Issue 5 - November 2002
Other Issues

• VTTN national conference
• Teaching activities from the conference
• VTTN provincial workshops
• Teaching activities from the provincial workshops
• The VTTN UK Quiz
• BANG ON!
• The resource page
• Contacts
 

Welcome

Hello again! Welcome to the 5th VTTN newsletter. I hope the new school year is going well.So popular were the previous issues that there are now absolutely no copies left! If you still have your copies, guard them with your life. They may just become collectors’ items one day!

It hardly seems possible that VTTN began only 2½ years ago. So far, more than 1500 ELT professionals from across Vietnam have taken part in network events and every year more are added to the list. Our VTTN trainers have developed extraordinarily quickly and they are now a confident and increasingly independent group. VTTN is certainly in good hands.

This has been a busy and rewarding six months for VTTN. There was a planning meeting in June in Hanoi (I’ll never forget the snake!). This was followed by 10 provincial workshops in Binh Dinh, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City, Khanh Hoa, Nam Dinh, Nghe An, Thai Nguyen, Thanh Hoa, Thua Thien Hue and Yen Bai – the biggest number yet. We were particularly happy to welcome Prudential Insurance as the sponsor of the Khanh Hoa workshop. We look forward to continued co-operation between Prudential and VTTN in the future.
Then in August, we held our 3rd VTTN national conference in Hanoi with the irrepressible Mario Rinvolucri in the role of key trainer. Life with VTTN is certainly fast and furious. I only hope that we will be able to keep up the momentum that we now have into the next year of activities.   

In this issue of the VTTN newsletter, there are all the usual photos, reports from VTTN events, lesson ideas and VTTN news. But there are new things too! We’ve got quizzes, poems, a special ‘lesson warmer’ page, a new provincial contact list, as well as a host of riddles and jokes for your entertainment.

Every week, I receive a fistful of letters from teachers up and down the country talking about VTTN workshops, the newsletters and their teaching. It really is a pleasure to read all of these letters and energising to see the commitment and enthusiasm that exists for teaching English in Vietnam. Please keep your letters coming in and please send in any contributions that can be published in the next newsletter.

This is an exciting time to be an English teacher in Vietnam – things are changing – new textbooks are just around the corner, English is growing in importance as an international language and you, as ELT professionals are at the forefront of these changes.

For now though, enjoy the newsletter and enjoy your classes. Happy new teaching year!

Brian Stott
ELT Project Adviser
British Council Vietnam