The Ministry of Information and Communications has summoned an American teacher who is now living in Hanoi for a bad-taste joke on Facebook about Vietnam’s late hero General Vo Nguyen Giap. The letter from the Radio, Television and Electronic Information Department requested Daniel Hauer to attend the department on the morning of January 30 to explain his comment’s reference to General Vo Nguyen Giap. Earlier, after the U23 team’s victory against Qatar in the 2018 AFC U23 Championship semifinal, Hauer commented in a Facebook group on Thursday where a member said that he would get a tattoo of the Vietnam flag on his chest if his post got over 1,000 likes and Vietnam’s football team won Uzbekistan in the final match. Daniel Hauer and his comment related to General Vo Nguyen Giap on Facebook Hauer’s comment mocked the original post about the tattoo and ironically suggested that was nothing as he had a piercing of his penis that included a stud shaped like the head of General Vo Nguyen Giap, which led to strong public outrage. After that, he posted a video, claiming that that was just a joke and did not intend to insult Vietnam and General Vo Nguyen Giap. He did not know that including General Giap’s name in the joke would be such a serious offence. After his public apology video, he complained in a private Facebook group that those people refusing to accept his apology and send him death threats were ‘crazy nationalists.’ However, many have… [Read full story]
As the Vietnamese economy continues to grow rapidly, it has created a high demand for foreign workers, particularly for English language teachers. It is estimated that there are more than 74,000 foreigners working in Vietnam, but the figure may be much higher if it includes the number of foreigners who stay in Vietnam on tourist visas. In large cities such as Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, there are more than 50 English language centers which recruit foreigners language teachers. It is increasingly common to see advertisements for English language teachers in newspapers Better living standards often come with a…... [read more]
Police have apprehended a foreign teacher of English for committing lewd acts against many teenage boys in Hanoi, local media reported. Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper said. The Hanoi People’s Procuracy had approved the detention warrant for Benderman. Benderman had stayed in a rented house on Au Co Street, Tay Ho District. Those falling victim to the foreigner are teenage boys aged 13-15, hailing from Hanoi’s vicinities such as Hai Phong City and Hai Duong Province, as well as Hung Yen Province, Nam Dinh Province, and Thai Binh Province. These teens came to the capital to earn money by selling…... [read more]
The new circular and decree issued by Vietnamese authorities in order to improve the management of foreign workers in Vietnam have caused troubles to many foreign teachers who are unable to meet all the conditions of the regulations. Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs issued Circular 03/2014, which was released to guide the implementation of Decree No. 102/2013/ND-CP dated September 5, 2013 of the government that focuses on some articles of the labor code on foreign workers in Vietnam. Under the circular, foreigners who are to be recruited as teachers must follow the same regulations applied for experts,…... [read more]
A court in Ho Chi Minh City has accepted a lawsuit filed by five foreign teachers against a Singaporean-owned education company for terminating their labor contracts. The teachers are each suing Raffles International Vocational Training Ltd., Co. (Raffles Vietnam) for between VND180 million and over VND200 million (US$8,600-9,500) in unpaid salaries. According to the suit, between March 5 and April 9 of this year Raffles Vietnam unilaterally terminated its contracts with teachers Seidel Franziska and Nicole Mandy Baudisch (German), Alfredo De La Casa Ayuso (UK), Joshe Lane Flaten (US) and Philippe Daniel Neyroud (Switzerland). The company claimed that its decision…... [read more]
VietNamNet Bridge - Foreign language centers have been mushrooming in Vietnam, especially in big cities like Hanoi or HCM City. However, despite the the number of foreign language centers, foreign languages remain a nightmare for Vietnamese students. Foreign languages are barriers? A mini survey conducted by VietNamNet's reporters on 300 students from six high schools and universities in Hanoi, Da Nang and HCM City in November 2010 showed that most of student are "afraid of learning foreign languages". 263 polled students said that foreign language exams are always their biggest fear in every exam season. Analysts say that most students…... [read more]
