VietNamNet Bridge – While state employees are jealous of teachers’ long holiday in summer, a lot of teachers are afraid of the holiday because they cannot earn money in summer.
While the colleagues all over the country are spending their time to travel and relax, a lot of teachers are hurrying to look for part time jobs to earn some money which can help them live from hand to mouth in summer.

The teachers in Vietnam can be divided into two groups – the ones working as regular members of the personnel, who receive monthly salaries from the State budget, and the ones working under labor contracts signed with the schools.

Of the latter group’s teachers, the ones who have long term labor contracts with schools are considered lucky workers, because they can get monthly pay from the provincial budget. Meanwhile, the teachers working under short term labor contracts only receive modest salaries paid by schools whose main income comes from tuitions.

As for the teachers, summer holiday means no-money time, because when students stay at home, teachers become temporary unemployed.

The three teachers of the Le Mao Primary School in Nghe An provi ... Xem thêm

VietNamNet Bridge – Sending kids to overseas summer camps is believed to be the effective training courses which help improve their knowledge. However, in fact, learning is just a part of the trips.

Going abroad to attend summer camps in summer has become in fashion among well off families in big cities like Hanoi and HCM City. Urban parents all want their children to learn English well, because the foreign language skill is believed to be a big advantage when applying for jobs. Meanwhile, going abroad and communicate with native speakers proves to be the most effective way of learning English.

A lot of overseas courses have been organized by big English centers in Vietnam, such as ILA, Appolo, and the British Council.

Traveling is the main goal of trips

Hong Ha, a parent in Hanoi, said she has got confused with the information about summer courses.

"I cannot imagine that attending overseas training courses is so favored. However, the English centers do not provide detailed information about the advantages of the programs. Therefore, I have made a decision just after considering the service fee and the trip schedule,” she said.

M. Truong, an 8th grader in HCM City, also said that the courses are really not the magic wands which can help improve English skills immediately.

"Most of t ... Xem thêm

So everyone has heard about the German guy running through traffic in some say a misguided act of heroism. I, like a lot of readers, have read the coverage and the consequent opinion pieces from, well, everyone it seems. I'm not about to rehash an already overdone news piece, but the incident itself raised a wider point of debate for me, the case of identity here in Vietnam.

Many of the pointed comments about this man are based on his nationality, which struck home for me after living here for nearly 3 years. I know that for some people I will be labeled like George as a "Foreigner". It's alienating, stark and vague. Foreigner from where? The spirit of "us and them" will always be alive and well with the use of such terminology. "Foreigner decides to enforce traffic rules", how dare a foreigner take matters into his own hands! Because if a Vietnamese person had done the same thing, it would have been A-OK? I think not.

It raises a whole gamut of questions and doubts for me about my existence here in Vietnam. I, as well as many other expats over here have worked, volunteered, made friends and have settled down into life here. We aren't living out of suitcases and mouthing XIN CHAO with a vacant look on our faces. We are actively participating in life only to be branded a "foreigner".

Many were outraged that a foreigner dared to get involved in enforc ... Xem thêm

Vietnam has seen an alarming increase in cases of child sexual abuse in recent years, with some victims as young as six years old.
At a recent conference on child abuse in Hanoi, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA) reports that most sexual abuse offenders are acquainted with their victims, either as 'friends' of the family, babysitters or neighbors. Only in a small number of cases are they complete strangers.

In some shocking cases that have caused much outrage in the public, parental incest occurs where the father or stepfather assaults the victim.

Alcohol has been identified as one of the contributing factors to the crime, as most offenders have been known to make the assault under the influence of alcohol.

The number of child sexual abuse across the nation has increased considerably from 200 in 2005 to 1,427, a sevenfold increase, in 2008, according to the MOLISA report.

In 2010, the number of victims dropped to about 1,000 but the actual figure is believed to be higher as many victims failed to report the crime to the authority due to a sense of shame, family dishonor, social ... Xem thêm

Local model Thai Ha, who has just been fined VND5 million for exposing most of her breasts in a skimpy outfit in an advertising event, continues to draw public criticism when she appears at other public events in revealing clothes.

Responding to the worry that light penalties cannot effectively deter artists from showing off their skin but only give them more publicity, Vo Trong Nam, vice director of Ho Chi Minh City’s Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism had a talk with Tuoi Tre Newspaper.

When model Thai Ha bared her breasts and was slapped with a penalty, what regulation is the penalty based on?

The incident happened when Thai Ha attended a promotional event for a men’s deodorant product last month. Our decision to fine her and the penalty amount were based on the Decree No. 75/2010/ND-CP on sanctioning cultural activity violations.

How did the department know about the incident?

In the case of Thai Ha, we got the information from online news websites and later worked with the inspection division to handle it.

So if you hadn’t read about the incident on the Internet, Thai Ha’s and similar cases would be overlooked?

That’s normally the case. HCMC is a crowded and complicated environment. There are so many artists and show biz companies operating here tha ... Xem thêm

Local pop singer Cao Thai has recently received a VND4.5million (US$225) fine, becoming the first performer to be fined for lip-syncing a performance, in accordance with the government’s Decree No.75 on sanctioning art performance violators.
At the show in Ho Chi Minh City titled "Qua Tang Tinh Yeu” (The Gift of Love), which was broadcast live on VTV9 on June 23, the singer gave an emotional performance of the song "Anh Sai Roi” (I Was Wrong) with tears on his face. However, there was a public outcry after people found out that Son was lip-syncing during that performance.

The show’s organizers and the performers were later invited to the city Department of Culture, Sport and Tourism to explain the incident. Vo Trong Nam, head of the department, said the singer admitted that his performance was not real singing at the meeting.

"Actually, the lip-syncing was due to a technical problem that went beyond my control. Still, I violated the law and it’s obvious that I have to be fined. This is a precious lesson for me. I’ve never meant to lip-sync on stage and definitely will not let this thing happen again,” Son said.

According to Nam, if the singer repeats the act, he will be sanctioned up to VND6 million and be banned from performing.

Nhac Xanh (Green Music), the show’s organizer, als ... Xem thêm