Ta Van Village · Sa Pa, Vietnam

Hmong English School

Come Teach With Us Homestay & Treks Donate

★ 5.0 · 29 reviews · Top Host on Worldpackers ★ 5.0 · 29 reviews Scroll for more

Miss Ha smiling beside the hand-painted 'Hmong English School' sign at the garden gate. — Miss Ha, at the front gate.

A dozen kids posing with heart hands and funny faces in front of the alphabet chalkboard. — The after-class photo, every time.

About the school

A classroom in the valley

The Hmong English School is a free community English school in Ta Van Village, Lao Chai, a Hmong village in the Muong Hoa Valley, a short drive down from Sa Pa town in northern Vietnam.

It's run by Miss Ha, a Hmong woman from the village, with international volunteer teachers who come from all over the world.

Classes cost nothing. The students are local children and adults learning English to open up real opportunities in their lives. Since the valley's economy runs on tourism, that often means work: guiding treks, or working in the hotels and homestays that visitors pass through. But it's also about something bigger than a job, giving them the confidence to connect with people from anywhere and see more of the world beyond the valley.

The school's mission is simple: to bridge the gap of opportunity through English. Just one woman, Miss Ha, a wooden classroom, a green chalkboard, and a belief that these kids deserve a bigger future.

Hand-painted woven baskets reading 'Welcome to our School' at the schoolhouse entrance, Miss Ha beneath them. — Welcome to our School, painted on rice baskets.

The empty classroom before class: warm pine walls, a green chalkboard, desks in a U. — The schoolhouse in Lao Chai.

Working toward two UN Sustainable Development Goals: Quality Education · No Poverty

Miss Ha in a red dress, arm raised toward the indigo batik banner that reads 'Hmong English School'. — Ha and the banner she painted.

Miss Ha holding her young son, green rice terraces rising behind them. — Ha and her son, home in the valley.

Who runs this place

Miss Ha’s story

Ha is from Sa Pa and lives in Lao Chai, a small Hmong community folded into the rice terraces of the Muong Hoa Valley. It's the kind of place tourists trek through every day, and where, for a long time, English was the invisible line between watching that world go by and being part of it.

“I started the Hmong English School with one simple dream: to give local children and adults the chance to learn English and open new opportunities for their future.”
Ha

Extra classes cost money, and in the village, most families don't have it to spare. So Ha made the classes free. “Many people in my village cannot afford extra classes, so I provide a place where they can learn for free with your help.”

That last part, with your help, is not a figure of speech. The school runs on volunteer teachers, visiting trekkers, and homestay guests. Ha hosts them all: on Worldpackers she's a Top Host with a 5.0 rating across 29 reviews, and she answers every message. She teaches, cooks, guides treks, runs batik workshops, and somewhere in between finds time to paint “Welcome to our School” on woven baskets by the door. To keep the classes free, she works several jobs of her own, covering what donations do not.

The dream is simple. The work behind it is not. That's rather the point.

Ha · Lao Chai Village, Sa Pa

Miss Ha teaching at the chalkboard, seen across a room full of students. — A classroom in the valley.

A volunteer taking a selfie with a group of smiling students around a table in the wooden classroom. — Volunteers from all over the world, here so the kids get their chance.

The whole class and a volunteer posing together under the warm lights of the schoolhouse. — The whole cast.

Two young girls drawing with crayons and markers at a classroom desk. — Crayons before conjugation.

A student in a red shirt writing English vocabulary on the green chalkboard. — Someone is always up at the board.

Notebooks full of handwritten English seen from above, students pointing at the pages. — Homework, checked the loud way.

Classroom life

An ordinary evening at the school

Class happens in the evening, after school and after work, in a warm wooden room with a green chalkboard and an alphabet strung across the ceiling.

What's on the board is telling. Not just ABCs, lessons like “Work in a Hotel”: check-in, room key, breakfast is at seven. The students aren't learning English in the abstract. They're learning the exact sentences their future jobs will be made of.

The little ones draw with crayons and shout out animal words. The teenagers practice real conversations, the kind they'll have with real trekkers on real trails. Someone is always up at the chalkboard. When the room gets restless, class moves outside for action songs in the yard.

