The Guardian (UK)
February 26, 2008

French teacher Rick Jones writes about a challenge given to him by one of the students in his high school French class: “You learn Vietnamese in three months, I’ll learn French.” The student, Tommy, is the child of Vietnamese parents, and had spent four years learning French, the former colonial language of Vietnam. As the GCSEs — Britain’s high school exit exams — approached, Tommy seemed

less invested in learning the language. About 20% of the students at Jones’ school are English language learners, and about half of them speak Vietnamese. After no small amount of reflection, Jones took up the challenge, and discussed the story with The Guardian. Upon learning of this, the student, Tommy, tried to back out, but his classmates insisted that he had made the challenge and would have to live up to it. Both Tommy and Jones are now studying their respective languages to prepare for examinations later this year.