foreign tourists...8 3.2.2.3.English language for tourist guide...9

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.Rationale 1

2 Aim of study 1

3 Scope 1

4 Methodology 1

5 Theoretical background 2

5.1 Tourist guide 2

5.2.1.English listening skills 2

5.2.2 English speaking skills 2

CHAPTER 2: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 3

1.General introduction about Hoi An Green Travel company 3

1.1.Location 3

1.2 Tasks 4

1.3 Kinds of service 4

1.4.Organizational structure 4

2.General information of Tourist Guiding department 6

2.1 Establishment progress 6

2.2.Tasks .6

3 My job at Tourist Guiding department 6

3.2 Task 6

3.2.1 First stage: Booking and delivering train tickets 6

3.2.1.1 Booking train ticket 6

3.2.1.2 Train ticket delivery 6

3.2.2.1 Translate information about Cham island and Japanese covered Bridge from Vietnamese to

English 7

3.2.2.2.Guiding the foreign tourists 8

3.2.2.3.English language for tourist guide 9

3.2.3 Third stage: Praticing English listening and speaking skills 10

3.2.4 Tour programmes 10

3.3 Result and Evaluation 13

3.3.1 My strengths 13

3.3.2 My weaknesses 13

3.3.3 Solutions to improve my weaknesses 13

CHAPTER 3: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 14

1 Conclusion 14

2.Lessons learnt 14

3.Shortcomings 14

4 Recommendations 14

4.1 For the office 15

4.2 For department of foreign languages and informatics 15

I would like to express my deepest thanks to my supervisor Mrs Tran Thi Ngoc Hoa who gave me valuable advices, encouragements and correcting the draft in every stage of my research and writing this final internship report

I express my grateful to the teachers of Da Nang College of economics and planning department of informatics and foreign language for conveying valuable knowledge to me during 3 years

Finally, I can not fully express my gratitude to all staffs of the Hoi An Green Travel company who gave me necessary information for my report as well as supported me during the period of training

Thank you very much!

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

As we know, English is considered as international language It has become a key tool to integrate and communicate to the world I am a student at Da Nang College of Economics and Plans, department of Informatics and Foreign language I choose practice

at Hoi An old town, because it is considered a travel centre of the middle region of Vietnam and the whole country, one of the most popular destinations in Vietnam Hoi An ancient town, 30 km to the south of Da Nang, lies on the banks of the Thu Bon River Hoi

An was one of the major trading centre of southeast of Asia in the 16th century and very popular with the name “ Faifoo” In December 1999 Hoi An ancient town was officially recognized as a world heritage site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Since 1997, the number of domestic and international tourists to Hoi An has risen fast

Hoi An tourism has potentials, create many good chances for me to rub with the reality This place has many foreigners that help me practice English skills Futhermore, I have many opportunities to express my ability, to apply what I learnt from school to the real working environment

For these above reasons I decided to choose the topic “WORKING AS A TOUR GUIDE AT HOI AN GREEN TRAVEL COMPANY”, when I am a tour guide, I visit many places in Hoi An and learn more about it

2 Aim of study

- Researching topic to understand a tour guide what need you do and what skills are need

to become a good guide

- Applying what I have learned into practice

- Myself need to try and improve many aspects to become guide in future

3 Scope

The report concentrates on working as a tour guide at Hoi An Green Travel Company

4 Methodology

In process of researching this topic, I searched materials from the company, collected information from websites and observed from the reality and applying to my report

5 Theoretical background

5.1 Tourist guide

Tourist guide is a person who provides assistance, information and cultural, historical and contemporary heritage interpretation to people on organized tours, individual clients, educational establishments, at religious and historical sites, museums, and at venues of other significant interest They normally have a recognized national or regional tourist guide qualification (Source: from Wikipedia and from Hoi An Green company)

5.2 English skills for tourist guide (Source: from Englishclub.com)

5.2.1.English listening skills

a Definition

Listening is receiving language through the ears Listening involves identifying the sounds of speech and processing them into words and sentences When we listen, we use our ears to receive individual sounds (letters, stress, rhythm and pauses) and we use our brain to convert these into messages that mean something to us

Listening in any language requires focus and attention It is a skill that some people need

to work at harder than others People who have difficulty concentrating are typically poor listeners Listening in a second language requires even greater focus

b Elements of english listening skills

- Hearing

- Attending

- Understanding

- Responding

- Remembering

5.2.2 English speaking skills

a Definition

Speaking is the delivery of language through the mouth To speak, we create sounds using many parts of our body, including the lungs, vocal tract, vocal chords, tongue, teeth and lips

b Elements of english speaking skills

- Grammar

- Vocabulary

- Pronunciation

- Fluency

CHAPTER 2: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

1 General introduction about Hoi An Green Travel company

Hoi An Green Travel Company was founded in August 2010

1.1 Location

Address : 672 Hai Ba Trung- Cam Pho- Quang Nam province

Representative : Nguyen Thi Kim Anh

Tel : (0510) 3919234

Fax : (0510) 3919236

Website : www.hoiangreentravel.com

Email : hoiangreen@yahoo.com

With us, the quality is the first!