It's mixed ages, mixed levels, and occasionally glorious chaos. It is also, most nights, a room full of people laughing while they learn. That's not decoration, it's how the whole thing works.

Volunteers leaning over a table of laughing kids drawing with colored pencils. — Volunteers at the drawing table.

Two volunteers leading kids in an action song outside, everyone's hands on their heads. — When the room gets restless: action songs.

Kids at their desks working, seen from the back of the wooden classroom. — Evening class, underway.

A volunteer at the chalkboard teaching hotel vocabulary to a packed evening class. — Volunteer

Come teach

Volunteers are the school's teachers. You don't need to be a trained teacher or a native speaker, you need intermediate English, some patience, and the willingness to stand at a chalkboard while twenty kids test exactly how funny you are.

Volunteering runs through Worldpackers, where the school holds a 5.0 rating from 29 reviews, Top Host status, and a 100% response rate.

Apply as an English teacher Help with social media

Browse the full listing on Worldpackers →

What volunteers say

“The aim of the school is to teach English to kids and young adults and create opportunities for them to work as local tour guides, you really feel you are contributing to the community.”
Irene · Spain

“Helping out Ha teach English to kids, teens and adults allowed us to immerse ourselves in the local culture and really make meaningful connections… on top of that, you get to trek with Ha around the villages and the rice fields, and you get to do your own batik.”
Lou · France

“Ha is an incredible woman whose dedication and passion have created something truly special. I formed genuine bonds with the students, and I will carry their memories with me in my heart forever.”
Flóra · Hungary

“Finally, a volunteer opportunity that truly benefits the children and villagers. We would have loved to stay longer. Teaching people who genuinely want to learn is truly wonderful.”
Théo · France

Read all 29 reviews on Worldpackers →

“Let Ha walk you through
the valley she grew up in.”

A volunteer's selfie on a misty trail with smiling kids and a Hmong grandmother in a flowered hat. — Trek day: the whole village comes along.

Trekking

Trek the Muong Hoa Valley

The valley around the school is the one on the postcards: rice terraces stacked to the ridgeline, bamboo forest, water buffalo, villages strung along the river. Ha runs guided treks straight from the school's front door.

Ha guides these treks herself. She grew up in this valley and knows its trails, its terraces, and the families along the way, so a walk with her is the real thing, not a tourist loop.

She is also teaching the next guides: young people from the school learning to lead treks in English themselves one day, so the skill, and the income, stay in the village.

Fair warning: Sa Pa does mist. Some days the valley hides completely, then opens like a curtain. Locals will tell you that's the best version.

Every trek supports the school directly.

Two travelers and a young guide in traditional dress above the green rice terraces of the valley. — Guides in training, valley in session.

Two kids waving on a dirt trail beside rice paddies, one riding piggyback. — Trail companions, always.

Guided treks, straight from the school

Sa Pa · Y Linh Ho · Lao Chai Sang · Lao Chai Village

Meet our local guide and students in Sa Pa and begin your trekking adventure through the breathtaking Muong Hoa Valley.

Your journey starts with a scenic walk to Y Linh Ho Village, with stunning mountain landscapes, peaceful rice terraces, and the daily life of the local communities.

Continue trekking to Lao Chai Sang Village along beautiful trails through the valley. Along the way, your guide shares stories about the local culture, traditions, and way of life.

Enjoy a picnic lunch by the river, surrounded by nature, or lunch at a local family restaurant, depending on the weather.

After lunch, continue to Lao Chai Village, one of the most picturesque villages in the Muong Hoa Valley, with spectacular rice terraces and panoramic mountain views.

Visit a traditional Black Hmong family home to learn about their customs, handicrafts, farming, and everyday life, a real look at the people who call these mountains home.

At the end of the trek, relax as we return to Sa Pa by car or motorbike. The tour ends in Sa Pa.

