On May 16, 2026, the Vietnamese language teaching community came together for the GUAVA Innovation Awards Showcase — an annual celebration of the most creative, impactful, and forward-thinking approaches to teaching Vietnamese in U.S. higher education.
Now in its second year, the GUAVA Innovation Awards were established by the GUAVA Board in 2024–2025 to recognize outstanding contributions to Vietnamese language education. Each spring, GUAVA members are invited to submit innovative projects implemented within the past two academic years — spanning online, hybrid, and in-person settings. Submissions are evaluated on originality, impact, and scalability. Winners are celebrated at the annual showcase and featured on GUAVA’s website and blog, building a growing archive of inspiring pedagogical practices for the broader teaching community.
This year’s selection committee — Thuy Tranviet (Cornell University), Quang Van (Yale University), and Hanh Nguyen (University of Pennsylvania) — reviewed submissions across the field and selected two Award Winners and one Honorable Mention in the Instructional Innovation category.
🏆 Award Winners
1. Podcast Production to Promote Engagement Among Advanced Vietnamese Students
Hoa Le & Quang-Nhan Nguyen — Harvard University
“The structure of the projects was very effective as we learned about some history of the Vietnamese language in class, then moved to talk about how contemporary Vietnamese, even slang, has developed, and then to the podcast to discuss more deeply with our peers on both a personal and social level how Vietnamese is used in our families and outside contexts.” — Student reflection, VIETNAM 140A
When Hoa Le and Quang-Nhan Nguyen looked at their advanced Vietnamese classroom, they saw students with strong linguistic foundations but limited opportunities for real, public-facing language use. Their answer was a semester-long, student-produced podcast series — and the results were transformative.
The Course and Its Context
Designed for VIETNAM 140A (Advanced Level) in Fall 2025, the project engaged 8 students — 7 heritage undergraduates and 1 Ph.D. candidate — in producing an original Vietnamese-language podcast series for real audiences: family, friends, fellow students at Harvard, MIT, and beyond. The central innovation was repositioning students not just as learners, but as cultural interlocutors and content creators.
The Podcast Production Process
The project followed a structured 10-step workflow:
- Setting goals and expectations
- Scaffolding roles: host and guests
- Selecting themes and topics
- Coordinating with recording studios
- Discussing episode outlines
- Preparing content, vocabulary, and target language forms
- Recording in the studio — naturally, without reading from scripts
- Instructor review and feedback
- Peer listening and reflection
- Sharing finished episodes with the wider community
By the end of the semester, the class produced 6 full episodes totaling over 224 minutes of Vietnamese conversation — a remarkable achievement in fluency, complexity, and cultural depth.
Spring 2026: Taking It Further
Building on the success of Fall 2025, the Spring 2026 iteration (VIETNAM 140B) went even further: students produced 7 episodes, including special episodes featuring Vietnamese-speaking external guests invited by the students themselves — among them the owner of Phở Quê, a young entrepreneur in Dorchester; a neuroscientist from Harvard Medical School; and a Boston-based orthometrist.
What Students Gained
The podcast project drove measurable growth across all four language skills:
- Speaking & Listening: Developed through spontaneous interaction, live interviewing, and extended discourse
- Reading & Research: Strengthened through engagement with thematic materials for each episode
- Writing: Enhanced through scripting, note preparation, and end-of-term reflective essays
- Confidence & Leadership: Students learned to guide conversations, manage guests, and navigate diverse perspectives on the spot
Crucially, episodes were graded on completion, not proficiency — a deliberate design choice that reduced anxiety and encouraged risk-taking. The results spoke for themselves.
“I also used vocabulary learned in the classroom in the podcast, which helped me remember and retain the words for a longer period of time.” — Student reflection
The project is replicable: its structured workflow — from topic exploration to recording, peer reflection, and community sharing — can be adapted by any instructor, even those with no prior audio-production experience.
2. Gamified Vietnamese Language Learning: A Story-Based Course Design
Trang Tran — Brown University
“There’s a misconception that gamification dilutes rigor, but that’s absolutely not true. When people are in a flow state and motivated, they can do more than they would expect.” — Naomi Pariseault, Sheridan Center Senior Learning Designer
What if a Vietnamese language course were also a story — one in which every student is the hero? That is precisely the vision Trang Tran brought to VIET-0100 at Brown University in Fall 2025.
