Vietnam Deel 2

[FredVN]

Schroefje los??

Erich kwam een paar dagen geleden even langs. Bij het weggaan zag ik dit in zijn achterband. Hij “bofte” dat hij zijn fiets net zo had neergezet dat de schroef naar boven en naar mijn kant uitstak.

Hij had ca. 1½ cm.speling tussen de kop van de schroef en de grond als hij zijn motor netjes rechtop hield. Hij besloot dus om heeeel netjes rechtop naar huis te rijden.

Dat scheen goed gelukt te zijn wan ik ontving deze foto. Een zeer volwassen exemplaar.

Opmerkingen dat sommige mensen werkelijk ieder schroefje op de weg oppikken heb ik maar achterwege gelaten: Erich is groter, zwaarder en jonger (en op dat moment pissiger).

 

[FredVN]

English teachers or English schools: In post-social distancing Vietnam, who have the upper hand?

A foreigner teaches English to first-grade students at Bau Sen Elementary School in District 5, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in this file photo taken in 2019. Photo: Nhu Hung / Tuoi Tre


Editor's note: Mark Barnes is a freelance journalist currently based in Hanoi, Vietnam. In this piece sent to Tuoi Tre News, he explores how the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, as well as the travel restrictions and school closures it entailed, has changed the landscape of English teaching jobs in Vietnam, nearly a month after the country emerged from weeks of social distancing in April.

When schools were given the all-clear to reopen at the end of April, it was clear that there would be a supply problem when it came to qualified English teachers. Borders had been closed since the end of March to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and would not reopen for some time to come. As such, no new teachers were getting in, neither would teachers who had left during the school closure period be able to return.

At the same time, Vietnam’s 16 million or so students were returning to schools where English language classes are compulsory. That’s not to mention the hundreds of private English centers around Hanoi that had also been given permission to reopen. This was greeted as welcome news for some English teachers in Hanoi.

Perceiving an obvious under-supply, many looked to take advantage of the situation. “The demand curve is higher than the supply. Guys, PLEASE be smart and don't accept lower than $1,200,” one Filipino teacher posted in the ‘Filipino English Teachers in Vietnam’ group on Facebook. But is this a realistic assumption?

One industry insider, a recruiter based in Hanoi, who wished to remain anonymous, says no.
He has been approached by many teachers requesting higher salaries, he says, adding these requests are “unreasonable." He says the reality is schools and English centers are not yet desperate enough to pay higher salaries and that even if they were, they do not have the funds available to do so.

Another recruiter in Hanoi has also advised its staff that many public schools will be focusing on a Vietnamese curriculum for the remainder of the academic year. With reduced contact hours, English language lessons simply will not be a priority. This situation is precarious and dynamic, but this may mean a number of previously employed English teachers will be looking for work in the coming weeks. That said, the number of job ads on English teacher recruitment Facebook pages has exploded. Recruiters are looking for staff all over Vietnam, although many are specifically requesting “native” English speakers from the U.S., Australia, Canada, the UK, and New Zealand.

This may give teachers from these countries an edge. Native English speakers are generally paid higher wages, however, attitudes toward native versus non-native English teachers are changing.

Hong Tang, the founder of Coins For Change, an NGO that places volunteer English teachers in low socio-economic areas, says in many instances native English speakers are unnecessary. But she points out that for older, more advanced learners, it is very difficult to develop further without the aid of a native speaker. “You teach academic English, you teach writing, you teach public speaking or presentation [skills]. You need more words and you need to be able to teach people to use the language how native speakers do.”

For beginners, however, she says, it is a different story. “The kids are learning very basic English. So basically you just need to be good at pronunciation, understand that grammar clearly, and understand how to interact with the kids,” she says.

She goes on to say this last point is crucial. “I know some people who come to teach and only teach for thirty minutes and then they have to run to another class. They don't even stay to say hi or goodbye to students. That is worse than someone who is not a native speaker.” That is not to say that local teachers can reasonably compete with foreign native English-speaking migrants.

