Let's Study English :)

One step at a time

englishstudyforvms — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 16:46:58 +0000

We all know the story of “Thanh Giong”. It was one of my favorite when I was a kid, and still one of my favorite now. The messages it delivers however, changes with time and with me growing up.

For me, it has two main messages, one of which we should keep at heart, and the other, forget. We should keep at heart that when anything happens to our country even a child can stand up and help, so do we. It shows our strength at one. What we should forget, is the other message, that a kid can grow up in just one day, go to war and win it. It delivers the wrong message, and make us think that we don’t need to train/study hard for most days; When the time comes we just need to focus, power up, then with some miracle and the genius we are within ourselves we’ll be able to tackle any obstacle (with the concrete example of studying English and passing the TOEFL or IELT test … ) Well, forget it. One needs to learn and practice from day-to-day. Learning is most of the time not very entertaining, even boring, but without it you’ll never get to your goal of a chance to study abroad.

So, today, let us enjoy an inspiring song by Jordin Sparks, One Step At A Time.

And One Step At A Time, win your English test

Tragedy in Japan

englishstudyforvms — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 04:37:58 +0000

I heard about it, but not only when my college friend post a note on facebook about his experience with the earthquake, as well as another friend update her status about how their lives have been affected, it hits me and feels so real…

And as if the largest recorded earthquake followed by a tsunami is not enough for them, now they are facing their worst nuclear accident, according to NY Times and VOA News. They are struggling to find food on empty shelves at the grocery stores, their houses and villages destroyed. International students and officers (like my friends) in Japan of course have the experience of their life.

Pray for Japan. And for my friends, I wish them well.

What’s your Six-Word Memoirs

englishstudyforvms — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 02:51:33 +0000

So I came across my friend’s link on facebook: What’s Your Six-Word Love Story?, which is a part of ”What’s your Six-Word Memoirs” project.

Telling your story in six words is actually not easy. You have to get to the core of it, and choose words wisely. Both from the NY Times blog and the original Six-Word website you’ll find hilarious memoirs, serious memoirs, just western-style life memoirs (some of them are not suitable for U18!).

Right now, mine would be something like “Just do it. Till the end.”

What’s your Six-Word Memoir?

Failure

englishstudyforvms — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 04:08:02 +0000

It’s the new year and everyone wants to talk success. However, no matter how much we wanted, last year ended with something we fail.

Do you know that there are many quotes about failure? They are inspiring and mainly tell us to never give up. Here are some of them:

“The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure.” – Sven Goran Eriksson

“The only real failure in life is the failure to try.”

“There are no failures – just experiences and your reaction to them.” – Tom Kraus

“There are no secret to success. It is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell

“Life’s real failure is when you do not realize how close you were to success when you gave up.”

“Try and fail, but don’t fail to try.” – Stephen Kaggwa

And you can find similar ones at many sites about quotations, one of which is http://thinkexist.com/quotations/

So, it’s time to stand up and continue trying, to a better day

VEF Fellowship Application Forms OPENED

englishstudyforvms — Sat, 12 Feb 2011 03:34:16 +0000

Dear all,

I have just received this email and would like to share it with you. If you are interested in please apply for this scholarship, it will be a great learning experience

**********************************************

Dear friends,

Warm greetings and best wishes for a prosperous New Year from all of us at the Vietnam Education Foundation (VEF)!

We are pleased to inform you that we have opened the online application forms for the VEF Fellowship Program, Process B for Cohort 2011 and Process A for Cohort 2012. Please visit our website at www.vef.gov to access these application forms. Here below are the application timelines of the two processes.

1. Fellowship Program, Cohort 2011, Process B:

Application Timeline

From 8:00 am, February 10, 2011 to
8:00 am March 10, 2011 (Vietnam Time)

1. Fellowship Program, Cohort 2012, Process A:

Application Timeline

From 8:00 am, February 10, 2011 to
8:00 am April 10, 2011 (Vietnam Time)

Please help pass this email on to your friends, colleagues or others who may be interested in the VEF Fellowship Program.
Thank you for your continued support to VEF in this past year. Wish you and your family Happiness, Health, Luck and Prosperity in the Year of the Cat. Chúc Mừng Năm Mới!

Best regards,
The VEF Team
—————————————————————————————————————————

Các bạn thân mến,
Xin được gửi tới các bạn lời chào nồng nhiệt và lời chúc tốt đẹp nhất cho một năm mới thịnh vượng từ Quỹ Giáo dục Việt Nam (VEF)!

Chúng tôi xin vui mừng thông báo về việc hồ sơ đăng ký trực tuyến của Chương trình Học bổng VEF, Quy trình B, năm học 2011 và Quy trình A, năm học 2012 đã được mở. Xin vui lòng ghé thăm trang web của VEF tại địa chỉ www.vef.gov để truy cập hồ sơ đăng ký trực tuyến của hai quy trình này. Dưới đây là thời hạn nộp hồ sơ của cả hai quy trình.