Sa Pa · Dragon Mountain · Hang Da · Lao Chai · Ta Van · Giang Ta Chai

Day 1. Your guide picks you up in Sa Pa and visits the Sa Pa market, then you trek from Sa Pa to Dragon Mountain and Hang Da village, with beautiful views over Sa Pa town and the surrounding villages. Picnic lunch by the mountain or in a local restaurant in Hang Da, depending on the weather. Then trek on to Lao Chai village for the view over the Muong Hoa Valley, and stay overnight in a homestay with a Black Hmong family. Help cook and share dinner with them. In the evening there are English classes: come sit in and talk with the students, or stay at the homestay and share "happy water," a Vietnamese rice wine, with the family.

Day 2. After breakfast, trek to Ta Van and Giang Ta Chai villages, passing Black Hmong, Giay, and Red Dao communities along the way. Cross rice terraces and bamboo forest to a waterfall, where you can swim if the weather is good, then lunch at a local restaurant in Giang Ta Chai. From there, take a car or motorbike back to Sa Pa. The tour ends in Sa Pa town.

Book a trek on WhatsApp

Trekking · Homestay

Stay with us

No time to volunteer for two weeks? Come stay anyway. Ha's invitation is simple: if you can't teach, stay with the family, trek the valley, sit in on an evening class if you like, and see the school for yourself.

What you get is a real village homestay, not a hotel pretending to be one. A simple, clean room, a proper mattress, warm blankets, a mosquito net, home-cooked Hmong food, and the Muong Hoa Valley outside the door. Mornings here start with roosters and mist on the terraces.

Homestay: [price on request] per night. Meals and guided treks can be arranged, just ask.

Every stay helps keep the classes free.

Ask about dates on WhatsApp

What the rooms look like, simple and clean

An attic room with a made-up mattress, folded towels, and a mosquito net under timber beams. — Simple rooms, mosquito nets, mountain air.

A private room with a double bed, brick and timber walls, a desk and a patterned rug. — The private room, warm blankets included.

A guest drawing hot wax patterns beside a Hmong artisan, indigo-dyed batik cloths hanging behind them. — Batik with indigo dye, part of every stay.

An iced coffee on a wooden rail overlooking bright green rice paddies and misty mountains. — Morning, from the porch.

Support

School is free for every child.

It runs on donations, and on Ha supporting the school herself, working several jobs to keep it going.

Donate on GoFundMe

Smiling kids and a Hmong grandmother on a misty trail with a volunteer. — On the trail together.

Volunteers leading kids in an action song outside, hands on heads. — Action songs in the yard.

The whole class and a volunteer posing together under the schoolhouse lights. — Everyone who shows up.

Coming in person? You can also bring classroom supplies. Message Ha and ask what is most needed right now, it changes with the season and the students.

Ask Ha what's needed

And if you cannot give right now, that is fine too. Your time is the real gift.

Good to know

Questions, answered

How do I get to the school?

Fly or take the night train/sleeper bus from Hanoi to Sa Pa (the train goes to Lào Cai, then a 45-minute shuttle). From Sa Pa town, Ta Van Village is about 30-40 minutes by taxi or motorbike down into the Muong Hoa Valley, or a beautiful two-hour trek. Volunteers get picked up from the station. Here's the exact pin.

Do I need a visa for Vietnam?

Most nationalities can apply for a Vietnam e-visa online (single or multiple entry, up to 90 days). Apply through the official government portal a couple of weeks before you travel.

How good does my English need to be?

Intermediate is enough. You don't need to be a native speaker or a trained teacher, lessons are practical and conversational, and enthusiasm counts for more than grammar terminology.

What does the weekly contribution cover?

Volunteers contribute 2,400,000 VND per week (about €77). It covers your food, three home-cooked meals a day, and helps keep the school's classes completely free for students. Your room, trekking, laundry, station pickup and batik workshops are all included.

What should I pack?

Layers. Sa Pa is mountain weather: warm days, cold nights, and mist that comes and goes. Bring walking shoes with grip for muddy trails, a rain jacket, and, if you have room, some classroom supplies to leave behind.

I only have a few days. Is it worth coming?

Yes. Stay at the homestay, trek with Ha, sit in on an evening class. Short visits support the school too, and you'll leave wanting to come back with more time.

The whole class, students of all ages and a volunteer, posing together in the schoolhouse.