Van Van Hoang, a professor at the University of Languages and International Studies at Vietnam National University, Hanoi, in a paper published back in 2017, seriously questioned the ability of local teachers to meet learners’ requirements. “English language teaching in Vietnam, due to its low quality, has not met the demand for competent English-speaking people,” he said.

He went on to say this is because many teachers are unqualified, many have never had the chance to study in an English-speaking country, and many do not normally communicate in English. This is also partially due to a demand and supply imbalance that existed well before COVID-19. “The demand for English language teaching far outstrips the supply of native speaker and competent non-native speaker teachers,” Hoang said back in 2017.

How that has been affected by the COVID-19 school closures and travel restrictions remains unclear. That said, the advantages of being able to speak English proficiently do not appear to have been impacted. As schools and English centers continue to forge ahead and reopen, there are grounds for major changes to how the market for English teachers functions. Who this will advantage, if anyone, though opaque now, should become clearer in the not too distant future.


English teachers or English schools: In post-social distancing Vietnam, who have the upper hand? - Tuoi Tre News

 

[FredVN]

Rijbewijs

Kort geleden belde Erich naar Minh. Hij had gehoord dat iedereen vóór het einde van dit jaar het oude rijbewijs (kartonnen exemplaar) moest inruilen voor een nieuw credit-card-achtige versie. Minh is gaan Googlen op een aantal Vietnamese sites en heeft de afdeling voorlichting van het ministerie gebeld. Overal kwam uit, dat het werd aanbevolen maar niet verplicht was.

Een paar dagen later kwam Erich langs (met spijker in zijn band) en vertelde dat hij zijn rijbewijs toch wilde omruilen. Het hoe en waarom.

Het hoe. Ehhh… ehhh… ja.
Het waarom. Volgens Erich kun je met dat nieuwe rijbewijs een internationaal rijbewijs krijgen, waarmee je ook in landen als Laos en Cambodia zou mogen rijden. Het feit dat je met het ene geldige rijbewijs wel een int. rijbewijs zou kunnen krijgen en met het andere niet klinkt inconsistent genoeg om waar te kunnen zijn.

Omdat ik niet van plan ben om naar die landen te rijden en ik ook nog niet weet hoe IK mijn rijbewijs zou kunnen omwisselen laat ik dat hele traject maar achterwege. Voor de rest wacht ik rustig af of zijn ideeën kloppen. Zelf heb ik geen zin om daarnaar te informeren. Afgelopen maandag is in ieder geval bij zijn tweede poging het omruilen gelukt. D.w.z. over een week kan hij het ophalen.

Nu het verkrijgen van een internationaal rijbewijs nog. We blijven nieuwsgierig.

 

[FredVN]

Check out this white lotus pond on the outskirts of Hanoi

A woman in the traditional Vietnamese ‘ao dai’ poses for a picture at a white lotus pond in Tam Hung Commune, Thanh Oai District, Hanoi, Vietnam, May 2020. Photo: Duong Lieu / Tuoi Tre


A white lotus pond in full bloom, located about 20 kilometers from the center of Hanoi, is the city’s new honeypot for visitors looking for the perfect addition to their Instagram.

Lotus flowers are a national symbol of Vietnam, representing the country’s purity and strength to overcome adversity. The white lotus pond, owned by Ta Thi Bich in Tam Hung Commune, Thanh Oai District, Hanoi, is one of the first ones to blossom in the Vietnamese capital, springboarding it into the top of the local list of selfie hotspots. “Lotus flowers are popular here, but they are usually pink. During a trip to [the central city of] Hue, I came across this pristine species of white lotus and decided to bring it home for planting,” Bich explained. “At that time, I simply thought I would grow and sell the flowers to earn some income by putting in less effort than it takes to grow rice.”

Up to now, the lotus pond has existed for five years. Taking care of white lotus requires clean water for it to grow, as muddy water will kill it instantly, Bich said. “White lotus blooms earlier than pink lotus. The season begins in early May and lasts until June."

