Cross-cultural relationships | Look At Vietnam

Cross-cultural relationships 

July 10, 2012

 
A young couple pose for their wedding photo in Da Nang. Most modern Vietnamese weddings incorporate both Western and Vietnamese traditions. Photo: AFP
Relationships between men and women are complex and problematic under the best of circumstances, and when you mix cultures as different as Western and Asian it can really get muddled.
And the fact that Vietnam is still coming out of a long period of difficult circumstances, both socially and economically, further contributes to the problem.
This can be seen even in relationship situations between Vietnamese couples. For example; young women are increasingly expressing a reluctance to follow the marital patterns of their mothers and grandmothers. It used to be that a girl who was unmarried after she passed into her mid-twenties was considered too old to attract a husband and was the object of sympathy among her family and peers. No more! Girls are delaying marriage into their thirties while they pursue education and careers, and some seem not to care if they never get married if a suitable mate has not put in an appearance.
Like all cultures, Vietnam has its social levels and levels of educational attainment. Depending on the background of the expatriate this may or may not be important. At the risk of sounding snobbish, for me it was. My first Vietnamese romance was with a young woman who was half my age, had no education and spoke no English. But she was lovely and promised to learn English, so things became serious and we talked of marriage. I envisioned making a brief visit to my former town and watch the envy of my aging friends with their equally aged wives! Foolish me!
Over time it became obvious that she was not very serious about English, saw me as a way out of relatively modest circumstances and we had absolutely nothing to talk about when we did have the benefit of someone to translate… in other words there was no common ground for us to meet on. In addition, I discovered that she had threatened a friend of hers that was helping her by translating for us, with physical violence, for being “too attentive to me” (a fallacy!) Not a young lady of good character, it would appear. After giving it a reasonable effort, I bade her goodbye!
I subsequently met a number of very lovely women of varied ages but none of them could speak much English, although several were engaged in a serious effort before I met them. I had determined that being married to someone with whom you cannot have a conversation is not very appealing, at least to me, and my feeble efforts at learning Vietnamese were coming to naught.

more info--->>>> Cross-cultural relationships  | Look At Vietnam

Viet Nam to get tough on English

June 16, 2012

LookAtVietnam – Education and training departments in many provinces and cities have drawn up plans to improve the quality of local English teachers through further training after discovering that most achieved very low scores in international English tests.

Students study English at Cao Loc Secondary School in Lang Son Province. (Photo: VNS)

The Ministry of Education and Training’s National Foreign Language Project requires, by 2020, primary and junior high school teachers of English to score at least 525 in the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) or 5.5 on the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).
Teachers at high school and higher must achieve 575 or 6.5.
Surveys in many provinces and cities have found that few achieve these scores.
In southern An Giang Province, for instance, out of 1,500 English teachers at all levels, only 165 managed to achieve them.
In neighbouring Tien Giang Province, only 10 per cent out of more than 900 did.
In HCM City, it is just 171 of 1,100.
Nguyen Ngoc Hung, the project manager, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that the ministry conducted the surveys in 30 provinces and cities. On average, only 97 per cent of high school teachers and 93 per cent of primary and junior high school teachers meet the ministry’s standards, he said, explaining teachers’ listening and speaking skills were found to be very low.
The ministry has been surveying the 34 remaining provinces and cities, he said.
Poor training at pedagogical universities is to blame, according to local education and training departments.
Nguyen Ngoc Vu, head of the HCM City University of Education’s Foreign Language Faculty, said besides there was no opportunity for teachers to practise English listening and speaking skills because school curriculums focus just on grammar and vocabulary.
Van Cong Sang, head of the HCM City Department of Education and Training’s staff office, said training courses were set to start for English teachers who had failed to meet the ministry’s benchmarks.
The department would give priority to recruiting teachers who achieve high scores in international English tests from 2012-13, he added.
Vinh Phuc and Quang Ninh Provinces and Ha Noi in the north said they would send English teachers for training in the Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore.
Hung said the ministry has completed assessment of a pilot training programme for primary school English teachers at pedagogy universities, and it would be introduced at all teacher training schools next academic year.
It has also instructed 18 universities and colleges to train An selected primary school teachers in English so that they can go back and teach the language, he said.
It provided training in English for 2,500 primary school teachers last year and will do so for another 2,500 this year to serve the National Foreign Language Project.
Besides, 2,800 English teachers at junior high schools and 400 others at high schools for gifted students will receive training this year as part of the project.
VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Nation to assess English teachers | Look At Vietnam

