Big news for British Council Vietnam and expect much more once we’ve finalised details of our official opening event but we’re very proud to announce a new teaching centre at Elite High School Le Quy Don in Ho Chi Minh City.

The best news of all is that this makes our high quality courses accessible to even more young learners and young adults in HCMC.

Classes start on 8 February for Young Learners with courses for Young Adults starting 15 March. Testing is already underway, having started on the weekend of 7-8 of January with nearly 200 excited 7-15 year old students undergoing language assessment.  Attendees also enjoyed a great range of arts and craft activities in celebration of the upcoming Year of the Dragon.

For more information on term dates, class times and how to book a language assessment test, please contact customers services on (08) 3823 2862.
 

In the meantime take a look around lovely Le Quy Don via our pictures here or watch a slideshow including some shots from last weekend.

“I am talented” – a nation-wide game-show for Vietnamese youth showcasing personal development, knowledge, creativity and talent has just been launched with challenging competitions from the first phases.

The programme is co-organised by The British Council, VTV6 and VietBa media, with over 1.5 billion VND prizes including studying in the UK offered by Ruthin school and Bellerbys college.

The programme is planned to be broadcast on VTV6 from March 2012.

Our January term in Hanoi started on 7 January 2012. Six lucky  students have received prizes of 25% to 100% course fee discount vouchers.

We are still registering students so opportunities to win prizes are still available if you register before 3 February 2012.  Each registrant will also receive a desk calendar. 

Please contact our Customer Services Staff on (04) 3728 1922 for a placement test!

University of the Arts London (UAL) brings together six of the world’s most prominent colleges for the study of art, design, fashion, communications and performing arts. Mr Colin Kerrigan, Deputy Director of the International Centre at UAL, will be holding a presentation on the colleges and current student work, followed by a workshop for creative thinkers entitled ‘A Human Sanctuary in the Heart of the City’ on 13 February in Hanoi and on 15 February in Ho Chi Minh City . Students inteview will be carried out on the next day in both cities. 

Brooke House College will deliver presentations in Hanoi on 14 February in Hanoi and on 17 February in Ho Chi Minh City.

Please contact us in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City to register for these events.

All good things must come to an end even “UK in my eyes”. This competition is approaching its destination with many entries from Vietnamese students studying in the UK and from UK alumni. After 127 days since the launch, we have received 60 entries, in which there were 46 articles and 14 video clips. 
 

The competition has successfully met its target of being a bridge between the community of Vietnamese students in the UK and young people in Vietnam. Morever, it acts as a tourist guide providing readers lots of information on different parts of the UK and its unique culture.

Visit “UK in my eyes” to read all the entries and vote for your favourite! 

In December, we were glad to welcome our Head of Business Development, Creative Industries from British Council Thailand, Simon Farley. During this visit, with his rich experiences and expertise in arts business development in UK, Simon was invited to be guest speaker for a range of workshops organised by different organisations on film, cultural management and cinema development. 
 

Find out more about these events.

The British Council Connecting Classrooms Project aims to build sustainable school partnerships, which will support the aims of national education systems to educate young people as global citizens and broaden the international view of young people.

Vietnam has taken part in the project since the beginning and has partnered with UK, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia and Taiwan. In December 2011, 49 principals, teachers, students from Taiwan visited Ho Chi Minh City to meet with teachers and students in Vietnam. 

Have a look at our video of this cultural exchange event.

Last week the London 2012 flag was hoisted over the British Ambassador’s residence in Hanoi to mark 200 days to go till the Olympics.

Also in attendance, alongside British Ambassador to Vietnam Dr Antony Stokes was Vice Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Mr Ho Anh Tuan and representatives from the National Olympics Committee, and Vietnamese athletes who are likely take part in the games.

For more information click here or to see pictures from the event go here.

Our offices in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City will be closed for Tet holiday as follows: 
 

Teaching Centre: Thursday 19 January to Sunday 29 January 2012 inclusive.

Office: from Saturday 21 January to Sunday 29 January 2012 inclusive. 

Speak and spell        

Have you seen our new "Speak and spell" section? With the help of our new "Super Space Spies", Sam and Pam, children can listen and watch songs in the sounds section, the phonics stories for very young learners in the speak section and the spelling stories in the spell section. Then they can practise their spelling in the tricky words section with online games and downloadable spelling tests.

Watch your child become a super speller!

Featured teacher
 

Name: Jennifer Hierlihy

Nationality: Canadian

I am based in: Hanoi

Hobbies: Reading, dancing, cooking, playing guitar and singing, learning Japanese

What I love about working in Vietnam: The students are really great! They have a lot of motivation to learn English and are very enthusiastic. It’s a lot of fun teaching Vietnamese children especially. We do lots of interesting activities, and the students always try their best. It makes my job really fun!

My top tip for learning English: Practice practice practice every day! If you know someone else who speaks English, talk to them in English whenever you can. It’s also a good idea to read, watch TV or listen to music in English, too.

My CV in a sentence: I've been teaching English for almost five years in Korea, Japan and Vietnam. I have been in Vietnam since April 2011. I lived in Japan for the longest time, more than 2 and a half years. That’s why I like speaking Japanese!

Find out about forthcoming activities, events, competition deadlines and more at the British Council - visit www.britishcouncil.org/vietnam