GIANG HOANG

Counselor, Evans Adult School, Los Angeles; Vietnamese language teacher, UCLA Extension.

In my classes, teaching English as a second language, the majority (of the students) came from Latin America and the rest from Asia, Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, and a few from Africa. The students would get very excited learning about each other’s cultures. And they really appreciated it when we talked in class about some customs of this country that seem quite unusual to most of them.

For example, punctuality is not an extensive concept in non-European cultures. People have to be taught to be on time for appointments, or even for dates.

Another custom that seems very foreign to many immigrants, including Vietnamese, is lining up and waiting your turn. In Vietnam, when you want to buy a movie ticket, everyone just crowds around the window and whoever pushes hardest gets served first.

It sounds funny and basic, but these are things they’re really not used to. They don’t want to do things wrong or to embarrass themselves.

Also, immigrants must learn English, at first just to survive and later to achieve the better life they came here for.

Certainly there are native customs each group should keep and should explain to others.