Nation to assess English teachers

May 31, 2012

LookAtVietnam – Viet Nam was looking to implement a comprehensive assessment of graduates from English teaching colleges in an effort to improve the quality of English teachers, said Nguyen Ngoc Hung, manager of the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) ’s National Foreign Languages 2020 Project.

The results of the assessment would be announced publicly to all universities and colleges nationwide, according to Hung.
Starting this summer, graduates from the English teaching departments at the University of Foreign Languages and Viet Nam National University would be tested on whether they have achieved at least the B2 level, which is equivalent to a 5-6 score with the International English Language Testing System (IELTS).
Speaking at yesterday’s conference on internationalisation and English capacity building co-organised by MoET and the British Council, Hung stressed that the lack of good English teachers and effective teaching methods had produced students who “failed to communicate in English for any useful purpose”, even after nine years of studying in schools and colleges.
“For years, we have put an over-emphasis on whether English teachers have the right diploma or certificate, not on their actual listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills,” he said.
The project, started in 2008, aims for most Vietnamese students graduating from secondary, vocational schools, college and universities to be able to use a foreign language confidently.
Officials estimate about 20 million students would benefit from the project. It would also develop new ICT applications in education and make efforts to digitalise textbooks. In three years, it has trained 2,500 English teachers at elementary level, according to Hung.
Professor Stephen Bax, from the University of Bedfordshire’s Centre for Research in English Language Learning and Assessment, said the centre and the British Council had recently completed a study to assess staff levels of English at the University of Thai Nguyen and Hai Phong College for Tourism and Services.
According to Bax, the study, which consisted of staff self-assessment, an online test and site visits to observe classes, suggested that pronunciation remained an area of weakness; some students were left behind due to overcrowded classrooms; and better teaching methods such as how the teachers question the students or how to mark reading texts were needed.
VietNamNet/Viet Nam News

Less common foreign languages now attract more learners | Look At Vietnam

Less common foreign languages now attract more learners

April 28, 2012

LookAtVietnam – Following the movement of learning English, French and
Chinese, Vietnam now witnesses the movement of learning less common foreign
languages, because the language skills could be an advantage for Vietnamese to
look for jobs.

The 10 scholarships for the summer training courses in Thailand offered every
year are the main reason that prompted Nguyen Kim Phuong, a student of the
German language faculty of the Hanoi University, to start learning Thai
language.
Phuong complained that she meets so many difficulties with the learning. The
textbooks used for teaching and learning are just photocopied versions, while
reference books and dictionaries could not be found at libraries and bookstores.
As very few people are learning Thai, Phuong cannot find anyone to consult with
every time when she has problems with the learning.
She said she sometimes feels disappointed with the learning and intends to give
up the hard work.
Vu Hoang Quan, a Spanish Language Faculty’s student of the Hanoi University, is
learning Italian language, because he loves Italian football, Italian culture.
Quan believes that he has aptitude for foreign languages, but he admits that he
usually mistakes Spanish for Italian words.
When learning Italian, Quan also meets a lot of big challenges. Lacking
materials and the environment to practice skills are the two biggest problems.
Having the Latin letter system, but the complexity of Portuguese grammar has
made many young learners puzzled.
Though facing so many difficulties, young people believe that they would have
more opportunities to find good jobs, if they have fluent foreign language
skills. Therefore, a lot of students now rush to enroll in less common foreign
language faculties. Especially, no high requirements have been set up for the
students to the faculties, while the learning of the foreign language has been
encouraged.
The Hanoi University, the biggest foreign language school in Vietnam, enrolls
students for 10 foreign language faculties. Students need to have 21 marks from
the university entrance exams at least to be able to obtain a seat at the
faculties. Meanwhile, the University of Foreign Languages, an arm of the Hanoi
National University, requires 22 marks.
Foreign language schools in Vietnam all have opened their doors widely to the
learners of less common foreign languages. However, local newspapers still have
quoted head hunting companies as saying that the workers who can speak the
foreign languages fluently are seriously lacking in all business fields.
According to the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism VNAT, by May 2011,
Vietnam had had 5272 international tour guides having practice cards. Of this
amount, only 171 tour guides speaking less common languages, including Spanish,
Thai, Italian, Lao, Bulgarian, Indonesian, Romanian and Hungarian.
Tran Hai Yen, the lecturer of the Portuguese Language Faculty of the Hanoi
University, has affirmed that those, who can speak Portuguese, now have the
chances to find good jobs. The military telecom company Viettel, for example, is
expanding its business to Mozambique, therefore, it needs the staff who can
speak Portuguese.
Viettel regularly asks the school to introduce the Portuguese speakers to the
company. Therefore, the school is considering increasing the number of students
to the faculty by 20 students this year.
Pham Van Kim, MA, from the Hanoi National University, has affirmed that in the
context of the global integration, students would have more opportunities to get
jobs if they have foreign language skills. Kim said that Arab language skills
would be a big advantage for the students who want to work for state agencies
such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Public Security or
Ministry of National Defense.
Source: Tien phong