The white lotus pond of Ta Thi Bich’s family in Tam Hung Commune, Thanh Oai District, Hanoi, Vietnam is seen in a photo taken in May 2020. Photo: Duong Lieu / Tuoi Tre


According to Bich, this is the first year visitors have made their way to the family’s lotus pond, and the influx of local tourists has been a big surprise. “At first, some young visitors were impressed by the white lotus pond and asked for my permission to take pictures to post on the Internet. It was a real shock,” Bich said. “That’s when we decided to stop harvesting the flowers and leave them in the pond for visitors to pose with. I'm very happy to see the delight on everyone’s face."

Although she is a long-term resident of Tam Hung Commune, Nguyen Thi Ngoc, 28, said she has only recently learnt about the lotus pond. “Today is my day off so my friends and I dressed up in ‘ao dai’ [a traditional Vietnamese dress] to take photos with the flowers,” Ngoc said. “I have also taken photos with the lotus flowers in Ho Tay [West Lake], but the pink lotus flowers there are not as tall or abundant as the flowers here. It’s mesmerizing to see the white lotus flowers cover the entire pond."

A white lotus flower in full bloom at a lotus pond in Tam Hung Commune, Thanh Oai District, Hanoi, Vietnam is seen in this photo taken in May 2020. Photo: Duong Lieu / Tuoi Tre


Selfie-lovers have also noted that Bich and her family charge a fair admission price of VND50,000 (US$2.20).

Bich said the family’s white lotus pond has welcomed about 40 to 50 visitors daily since the blooming season began. “We live roughly 20 kilometers from here. I heard about the white lotus pond by word of mouth so we decided to visit it in the early morning,” said Dinh Hoai Nam, a resident of Ba Dinh District, Hanoi. “As the pond is on the outskirts, it still has an air of natural beauty. My son is very excited for it.”

A woman in the traditional Vietnamese ‘ao dai’ poses with white lotus flowers at a pond in Tam Hung Commune, Thanh Oai District, Hanoi, Vietnam in this photo taken in May 2020. Photo: Duong Lieu / Tuoi Tre


The white lotus pond has not only lured local visitors but it has also commanded the attention of many freelance photographers. “I have captured the beauty of a lot of different flowers and visited a lot of places but this is my first experience with white lotus,” said Pham Dinh Manh, a photographer from the capital. “The white lotus’ tall stem and its natural white color give me inspiration, not to mention the fresh air and pristine view here,” he added.

Visitors take photos at a white lotus pond in Tam Hung Commune, Thanh Oai District, Hanoi, Vietnam in May 2020. Photo: Duong Lieu / Tuoi Tre


Bron: Check out this white lotus pond on the outskirts of Hanoi - Tuoi Tre News


Als ik de laatste foto zie en weet van eerdere ervaringen van Green Meanie in Vietnam Deel 2 , dan vrees ik, dat de vijver al weer kaal is.

Voor nog een paar foto’s zie de bron.

 

[Green Meanie]

In 'mijn' wijk zijn ook een paar plekken waar Lotusbloemen groeien. Ik heb ze in 4 jaar tijd potentieel nog nooit zo mooi gezien als dit jaar. Potentieel omdat ze nu nog in de knop zitten en overal de dames alweer met bossen (nog niet ontpopte) bloemen voor de verkoop zitten.

Ik ben bang dat ik ze niet uit zal zien komen maar zal er proberen een dezer dagen even langs te rijden.

 

[FredVN]

En foto's te maken...

 

[FredVN]

Newborns for sale: A behind-the-scenes look at infant trafficking in Vietnam’s mountainous regions

Lu Thi Hoa, a Kho Mu ethnic woman who sold her first child for VND80 million (US$3,450), sits in her home in Dinh Son 1 Village, Huu Kiem Commune, Ky Son District, Nghe An Province, Vietnam. Photo: Quoc Nam / Tuoi Tre


Deep in Vietnam’s mountainous regions, children are often tied to a blood contract from the moment they are born. Thinly veiled as transitional adoption agencies, nefarious organizations preying on poverty-stricken women are essentially snatching babies from the hands of desperate mothers.

