Ancient martial arts school under renovation

THUA THIEN-HUE — A VND1-billion (US$50,000) renovation project on the Xien Vo Temple in the ancient capital of Hue has been launched by the Hue Monuments Conservation Centre.

The project, which deals with the temple's main compartment and two wings, is expected to be completed by October.

The building, also called Vo Ban Temple, was used as a martial arts teaching facility for children of high-ranking mandarins under King Minh Mang (1820-40).

Recognised as a provincial historical and architectural vestige in 2006, the temple presents features of a ruong house – a typical wooden house that once dominated the city.

One-day photo contest to be held in capital

HA NOI — Photography enthusiasts over 18-years of age are invited to join a one-day photo contest in Ha Noi on Sunday.

Organised by the site www.xomnhiepanh.com – a website for people interested in photography – the contest will focus on the unique features of the city, such as sidewalk tea shops, street food stalls, local open-air markets and cyclos.

Contestants will have from 7am till 4pm to capture images before submitting their five best photographs to the judges.

The top three photos will be auctioned for charity. The first-prize winner will receive a digital camera.

Renovation of old community house complete

THANH HOA — A VND3 billion (US$150,000) renovation project on the Dong Mon Communal House in the central northern province of Thanh Hoa has been completed.

Built under the reign of King Le Trung Hung (1570-1623) in Vinh Long District, the temple is the province's oldest communal house and still has nearly all of its original features.

It is a five-compartment complex with sophisticated carving patterns on its pillars, demonstrating the typical architectural style of Vietnamese communal houses.

Charity gala event to help aid children in need

HA NOI — Leading artists will gather to perform at a charity gala on Thursday to raise money for children living at Ha Noi's Phuc Lam Preschool and Nursery.

The show, which is to take place at the capital's historic Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi hotel, is entitled Cay Lieu Khoc Cho Em (Willow Weeps for Me).

As a curtain raiser, Spanish fashion designer Chula will present her latest collection, which features the diamond jewellery of the Ha Noi-based London Diamond Gallery.

Vietnamese diva My Linh and virtuoso pianist Pho An My will share the stage with the hotel's resident French jazz diva Trebeka on the night. Award-winning actress Le Khanh will MC.

The event is organised by the the non-profit charity organisation, Willow Weeps for Me, founded by Trebeka.

High schools win top prizes for ‘Sweet Dream' performance

HA NOI — Phan Dinh Phung and Kim Lien High Schools won the first prizes in the final round of the Ha Noi High School English Festival 2010 on Sunday for their outstanding performance titled Sweet Dream.

Organised by the Ha Noi Department of Education and Training and Apollo English, the festival awarded three second prizes to Viet Duc High School for their performance of the English song Stand up for Love, Hoai Duc A High School for their eloquence, and Nguyen Sieu High School for their hip-hop play titled Apologise.

Prizes were also given to other schools joining the festival held at the Youth Theatre in Ngo Thi Nham Street. — VNS

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AusCham flood appeal for Central

AusCham in conjunction with Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Crown Relocations have started a collection appeal to help rebuild the lives of flood victims in the central region.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia has offered to process the transmission of all funds donated, free of charge, to the Red Cross in order to distribute the funds to those in need in the affected areas.

The AusCham appeal also invites people to donate food (rice, instant noodles, canned food and drinking water etc) and non-food (household items, toys, firstaid kits etc) by putting them in collection bins provided at seven specified locations – The Australian International School, ACG International School, British International School, Commonwealth Bank of Australia HCMC branch, ERC Institute Vietnam and The International School.

Crown Relocations distributed all the collection bins on Tuesday. They will also be responsible for shipping all the collected goods to the devastated areas.

For more information about donations contact AusCham at (08) 3911 0212 or visit www.auschamvn.org.

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AusCham flood appeal for Central

AusCham in conjunction with Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Crown Relocations have started a collection appeal to help rebuild the lives of flood victims in the central region.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia has offered to process the transmission of all funds donated, free of charge, to the Red Cross in order to distribute the funds to those in need in the affected areas.

The AusCham appeal also invites people to donate food (rice, instant noodles, canned food and drinking water etc) and non-food (household items, toys, firstaid kits etc) by putting them in collection bins provided at seven specified locations – The Australian International School, ACG International School, British International School, Commonwealth Bank of Australia HCMC branch, ERC Institute Vietnam and The International School.

Crown Relocations distributed all the collection bins on Tuesday. They will also be responsible for shipping all the collected goods to the devastated areas.

For more information about donations contact AusCham at (08) 3911 0212 or visit www.auschamvn.org.

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Students win video news quest

HA NOI — A student competition to produce a video news clip has been won by a team from Phan Chu Trinh Secondary School in Ha Noi.

Panasonic Viet Nam yesterday awarded the first prize of the Kid Witness News (KWN) Viet Nam 2010 national contest for the video clip entitled The circles.

The story was about recycling through creative use of milk cans to make useful items.

Phan Chu Trinh Secondary School will represent Viet Nam in the Kids Witness News regional contest in Singapore in December this year. The global contest will be held in Japan in July next year.

The contest introduced a recycling topic in an attractive and figurative reporting style with "firm audio-visual effects", the judges said.

Panasonic believed the contest would encourage pupils to develop their video making abilities, said Panasonic Viet Nam general manager Shinichi Wakita.

Best Script was won by a team from Giang Vo Secondary School with a video clip entitled My Ha Noi; Best Anchor went to a Lomonosov Secondary School team with Advantage and Disadvantage; Best Editing: Ly Thuong Kiet Secondary School with The Soul of Viet Nam's Bamboo ; Most Original: Thuc Nghiem Secondary School with An Unforgettable Trip.

