Now I need somebody to talk with.

I made the wrong decision. It’s time to let’em go and let me go. Everything must be released to put it back where it was.

Dear God, hope you got the letter, and…
I pray you can make it better down here
I don’t mean a big reduction in the price of beer
But all the people that you made in your image
See them starving on their feet
‘Cause they don’t get enough to eat from,
God,
I can’t believe in you

Dear God, sorry to disturb you, but…
I feel that I should be heard loud and clear
We all need a big reduction in amount of tears
And all the people that you made in your image
See them fighting in the street
‘Cause they can’t make opinions meet about
God,
I can’t believe in you

Did you make disease and the diamond blue?
Did you make mankind after we made you?
And the devil too!

Dear God, don’t know if you noticed, but…
Your name is on a lot of quotes in this book
And us crazy humans wrote it, you should take a look
And all the people that you made in your image
Still believing that junk is true
Well I know it ain’t, and so do you, dear God
I can’t believe in
I don’t believe in

I won’t believe in heaven and hell
No saints, no sinners, no devil as well
No pearly gates, no thorny crown
You’re always letting us humans down
The wars you bring, the babes you drown
Those lost at sea and never found
And it’s the same the whole world ’round
The hurt I see helps to compound
That Father, Son and Holy Ghost
Is just somebody’s unholy hoax
And if you’re up there you’d perceive
That my heart’s here upon my sleeve
If there’s one thing I don’t believe in

It’s you
Dear God

God, are you still there, and listening to me?

Last week, I met one of my Vietnamese students in order to talk about the publicity video for the new-coming students in Vietnam. At the end of the conversation, she was angry a little bit and asked me. “Sir, why do you just say one or two words, when you talk to us (Vietnamese)?” I was somewhat surprised and embarrassed. I quickly answered back that I have never done that before. But she continuously asked me. “No, your English is totally different and speak very well, when you speak with Russian students or American professors.”

Was it? Did I? Right after I said goodbye to her, I just thought about the conversations that I made with Vietnamese students. She was right! I had a terrible prejudice, bias, and stereotyping to the Vietnamese students. Because of their strong and unusual accent (it may be unusual only to me), I just felt that their English is not perfect whenever I talked with them. What makes worse is that I was forced unintentionally to use easy words and short sentences all the time. In addition, when I talked to them in English, it is even less burdensome than I talk with people from English-speaking countries. However, I always tried to find out the proper words, whenever I speak with native English speakers.

Does it mean that the native English teachers are much better and more beneficial than nonnative English teachers, especially when students learn the competence of “Speaking”? I do not agree with this idea. Also, “which one is better, native or nonnative, in English language teaching” has been controversial among scholars. Reflecting on my experiece with Vietnamese students, I can’t erase the idea that native teachers may be even better than nonnative teachers. Nevertheless, teachers’ and students’ attitude toward both of them is the point that I must not ignore. In other words, teachers’ rash judgment, such as the prejudice, the bias, and the stereotyping to their students, can change their stuedents into good one or bad one, and vice versa.

Y told me, “If you really want to help somebody, you have to be physically and mentally strong enough (not to be knocked down, not to be discouraged, and not to be hurt).” And she’s right. I am not that strong!