Course Design and Teacher Development in Vietnam: A Diary Project

Abstract

project arose from a situation that was both an opportunityand a challenge. While teaching in Vietnam in the spring of 2004, Ireceived an invitation from the national university in Hanoi. Theletter asked me to teach there and specifically to develop apostgraduate course called Literature in Language Teaching.Because such a course had long been a dream of mine, I eagerlyaccepted. Over the summer, however, I was warned that due to redtape the course might not be approved for the fall semester andcould well be delayed until the following year. I put mybrainstorming on the back burner. In mid-August, I received wordthat I would be permitted to teach the new course as a specialelective . . . and could I start it in 3 weeks?This article is a situated inquiry that recounts and analyzes whathappened next, presenting a layered, reflective analysis centeredaround course design and professional development in a teachereducation classroom belonging to nonnative-English-speaking(NNES)teachers.Theresearchiswritteninthisforminordertoacknowledge more fully its embedded and contextualized nature aswellastoexploreinmoreself-consciouswaystheinteractionsbetweenthe NNES course participants and me, their native-English-speaking(NES) teacher educator. The intention is to disclose or discoverthicknesses and textures in the experience, thus enriching implicationsor potential applications for other contexts (Johnson, 2006).Although new to this university, I had significant previousexperience teaching literature in Asian and North Americanpostsecondary settings. I also understood the role of literature in aVietnamese English to speakers of other languages (ESOL)