A Phan Chu Trinh School team member said that through the video clip they showed the daily life and that pupils could also help protect the environment by recycling so-called useless items into useful products. — VNS

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Canadian school opens new campus in Binh Chanh

The new campus of the Canadian International School - Photo: Tuong Vi

The Canadian International School (CIS) opened on Saturday in Residential Quarter 13C, Phong Phu Commune, HCMC’s Binh Chanh District.

The school which has students from kindergarten to high school, is organized and operated under the Education and Training Department of Niagara in the Canadian province of Ontario. Lessons are taught in English by Canadian teachers alongside subjects such as Vietnamese language, history, geography, literature and civic education taught in Vietnamese for Vietnamese students. When native students attend classes for Vietnamese subjects, foreign students will study French.

The school has been running for a year in Nguyen Duc Canh Street, Phu My Hung, District 7 during the construction of the US$21 million campus in Binh Chanh District that also has a culture – sports center.

The center has a theater, a cinema, bowling alleys, two swimming pools and 15 vocational classrooms.

CIS has a private library which contains nearly 7,000 book titles in English, Vietnamese and French, and an online library system supplied by the U.S.-based Follet Corporation, three science labs and three computer rooms. Seventh graders will be equipped a laptop by the school.

After a year of operation, CIS has thirty classes from pre-school to 10th grade with students from 25 different countries. CIS has 41 native Canadian teachers and 19 Vietnamese teachers.

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EMW scholarship students excel at studies

East Meets West Foundation announced that several disadvantaged students who they have helped with their SPELL scholarship program have earned places this school year at special schools for gifted children.

One of the gifted students, 15-year-old Tran Van Anh, said he was certain that without SPELL to pay his school fees and provide books and tutoring support for the past five years he would have been forced to leave school long ago.

Tran from a poor family in rural Quang Ngai Province passed the rigorous exams to get into the gifted school and wants to continue his studies to be an engineer.

SPELL’s national coordinator Tung Hoang Ngoc said, “We really felt concerned when we saw Anh’s situation. His parents, who are farmers, both have chronic illnesses, and could barely afford daily meals and medical expenses.”

SPELL, EMW’s Scholarship Program to Enhance Literacy and Learning, supports students with school expenses and tutoring from grade three until they leave high school. The programs are operating in seven provinces in central Vietnam, supporting over 4,500 students and families who are among the country’s poorest and most vulnerable.

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Insurer donates school in Phu Yen Province

ACE Insurance Limited Company (ACE Life) on Monday cut the ribbon on Xuan Lam Primary school in the central province of Phu Yen after six months of construction.

The insurance company said it donated VND1.2 billion to develop the primary school in a mountainous area of Xuan Lam hamlet in Song Cau town in Phu Yen Province.

The original school had been completely destroyed during a hurricane last year so ACE Life decided to rebuild it.

The new building has six rooms, of which five are classrooms and one office. It has two floors, offering local pupils a safe facility for learning.

The insurance company, at the opening ceremony, presented the school with extra equipment such as drums, book shelves and concrete benches.

“Primary schools are very important since they provide the first education foundation for children, and we are happy to take part in the social cause to enable more children in disadvantaged localities to go to school,”  Lam Hai Tuan, chief executive officer of ACE Life Vietnam said.

He said there was a demand for good schools for young children at many places around the country as many had fallen into disrepair or been destroyed by floods or storms.

The money to build the school came from a special “Crossing Wave Fund”, part of which was contributed by staff and agents of ACE Life nationwide. Under the framework of the fund, the company has offered a total of 1,144 scholarships to needy students in many universities of Vietnam.

From 2010 onwards, besides the scholarships, ACE Life plans to use a large part of the fund to support the building or renovation of schools in poor provinces.

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High school contest to mark Ha Noi's 1,000th anniversary

HA NOI — Kieu Thuy Van of the Thach That high school won the special prize at the final round of the Ha Noi Millennium English Contest, jointly held by Apollo English and the Department of Education and Training of Ha Noi, sponsored by Nokia Ovi-Chat, which took place yesterday in Ha Noi.

Nguyen Thi Ngoc Tram of the Ha Noi-Amsterdam high school received first prize, Nguyen Thai Hoang of the Thang Long high school achieved second prize and Nguyen Hong Hanh and Nguyen Le Van Anh, both from the Son Tay high school, shared third prize.

Nguyen Huu Do, director of the Department of Education and Training of Ha Noi, said at the event, "The Ha Noi Millennium English Contest is one of the activities aimed at implementing the National Foreign Languages Programme 2020 and celebrating the 1,000th anniversary of the city."

The contest was an opportunity for Vietnamese pupils to explore Ha Noi's 1,000-year history and culture and improve their English communication skills. It also helps to encourage pupils' learning spirits, and thus widen their knowledge of both the English language and other cultural values, said Do

Khalid Muhmood, chairman of Apollo English, said after the final contest, "We are honoured to create a playground for pupils and it is also an opportunity for them to express their love of Ha Noi. We hope that there will be more educationally meaningful playgrounds like this for young people in Viet Nam."

Also in the final round, another first prize was presented to the Nguyen Hue high school for best musical performance to celebrate the 1,000-year old Ha Noi, among the 10 schools which had the largest number of candidates in the first round.

This contest was officially launched in May and has attracted nearly 2,000 students from more than 100 high schools in Ha Noi. — VNS

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