Vietnam invites foreign native English teachers

The Ministry of Education and Training has signed two cooperation agreements on January 16 in Hanoi for implementation of the National English Teaching Project 2020.

At the signing ceremony

The first agreement was signed with an English Language Company in Sydney in Australia to supply native English teachers from the US, Canada, New Zealand, and Ireland.
Native English teachers will be assigned to primary schools, junior high schools, colleges and universities under the program ‘Teach and Travel Vietnam (TTV).’
Staff preparing for the National English Teaching Project 2020 will work with the English Language Company to provide training, management and allocation of foreign teachers to schools, as and when needed.
This year there are plans for around 300-500 native English teachers to come to Vietnam.
The second agreement was signed with Greg Ellis, an Australian teacher, who has been developing teaching software for English language and IELTS tests.
Under the agreement with the Ministry, Ellis will give the software for the National English Project 2020 for teaching of the four skills in the English language.
Ellis has written the software based on 10 year research of students in Ho Chi Minh City as well as students in Melbourne, Australia.
The software has already been used to teach students preparing for IELTS tests at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Ellis has also helped the University of Pedagogy in HCMC in English teaching methodology.
The Ministry believes that the participation of foreign teachers and the new teaching software will enhance English learning in students in Vietnam.

Vote of confidence on PM and President scheduled in May

Posted:

VietNamNet Bridge – On January 16, the National Assembly Standing Committee agreed on the resolution guiding the implementation of the vote of confidence on the titles elected or ratified by the National Assembly and the People’s Council.

The first vote of confidence will be held in May 2013.

The resolution also guides the titles that are the subjects of the vote of confidence at the commune, ward or township levels. These positions include Chairs and Vice Chairs of the People’s Council and the People’s Council of communes, wards and townships.
If a person simultaneously holds multiple positions elected or ratified by the National Assembly, the People’s Council, the vote of confidence shall be made to the highest position.
The time for the periodical vote of confidence is at the first annual meeting since the second year of each term of the National Assembly and People’s Councils at all levels.
About the contents on the report and accountability of the officials who are subjects to the vote of confidence, the National Assembly Standing Committee requested the compilation board to amend in the direction of simplifying explanation contents.
NA Standing Committee’s members also made suggestion on the contents of the regulations.
Because some comments were collected at the meeting on January 16, the guiding resolution on the vote of confidence will be signed and promulgated by National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Sinh Hung to take effect from February 1, 2013, the time that National Assembly’s resolution on the vote of confidence vote of confidence takes effect.
Le Nhung

Have you got the wanderlust?

ED Comments: Yes Yes Yes

A beat-up old car, a few dollars in the pocket and a sense of adventure. That’s all Tony and Maureen Wheeler needed for the trip of a lifetime.

They met on a park bench in Regent’s Park, London and married a year later. For their honeymoon, they decided to attempt what few people thought possible — crossing Europe and Asia overland, all the way to Australia.

It took them several months and all the money they could earn, beg or borrow, but they made it. And at the end of it all, they were flat broke . . . and couldn’t have been happier.

Urged on by their friends, they stayed up nights at their kitchen table writing, typing and stapling together their very first travel guide, Across Asia on the Cheap. Within a week they’d sold 1,500 copies, and Lonely Planet was born.

Fast-forward 30 years later, Lonely Planet has become a globally loved brand. Lonely Planet guides are written by experts who get to the heart of every destination they visit.

Constantly updated, each travel guide is packed with accurate, practical and honest advice, designed to give you the information you need to make the most out of your trip.

According to Lonely Planet’s Best in Travel 2010, Malaysia was voted as one of the top 10 countries to visit this year apart from Germany, Morocco and New Zealand, to name a few.

A 2010 edition of Malaysia, Singapore & Brunei guidebook was recently released, offering travelers updated travel tips to our country. Do visit your nearest bookstore for the latest Lonely Planet products. Lonely Planet is exclusively distributed by MPH Distribu

the tax slug that canes long haul travellers-30 October, 2009

SYDNEY - The British government has a nasty little surprise waiting – it’s called the Air Passenger Duty (APD) and from this Sunday, November 1, it will rise substantially.

APD will now fall into four bands – with passengers being charged according to how far they fly. The increases are planned for November this year and November 2010

The tax on the longest flights over 6,000 miles – including UK to Australia - is more than doubling from £40 now to £85 next year.

Passengers in premium-economy seats flying long haul to Australia or New Zealand will be hit hardest. The duty on these seats, which offer a little more legroom for a modest fee, will rise to £110 on November 1 to £170 in November 2010.

Premium economy passengers will pay the same APD as passengers in Business and First Class.

A family of four flying from London to Sydney or Auckland will pay £220 from November 1 and £340 from November next year.

The tax rise threatens to curb travel from the UK to long haul markets.

International long haul visitors will pay the tax when they fly out of the UK on their return journeys.

"APD is now a significant part of the overall price of the air fare and the planned increases in long-haul APD rates over the next year are a genuine threat to the commercial viability of premium economy," said Dermot Blastland, chief executive of TUI UK

When APD was introduced, the UK Government said the money raised would be used to offset environmentally damaging carbon emissions.

"There is no evidence to date of any environmental benefit, and it is ridiculous to think that holidaymakers travelling in premium seats on one of our charter flights will have to pay the same APD fee as those flying in first class on a scheduled flight," said a spokeswoman for Thomas Cook.

"When they should be doing all they can to lessen the strain on hard-working families, they are yet again making the consumer pay."