1. Chương trình Học bổng, Năm học 2011, Quy trình B:

Thời hạn nộp hồ sơ

Từ 8:00 sáng, ngày 10 tháng 2 năm 2011
đến 8:00 sáng ngày 10 tháng 3 năm 2011
(Theo giờ Việt Nam)

1. Chương trình Học bổng, Năm học 2012, Quy trình A:

Thời hạn nộp hồ sơ

Từ 8:00 sáng, ngày 10 tháng 2 năm 2011
đến 8:00 sáng ngày 10 tháng 4 năm 2011
(Theo giờ Việt Nam)

Xin hãy chuyển email này đến bạn bè, đồng nghiệp và những ai quan tâm tới Chương trình Học bổng VEF.

Chúng tôi chân thành cảm ơn sự giúp đỡ của các bạn trong năm qua. Một lần nữa, xin được gửi lời chúc Hạnh Phúc, Sức Khỏe, May Mắn và Thịnh Vượng trong năm Tân Mão tới tất cả các bạn và gia đình!

Trân trọng,
Nhóm thực hiện chương trình VEF

And Have A Happy New Year

englishstudyforvms — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 05:32:46 +0000

It is only a few days until the new year – year of the Cat. I bet you guys are now busy cleaning up your house, decorating, cooking, preparing…

This is the time for family get together. I remember how we spent the day preparing for a big meal to celebrate the new year. I always enthusiastically waiting for the “Giao thua” play (the one about Ong Tao Ve Troi), I would watch it and compare it with last year’s. I was happily waiting for the midnight, feeling the holiday spirit in the air.

Of course with years far from home, I don’t have the luxury to celebrate and enjoy Tet like that anymore. Tet usually coincide with the most busy weeks in the semester with all the midterms and students coming for office hour. However, we, students oversea, still try to gather together, having a pot luck party (party where each person bring a dish or contribute something), and celebrate it in the weekend.

Well I said we’ll try to blog everyday, but I think now everyone is very busy, this is not a good time to study after all

A new year is coming. I wish you all a happy time with family and friends, and a wonderful year ahead, with full of success and joy.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Listening practice for the TOEFL test

englishstudyforvms — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 07:35:26 +0000

Yes the test is getting harder. When I took it, it was still paper-based, when I had a chance to glance quickly at the answers first, have an idea what they will be talking about and what might be the question, and focus on it. Now with computer-based test, unfortunately you lost that opportunity

However, there is still something you can do. And it was what I did back then, too. For the long talk, we all know that it will be a lecture about something, geography, science, history, … . So if you have some previous knowledge about it, even if you don’t catch everything they say, you can still guess the answer, since it is just a common knowledge

So you can do some more reading, listen more on the subjects that might be on the test. And believe me, it will be helpful for your own good later

I would suggest you trying NPR for this kind of listening, VOA (Voice of America) is good too, but they don’t talk much about science.

Chung tay giúp em Phan Hồ Anh Thư

englishstudyforvms — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 06:37:47 +0000

THƯ NGỎ

http://www.math.hcmuns.edu.vn/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1145&Itemid=83

Kính gửi Quý Thầy Cô và các bạn Đồng nghiệp.

Em Phan Hồ Anh Thư, hiện đang là Trợ giảng tại Bộ môn Giải Tích, Khoa Toán – Tin học, Đại học Khoa học Tự nhiên, Tp. Hồ Chí Minh.

Dự kiến ngày 12/02/2011, em Thư sẽ trải qua ca đại phẫu để lấy tủy ghép cho em trai bị căn bệnh suy tủy. Đây là ca phẫu thuật phức tạp và chi phí rất lớn, dự kiến từ 500 đến 700 triệu đồng. Trong khi đó, ba mẹ em hiện là giáo viên cấp 2 trường làng (Quảng Nam) nên kinh tế rất eo hẹp.

Qua thư ngỏ này Công đoàn Khoa Toán – Tin học rất mong nhận được sự chia sẻ về mặt vật chất cũng như tinh thần từ những tấm lòng hảo tâm quý Thầy Cô và các bạn Đồng nghiệp để giúp em Thư cứu sống em trai.

Chân thành cám ơn tấm lòng vàng của Quý Thầy Cô và các bạn Đồng nghiệp.

Công đoàn Khoa Toán – Tin học.

Ghi chú: Quý Thầy Cô và các bạn Đồng nghiệp xem chi tiết tại địa chỉ

http://www.math.hcmus.edu.vn/congdoan/ để biết hình thức tiếp nhận

đóng góp.

Smile :)

englishstudyforvms — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 02:59:37 +0000

When do we smile? When we are happy, when we see a friend, when we are on a road trip enjoying the sunshine and the landscape.

What we always think of as a simple smile turns out to be a lot more than that. Enjoy the article

More to a Smile Than Lips and Teeth

from NY Times where you’ll be given a hint of how “smile” differs from culture to culture

Does college make you smarter? – NY Times

englishstudyforvms — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 01:59:52 +0000

The good, the bad, and the discussion about American college in the NY Times Opinion Pages:

Does College Make You Smarter?

Reading the opinion pages of newspaper is a great way to improve your English and writing style. Enjoy this double dips where you can also learn about American colleges.

On the other hand, what do you think about Vietnamese colleges? What’s the good and the bad? What you love about our colleges and what you think should be improved?