BÁO CÁO THỰC TẬP IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF ENGLISH TRAINING PROGRAM

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This internship report regarded to my internship program at Espeed Training Development and Consultant Center. Not only were the overview of center together with my internship experiences mentioned but an analysis of English training program’s quality in Espeed center was also conducted in this report. To begin with, eight weeks might be not long for me to get used totally with new working environment but I tried my best to apply knowledge I gained in University. As a teaching assistant, my responsibilities include managing a group of students together with choosing and preparing the textbooks. Besides, checking learners’ assignment is also my main duty. By doing the tasks throughout the internship period, I myself gained the practical experiences as management, team work and communication. In addition, the report provides an overall picture about the quality of training English program at Espeed center. A survey of learners’ satisfaction about quality of training program was conducted. The result indicates that total satisfaction of learners about foreign teachers, TAs, textbooks and facilities. Nevertheless, they strongly disagreed with the location of classroom. Besides, the report also mentions about some challenges Espeed center is facing, namely, lack of professional measure of learners’ outcome, competition with rivals, and risk of losing skillful teachers. In conclusion, so as to limit the major difficulties and challenges, some solutions and recommendations were discussed, say, restoring the classrooms, international partnership, and improving the training method.

BANKING ACADEMY FACULTY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE

*****

INTERNSHIP REPORT

IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF ENGLISH TRAINING

PROGRAM AT ESPEED CENTER

STUDENT CODE : 15A7510083

Hanoi- May 2016

This internship report is dedicated to the Faculty of Foreign Language of BankingAcademy, Hanoi, Vietnam and all parties helped me to complete this report

I would like to give special thanks to my lecturer who created strongmotivation for me to finish this report.

Last but not least, I am deeply indebted to my friends and family memberswhose love enables me to complete my work

Hanoi, May 2016

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This internship report regarded to my internship program at Espeed TrainingDevelopment and Consultant Center Not only were the overview of center togetherwith my internship experiences mentioned but an analysis of English trainingprogram’s quality in Espeed center was also conducted in this report

To begin with, eight weeks might be not long for me to get used totally withnew working environment but I tried my best to apply knowledge I gained inUniversity As a teaching assistant, my responsibilities include managing a group ofstudents together with choosing and preparing the textbooks Besides, checkinglearners’ assignment is also my main duty By doing the tasks throughout theinternship period, I myself gained the practical experiences as management, team-work and communication

In addition, the report provides an overall picture about the quality of trainingEnglish program at Espeed center A survey of learners’ satisfaction about quality

of training program was conducted The result indicates that total satisfaction oflearners about foreign teachers, TAs, textbooks and facilities Nevertheless, theystrongly disagreed with the location of classroom Besides, the report also mentionsabout some challenges Espeed center is facing, namely, lack of professionalmeasure of learners’ outcome, competition with rivals, and risk of losing skillfulteachers

In conclusion, so as to limit the major difficulties and challenges, somesolutions and recommendations were discussed, say, restoring the classrooms,international partnership, and improving the training method

LIST OF TABLES

Name of tables Page

Table 1: Business Volume

Table 2: Students’ Timetable

Table 3: Internship Activities

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LIST OF CHARTS

Name of charts Page

Chart 1: Organizational chart of Espeed

Chart 2: Organizational Chart of Training Department

Chart 3: Foreign Teachers' Enthusiasm And Preparation

Chart 4: Quality of Teaching Assistants

Chart 5: Textbooks

Chart 6: Satisfaction About Facilities

Chart 7: Satisfaction about Location of Classrooms

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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

1 AEC: ASEAN Economic Community

2 APEC: Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation

3 ASEAN: Association of southern Asian Nations

4 CELTA: Certificate in English Language Teaching

5 CEO: Chief Executive Officer

6 CV: Curriculum Vitae

7 TA: Teaching Assistant

8 TESOL: Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages

9 WTO: World Trade Organization

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION OF ESPEED TRAINING, DEVELOPMENT &