1.2 Tasks

- Holding and making tours, business several travel products to build a packaged tour for tourists

- Exploiting new kinds of travel program which are suitable with vacations and creating promotional policies for each season

- Exploiting tourists needs to create new services and making these services become effective

- Completing physical system to bring tourists comfort and convenience

1.3 Kinds of service

• Organization local tours in Hoi An such as:

- Cham island 1 day tour

- Cham island 2days 1night tour

- Fishing tour on the sea

- Tra Nhieu eco life tour

- Hoi an River tour and traditional work villages

- Countryside bicycle tour visiting Tra Que vegetable village and making Lanterns

- Kim Bong carpentry village

• Hotel reservation

• Plane tickets

• Train tickets

• Car for rent

1.4 Organizational structure

Hoi An Green has about 20 staffs.

DIRECTOR

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

ACCOUNTING DEP

DEPUTY DIRECTOR

TREASURY DEP

SALES DEP

TOUR GUIDE DEP

CANO DRIVER

2 General information of Tourist Guiding department

2.1 Establishment progress

Tourist guide department was founded in August 2010 The first time has only one foreign guide and supervisor is Mrs Nguyen Thi Kim Anh Currently, office has more foreign guide, Vietnam guide and there are many Chinese assistant

2.2.Tasks

- Arranging tour guides for travel programs

- Building, developing, and training tour guide staffs

3 My job at Tourist Guiding department

3.1 Working time

Two months is the time I practiced at Hoi An Green company Being here, I worked on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday from 7h30 am to 11h30 am

3.2 Task

3.2.1 First stage: Booking and delivering train tickets

3.2.1.1 Booking train ticket

When I receive booking request, I have to take notes of the following information:

- Time

- Destination

- Name of visitor

- Address, number phone or fax

- Passport

- Name of train

- Price of tickets

- Name person who registers

*Some situations occured in the booking process:

Case 1: Visitor booking but lose identity card

• Solution:

- Asking them to check it again carefully

- If they lost it, asking them about other documents such as driver’s liense

Case 2: Changing date or time

• Solution:

- Cancel ticket and visitor lose 20% fee in order to change new ticket

3.2.1.2 Train ticket delivery

a Disadvantages

The first time is very hard because I don’t know many hotel address at Hoi An It takes a lot of time

b Advantages

Besides the disadvantages are also advantages , I contact and talk with many people I also know many hotel, it’s convenient for me when job applicant in future

3.2.2 Second stage: Guiding foreign guests to Cham island and Japanese

covered Bridge

3.2.2.1 Translate information about Cham island and Japanese covered Bridge from Vietnamese to English

 Cham island

The Cham Islands are off the Central Coast of Vietnam Approximately 9 nautical miles and to the east of Cua Dai Beach, Hoi An, Quang Nam Province North 15 deg 52' 30" to 16 deg 52' 30", East 108 deg 24' 00" to 108 deg 33' 30", area of 235 square kilometres which includes eight islands and surrounding waters There are a total of eight islands in the "Cham Islands" called Hon Lao (the largest and only inhabited island, covering an area of 1,317 hectares with a hilltop elevation of 517m), Hon Cu, Hon Kho, Hon La, Hon Dai, Hon Lo and Hon Tai

*Landscape

Cham Island topography is mostly mountainous, without rivers, except for the biggest island of Hon Lao, where there are some rocky fresh water streams with natural forests The highest point is at 517 m on the top of Hon Lao, other islands peaks are lower with elevations from 70-200 m

* Marine ecology

According to surveys, there are 135 species in 35 genera of corals found around Cu Lao Cham.There are 202 species in 85 genera and 36 families of fish, and 4 species of lobsters and 84 species of mollusks identified

The waters around the Cham Islands are an important Several species of high economic value, such as lobsters, groupers, snappers, shrimps, and clams The islands coral reefs provide shelter, nurseries, and food for marine creatures.This island group has 3,000 inhabitants, most of whom make a living from fishing