The Story of Nam
At the heart of the course is a narrative: Nam arrives at Brown University with no memory of his past, holding only snapshots of Hội An. Students take on the role of protagonists, completing linguistic “quests” to recover Nam’s lost memory fragments and piece together his cultural identity.
This is not gamification as a superficial add-on. Trang Tran, in collaboration with Naomi Pariseault (Senior Learning Designer at the Sheridan Center), embedded game mechanics into the entire architecture of the course — transforming Canvas into an interactive game interface where every lesson, every assignment, and every assessment moves the narrative forward.
The Game Mechanics
The course design aligns game elements directly with ACTFL Proficiency Guidelines:
| Mechanic | Function |
|---|---|
| Quests | Replace discrete lesson modules with narrative-driven learning tasks |
| XP (Experience Points) | Combine traditional grades with visible markers of progress |
| Memory Fragments | Narrative rewards unlocked through successful quests |
| Linguistic Badges | Recognize achievement in specific communicative domains |
| Boss Battles | Reimagine midterms and finals as narrative milestones |
| NPC Interactions | Non-playable characters guide students through everyday Vietnamese scenarios |
Research-Grounded Foundations
The design draws on well-established pedagogical theory:
- Theory of Flow (Ryan & Deci, 2000): tasks calibrated to balance challenge and skill
- Game-Enhanced Pedagogy (Reinhardt, 2019): emergent L2 learning through meaningful gameplay
- Culturally Responsive Design: narrative that foregrounds questions of identity, memory, and Vietnamese cultural representation
Student Impact
Based on reflections and classroom observations from VIET-0100 (Fall 2025), students reported:
- More persistence with difficult material
- Greater autonomy in their learning
- More speaking confidence
- Deeper emotional investment in the course
- Stronger cultural connection to Vietnamese identity and community
“A story about people from very different backgrounds coming together.” — Natali Chung ’26
“I wanted to know what happened next.” — Alan (student)
A Scalable Model
The course design roadmap — from defining learning objectives and building a narrative world to integrating game mechanics and refining visual aesthetics — is designed for adaptability:
- Intermediate and Advanced levels: More complex quests for VIET 0300–0400
- Hybrid/Online formats: Modular design works across in-person and digital delivery
- Other LCTLs: The framework is adaptable to other less commonly taught languages
🌟 Honorable Mention
Dialect Differences: A Sociolinguistics-Centered Peer-Teaching Project
Thu-Ha Nguyen — University of Washington
Thu-Ha Nguyen’s project earned well-deserved recognition for its creative integration of sociolinguistics into the Vietnamese language classroom. By centering dialect variation as both a linguistic and cultural topic, and empowering students as peer teachers, the project deepened learners’ metalinguistic awareness while fostering community and collaboration in the classroom. The project was previously highlighted at a GUAVA Member Highlight event.
A Growing Archive of Excellence
The GUAVA Innovation Awards Showcase is more than a ceremony — it is a living archive of what is possible in Vietnamese language education. Each year, the awards surface new models, new questions, and new inspiration for teachers at every level and institution.
The 2025–2026 cohort demonstrates a field that is ambitious, research-grounded, and deeply committed to its students. Whether through the intimacy of a podcast studio or the imaginative world of a gamified course, these educators are asking the same fundamental question: What does it look like when Vietnamese language learning is truly meaningful?
GUAVA congratulates all of this year’s recipients — Hoa Le, Quang-Nhan Nguyen, Trang Tran, and Thu-Ha Nguyen — and thanks the Selection Committee for their careful and thoughtful review.
📺 Watch the Showcase Presentations:
- Podcast Production — Hoa Le & Quang-Nhan Nguyen (Harvard)
- Gamified Vietnamese Language Learning — Trang Tran (Brown)
- GUAVA President’s Remarks
📂 Slides & Supporting Materials:
The GUAVA Innovation Awards are open to all GUAVA members. Each spring, GUAVA invites submissions of innovative projects implemented within the past two academic years. Learn more at guavamerica.org/grants-awards.
Leave a Reply