CONSULTANT CENTER 1

1 Overview of Espeed Center 1

2 Organizational Structure 1

2.1 Organizational Chart 2

2.2 Main Office 3

2.3 Number Of Employees 3

2.4 Introduction Of Departments 3

2.5 Comments On Organizational Structure 4

2.6 Nature Of Espeed Center 5

3 Business Volume 5

4 Product Line 5

5 Competitors 6

CHAPTER 2: INTERNSHIP DESCRIPTION 7

1 Starting And Ending Dates Of Internship 7

2 Training Department 7

3 Activities Performed During The Internship 8

4 Personal Achievements 9

CHAPTER 3: CRITICAL ANALYSIS 11

1 Strengths & Opportunities 11

2 Difficulties & Challenges 15

3 Solutions 17

PART 4: CONCLUSIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS 19

1 CONCLUSIONS 19

2 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT 20

REFERENCES 21

APPENDIX 22

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION OF ESPEED TRAINING, DEVELOPMENT &

CONSULTANT CENTER

1 Overview of Espeed Center

The teaching of foreign languages has been of great importance throughout thehistory and has gained much great importance with the swift globalization turningthe world into a small village In the last few years, English has undergoneexplosive growth; thousands of English language centers have been established allover the country (1), with an overwhelming majority of learners studyingcommunication English Together with those centers, Espeed training anddevelopment center was founded by Mr Dao Duc Dung on 17th of May 2013

Espeed center focuses on training communication English which will beconducted by foreign teachers After many years of establishment and developing,eight branches were established in two big cities of Vietnam, namely, Hanoi and HoChi Minh Furthermore, the center has improved constantly quality of trainingprogram to meet al learners’ needs to complete the mission of helping one millionVietnamese speak English fluently With a slogan “make it different”, Espeedcenter attempts to become a leading organization issuing international certificatesfor different kinds of learners

2 Organizational Structure

Each organization has its own structure There are two types of structures;namely centralization and decentralization Espeed center is currently followingcentralized structure In a centralized structure, the top layer of management hasmost of the decision making power and has tight control over departments Thefollowing chart illustrates clearly the organizational pattern of Espeed center.

Training department

Branches

Binh Thanhbranch

Cao Thangbranch

Bach Khoa

branch

Pham VanDong branch

Ha Dong

branch

2.4 Introduction Of Departments

An organization may not develop without the collaboration of differentdepartments Similarly, in Espeed center there are six different departments withvarious responsibilities led by a director

Director

Director’s responsibilities include directing and controlling all activities of

center as marketing, sales, training or accounting Director also examines the annualfinancial statements to make plans for next years

Marketing department

Marketing department is responsible for advertising and persuading learners ofEnglish to choose Espeed to study They have to produce new plans and marketingstrategies which are effective to attract students

Training department

Training department has important role in guaranteeing the quality of training

in Espeed For example, the training quality is engaged in quality of teachers, anddevelopment of qualified training program Furthermore, the department is alsoliable for creating textbooks and learning materials and training new foreignteachers and new teaching assistants

The Accounting Department

The duties of accounting department in Espeed are organizing andsummarizing accounting information They also have to make annual financialstatements based on the data kept record every day

The Technical Department

The Technical Department is in charge of providing technical support to theoperations as supervising, repairing and maintaining equipment as projectors,overhead transparency, computers, speakers, and air conditioners in all classrooms

The Human Resource Department

The responsibilities of human resource department are recruiting, training, anddismissing employees in the companies Besides, it establishes a well- informed andwell- organized team of staff to help the center develop considerably

The Customer Service Department

The customer service department has a significant function in taking care ofcustomers, solving all their complaints by giving solutions in accordance withcenter’s guidelines, regulations and policies

2.5 Comments On Organizational Structure

Espeed’s organizational structure follows the centralized pattern because of awide range of advantages It is clear that the advantages of centralized pattern areemphasizing on top- down control, making decisions strongly and decisively.Moreover, the organizational changes are executed fast, coordinately andeffectively Besides, centralization creates flexibility to make the organization adapteasily to new situations as changes in demand of students Uniformity in action isalso an important benefit of centralized pattern because there is low risk of dissent

or conflicts among departments or offices In short, Espeed has been following thecentralized pattern due to its outstanding benefits which are suitable for Espeed’slegal form

2.6 Nature Of Espeed Center

Nature of an organization mentions its legal form and the vision EspeedTraining Development & Consultant Center was founded in the form of joint-stockcompany whose main function is providing the English qualified training courses tomultiple levels of learners In addition, Espeed’s vision is becoming one of theleading institutes in Vietnam by setting standards of excellence in innovative

curriculum design, teaching, professional development, and cross-culturalunderstanding In short, Espeed believes that its above-mentioned vision will helpthe center achieve its mission and goal