 Japanese Covered Bridge

Hoi An After, Chinese built a temple in the center of the bridge Therefore, it is also called Pagoda Bridge It was once a busy international port and a residing place for Japanese, Chinese and Vietnamese communities from the 17th to the 18th century In 1791, Nguyen Lord (Nguyen Phuc Chu) visited Hoi An and renamed the Bridge as Lai Vien Kieu It means a bridge for passengers by from far away or a bridge was built by passengers by from far away

Japanese Covered Bridge is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Hoi An as well as Vietnam During the time and the ups and downs of history, Pagoda Bridge was downgraded and has been restored several times in 1763, 1817, 1865, 1917 and the latest rehabilitation was done in 1986 The Japanese Bridge or Pagoda Bridge in an invaluable property and has been regarded as the symbol of the ancient town and was licensed as a Nation Historical and Cultural Relic on 17th February 1990

JapanesenCovered Bridge has been famous for its unique and special architecture The bridge was constructed with a roof so that it could be used as a shelter from both rain and sun On one bridge side, there are 2 sculptures: a pair of wooden monkeys is in the western side and a pair of wooden dogs is in the eastern side There are several explanations for these animal statues One story claims that construction of the bridge was initiated in the dog year and was finished in the monkey year Thus, the animal statues were built up for celebrating these events Another ancient story said that a dragon monster resided in the ditch under the bridge Its head was located in India while its tails in Japan and its back went across Hoi An Town Each time, the monster woke up, floods happened and caused severed damages to human life and property Therefore, the Japanese built the bridge in order to protect inhabitants from disasters and to help them live peacefully and prosperously

A temple used for worshiping the northern God Tran Vo Bac De This God is considered the God of the weather People believe that he controls all kinds of weather changes and natural calamities

3.2.2.2.Guiding the foreign tourists

In this stage, I need to have thorough, exact knowledge about visiting places Thus,

I followed the tourists arrived at the visiting places in Hoi An old town in order to collect information, study how works as a tourist guide and study english language for tourist I followed guides of company, employees worked to listen and write down necessary information

3.2.2.3.English language for tourist guide

During following the foreign tourists, I studied a number of difference forms of sentences used frequently in tour guide

a Asking and answering questions

Every day tour guides will face new challenges One of the hardest parts of this job may be answering questions Unlike a speech that you can memorize, you won't always know what questions people will ask However, guides can anticipate certain types of questions and certain ways that questions will be asked and it is important to know how to politely explain that you don't understand a question

Tour Guide

• Do you have a question, Sir?

• Yes? (if you see a hand raised)

• Is there something I can help you with?

• I'll try my best to answer your questions

• I'm afraid I don't have the answer to that

• That's an interesting question

• I wish I knew the answer (Sorry, I don't know.)

• Hmm.That's a difficult question

• I'll have to look into that further

• I'll have to ask someone about that

• Hmm I've never been asked that before

• Pardon my English; I don't quite understand your question

• I'm not sure, but I can find out for you

Tourist Questions

• Is that the you were talking about?

• Are we going to pass the ?

• Are we going to see any ?

• Is it on the right or the left?

• I don't see it Can you point it out again?

• Will we see it on the way back?

• Where’s the best places to buy….?

b Showing places

• Up ahead

• On your left you will see

• As we turn the corner here, you will see

• If you look up you will notice

• Off to the north

• Look to the east

• As you will see

• You may have noticed

• Take a good look at

• I'd like to point out

• Keep your eyes open for

c Explaining rules, safety and etiquette

When giving a tour there may be rules and safety precautions that guides need to explain After explained the rules and safety precautions make sure that guests have understood you, by asking, "Are there any questions about this?" or "Is everyone clear on the rules?"

Please pay attention to the time We don't want to keep the driver waiting

Please meet back here in one hour

You'll have some free time to look around after lunch

- Explaining safety:

Please keep your seltbelts fastened at all time

Please keep to the sidewalk

These rules are for your own comfort and safety

Please stay with your group at all times

3.2.3 Third stage: Praticing English listening and speaking skills

When trainee in office, foreigners is limit When following the foreigners, I usually struck up conversations with members in the tour While talk with them, I meet many difficulties, lack of vocabulary to guide for visitors but my listening skills was improve more than I sometimes didn’t understand what foreigners said because I couldn’t keep pace with the speaking speed of them

3.2.4 Tour programmes

* Cham island 1day tour

- 7:30 am: Pick up at hotel (Hoi An city) to Cua Dai harbour

- 8:00 am: Relaxing in fresh cool wind, you will enjoy the beautiful landscape on a Hoi An Green speed boat to Cham island

- 8:30 am: Arriving at Lang beach, visiting the Marine Protected area, the Boat shelter, Hai Tang pagoda, Traditional fishing village