VietNamNet - Vietnam issues calendar to commemorate Steve Jobs | Vietnam issues calendar to commemorate Steve Jobs

Vietnam issues calendar to commemorate Steve Jobs

VietNamNet Bridge – A local book company has published a New Year Calendar 2012, entitled “Be hungry – Be foolish,” a famous statement by Steve Jobs, in order to commemorate this talent.

The calendar includes 14 selected pictures which feature the most memorable moments in the life of Steve Jobs. Each picture goes with a famous statement by Jobs, in English and Vietnamese.

The 14th page of the calendar features Jobs’ life since 1976, with 56 small pictures.

The cover.





"Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have a faith in people, that they're basically
good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them".





"Bottom line is, I didn't return to Apple to make a fortune. I've been very lucky in my life
and already have one. When I was 25, my net worth was $100 million or so. I decided
then that I wasn't going to let it ruin my life. There's no way you could ever spend it all,
and I don't view wealth as something that validates my intelligence".






"Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith".





"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by
dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise
of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have
the courage to follow your heart and intuition".











"When you're a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you're not going to use a piece
of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it.
You'll know it's there, so you're going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back".






"I'm as proud of what we don't do as I am of what we do".










"Again, you can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.
So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust
in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never
let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life".





"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to
help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations,
all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away
in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important".





No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there.
And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that
is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life.
It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new".





"Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn't matter to me. Going to bed at night
saying we've done something wonderful, that's what matters to me".





Be hungry – Be foolish.

The callendar is now available at bookstores in Vietnam, priced VND60,000 (around $3).

Many readers have emailed VietNamNet Bridge to ask how to buy this product. At this present, it is only available in Vietnam. You should contact the publishers for further information.

First News
11H Nguyen Thi Minh Khai, District 1, HCM City
Tel: (08) 38227979, Fax: (08) 38224560
Email: triviet@firstnews.com.vn - right@firstnews.com.vn

Tre Publishing House
161B Ly Chinh Thang, Ward 7, District 3, HCM City
Tel: (84.8) 39316289 - 39316211 - 39317849
Fax: (84.8) 38437450
Email: nxbtre@hcm.vnn.vn
Website: www.nxbtre.com.vn

Hoa Binh



VietNamNet - Vietnam issues calendar to commemorate Steve Jobs | Vietnam issues calendar to commemorate Steve Jobs

English teachers needed Vietnam

24,000 English teachers needed for primary schools

April 12, 2011 about Education, News

Vietnam needs 24,000 teachers of English for primary schools by 2018 under a proposal to start teaching the language to pupils from third grade onwards, Nguyen Ngoc Hung, an education official, said at Tuesday’s conference on teaching English at primary education level in Ho Chi Minh City.