3 Business Volume

Table 1: Business volume

Criteria 2013 2014 2015 2016

(4 months) Total assets

(billion VND) 2.1 7.1 19 26.1Revenues (billion VND) 3.6 7.4 16.4 8.9

Espeed offers the different English training courses to help learners to

communicate confidently and naturally in a short time Two main English coursesare currently offered in Espeed; English for Life, and English for Tourism

The very first course is English for Life related to 5 main topics including Get

to Know, At the Cafe, At the Restaurant, On Bargaining, Job Interview Studentsstudy these topics in 3 months with 100% of native teachers achieved theprestigiously international teaching certificates as TESOL, DELTA, CELTA Afterfinishing one topic, learners will practice in the real situations; for example, talking

to foreign visitors in Hoan Kiem Lake, bargaining at food fair in Espeed After onecourse, learners may communicate English confidently

English for Tourism is a transit from English for Life course At this course,students are equipped with a great deal of knowledge about tourism places in Hanoi

by experiencing two levels At level one, learners are provided information ofSword Lake, and the Old quarters In addition, Ho Chi Minh complex, Temple ofLiterature, Hoa lo prison are the training fields of level two After completing twolevels, students may be aware of those places

In brief, two main English courses in Espeed help students improve theirEnglish for daily life and create an environment to practice English

5 Competitors

English educational system in Vietnam has been growing dramatically.Various English centers, public and private have been set up which creates thefierce competition toward Espeed center In specific, a large quantity of foreign andjoint venture, language centers of universities, professional associations, privateenterprises which teach English and use it as the medium of communication havebeen established throughout Vietnam (1) It can be seen the presence of BritishCouncil, American Apollo, Langmaster These teaching centers offer diversifiedcourses and different levels of learners Together with offline rivals, there are alarge number of online competitors as Topica, Lingoda.com which provide themost convenient English courses for busy people To sum up, the appearance ofoffline and online English training organizations triggers a high pressure for Espeed

to exist in Vietnam

CHAPTER 2 INTERNSHIP DESCRIPTION

Internships are known for offering students the opportunity to apply theirknowledge in real environments At the same time, they will also develop skillswhich will help them perform better at their future jobs I am one of one of suchlucky students to have chance of internship at Espeed center

1 Starting And Ending Dates Of Internship

The internship lasted 8 weeks from 15/02/2016 to 10/04/2016 under thesupervision of the Training Manager, Ms Pham Nhan

2 Training Department

Department of Training was founded together with Espeed’s establishment.Training department plays a very significant role in development of Espeed centerwith different positions For instance, the head of department is training managerwho is liable for managing foreign teachers, TAs, designers of textbook andlearning material

This chart below shows the organizational of Training department:

Chart 2: Organizational Chart of Training Department

Manager

Foreign teacher Teaching assistant Textbook designer

Training department is in charge of guaranteeing the English trainingactivities together with developing the new textbooks and other teaching materials.

In specific, the manager is liable for controlling the general training activities whileforeign teachers and teaching assistants have responsibilities to teach and take care

of students directly In addition, designing textbooks and teaching materials isanother task of department In short, training department is becoming anindispensible part of Espeed center by maintaining training activities

3 Activities Performed During The Internship

My job was a teaching assistant in training department through 8 weeks from15/02/2016 to 10/04/2016 Teaching assistant is responsible for managing a class of

20 students, choosing textbooks and lesson plan, and checking students’assignment

Firstly, managing a group of 20 students is the main task of a TA Inparticular, the teaching assistant has to come to class early to set up everything andmake classroom ready as preparing computer, handouts, overhead projector andoverhead transparency Furthermore, the TA involves in checking attendance ofstudents every lesson, checking students’ homework completion and making reportsafter each lesson Thus, leadership & communication skills and enthusiastic andfriendly characteristics are very essential for a TA

Secondly, participating to choose the textbooks and lesson plans is anothertask of the teaching assistant The TAs has to support a group of writers indesigning teaching materials as typing handouts, or making Powerpoint files Inaddition, the TA is in charge of finding the mistakes in the textbooks or handoutsand making the comments to improve them The TA therefore must have researchand planning skills and especially computer skills as using some software: Word,Powerpoint, Mindmap

Finally, checking students’ assignment and interacting online with them arealso responsibilities of a TA After each lesson, the TA has to post homework and