The country expects all of its 3rd graders to have been taught English by 2020, as per the proposal by the Ministry of Education and Training.
Pedagogical junior colleges are currently not offering courses training students to become English teachers at primary education level.
Hung admitted this is a tricky situation but the country could think of impromptu solutions like recruiting graduates majoring in English or encouraging university pedagogic sophomores who love to become high school teachers to switch to the new major.
A shortage of teachers of English for this level is the biggest obstacle to the proposal’s target, conceded Le Tien Thanh, director of the Ministry’s Department of Primary Education.
Remuneration packages should also be considered to retain primary schools’ current teachers, he noted.
The proposal is now piloted at 72 primary schools where English is a compulsory subject to 20 percent of the 3rd-graders in the 2010-2011 academic year.

English vital for tour-bus drivers

The tourist industry has asked the Ministry of Transport to modify some the suggestions the ministry recently made in a draft to update and improve the quality of transport services for visitors.

The new rules require tourism buses to have labels issued by the Ministry of Transport.
In the draft, the ministry suggested that drivers have a simple command of English and, where necessary, have some knowledge of other languages spoken by the three to four million foreigners who flock to Viet Nam each year.

It also suggested that business licences for tourist cars and vans last for 15 years. However, the tourist industry said it would prefer 10 years.

The draft suggests tourist cars be properly labelled with signs issued by the ministry. This has brought support from transport companies.

Director of the Department of Travel under the Viet Nam Administration of Tourism, Vu The Binh, said the difficulty was that in Ha Noi and HCM City, vehicles were often kept out of city centres in rush hours. However, this was where foreign tourists usually stayed.

Nguyen Thi Thu Hien, vice head of the Transport Unit of the Department of Road Transport, said the ministry would further consider the regulation.

Binh said labels for tourist vans would be issued within a week. The vice general director of the ABC Transport Group, Ngo Phuong Thinh, said this would be a good move.

"The provision of tourism labels will help companies become more trusted and more professional in the eyes of foreign tourists," she said. "However, there must be a clear issuing process so that companies can get these labels in the shortest time."

Vice general director of the Mai Linh Corporation, a nationwide transport group, Dinh Phuong Thuy, agreed, adding that companies would not stop business to wait for a label.

Many disagreed with the draft circular’s suggestion that tourist cars should be licensed for 15 years from production date.

"The duration should be only 10 years. For my company, cars that have been used for four to five years must be liquidated because many tourists refuse to travel in such cars," said Dinh Phuong Thuy.

Caroline Bruckler, a German tourist in Ha Noi, said she always wanted to travel in a new and safe car. "I think most people would think the same," she said.

Thuy also suggested the draft circulation also cover regulations on seat-belts for tourism vans, since this was a very important matter with foreign tourists.

Language certificate

The draft circular requires drivers of tourism vans to have an A-level, foreign-language certificate and another certificate for first-aid. Drivers of cars with more than 45 seats, will have to have a certificate stating they are skilled at keeping itineraries and using an itinerary observation device.

Tran Anh Son, vice director of Tan Son Nhat Airport Service Company, said a foreign language should not be compulsory, since cars with 35 seats or more always carried tour guides who usually spoke a foreign language.

"We should only encourage drivers of cars of 16 seats or below to have a foreign language certificate," he said.

Vice director of Ha Noi’s Department of Culture, Information and Tourism, Nguyen Tien Dung, agreed, saying language skills would take time for drivers to acquire, thus creating opportunities for makers of fake certificates.

Deputy Minister of Culture, Information and Tourism, Tran Chien Thang said the ministry would accept opinions on the draft circular until it comes into effect on July 1.

Vietnam’s English center strikes training deal with US university

The Vietnam USA Society-English Training Service Center (VUS-ETSC) signed a teacher training agreement with the City University of New York in Ho Chi Minh City early this week.
Under the agreement signed on Wednesday, the US university (CUNY) will employ and train teachers for the center, a nongovernmental organization affiliated with the Vietnam USA Society.
It will also help the center hold educational conferences and establish the VUS-CUNY Scholarship Fund, which aims to improve the student community’s English skills.
Since 2004, VUS-ETSC has cooperated with Thanh Nien in granting annual English scholarships worth more than VND1 billion (US$58,270) each year