Lu Thi Hoa from the north-central province of Nghe An is eight months into her pregnancy. (Her real name has been changed to maintain confidentiality.) The baby will be Hoa’s second child. When asked about her first, silence fills the air and a chord of hollowness takes control of the room.

A motorbike for a newborn? Deal.
Hoa’s Vietnamese language skills are weak as she comes from the Kho Mu ethnicity. So her story must be translated with the help of a local police officer. Hoa was married during her adolescence to a Kho Mu man. As with many other young women in her village, she quickly found herself in an inescapable relationship with an alcoholic husband, trapped under the crushing weight of extreme poverty.

To keep her family afloat, she took on work harvesting seasonal crops, chopping bamboo, and gathering lumber. This hustle has carried on well into her first pregnancy. She simply could not afford to take a day off work.

At around the eighth month of her pregnancy, Hoa was approached by a neighbor, O., who made an offer for the baby. “She said she would help me sell the newborn child for VND80 million [US$3,450]. My household is so poor that I felt I didn’t have a choice,” Hoa recalled.

A few days later, Hoa packed a bag and followed O. into a van headed for the Mong Cai border crossing into China. “No one would tell me where exactly we were going. I only knew that myself and a few others were being kept in a small house in the countryside,” Hoa said. “They provided us with food but wouldn’t allow us to leave. They took me to the hospital when I went into labor and I gave birth a few hours later.”

Hoa only had a chance to see the tiny silhouette of her newborn child before it was snatched from her hands forever. She was repatriated shortly after her delivery and handed an envelope with the promised cash. “This is what I bought with the money,” Hoa muttered under her breath, pointing at a motorbike in front of the plywood shed where she lives.

A woman carries a child in her arms in Dinh Son 1 Village, Huu Kiem Commune, Ky Son District, Nghe An Province, Vietnam, where infant trafficking among local ethnic Kho Mu women is common. Photo: Quoc Nam / Tuoi Tre


‘Selling one makes no difference’
Huu Kiem Commune in Nghe An Province is home to a network of Kho Mu ethnic communities that live dispersed amongst the area’s mountainous terrain. Life in the province’s rugged mountains has been so difficult that it has become an epicenter of infant trafficking in Vietnam, with at least 20 individuals reporting being coerced into trading their newborns for cash.

Moong Thi Lan (her real name has been changed to maintain confidentiality), a resident in Dinh Son 2 Village, is a mother of three struggling to lift her head above the country’s poverty line. When she became pregnant last year, the idea of being able to afford another child became such a heavy burden that she began to contemplate giving the newborn away. “I had heard that those who had sold their newborns received a huge amount of money. ‘I already have two sons, so selling the third won’t matter,’ I thought. If I raise a third, I won't be able to pay for his marriage,” she said.

Lan explained that her husband, an alcoholic, drunkenly agreed to sell the baby and the two set about looking for O., the same middlewoman who helped Hoa sell her child. The two struck a deal to trade Lan’s newborn for VND50 million ($2,150) and Lan quickly found herself en route to China.

Now, with the money spent, Lan has returned to picking bamboo shoots and harvesting crops for local farmers. “I honestly don’t know what I can do to put food on the table for my children,” Lan said. Through your correspondents' series of encounters with individuals coerced into selling their newborns, money and amenities were the two most frequently cited justifications for their decision.

A police officer collects statements from Vietnamese women found selling their newborns to China in Ky Son District, Nghe An Province, Vietnam. Photo: Nghi Xuan / Tuoi Tre


Not everyone, however, is able to survive until they receive the money. Lu Van Hong from Luu Tien Village learned this the hard way.

In mid-2018, Hong’s wife, Moong Thi Lam was lured into selling her unborn.

In October of that year, Hong received a call from a Chinese phone number explaining that his wife had died in a traffic accident in Hubei Province, China.

Four other Kho Mu women were also involved in the accident, though they only sustained minor injuries.

Three of them were into the later terms of their pregnancies while the fourth was Moong Thi O, the middlewoman who had been putting Kho Mu mothers in touch with the trafficking ring. It took Hong more than a month to bring the body of his wife back to her hometown for burial.


Bron: Newborns for sale: A behind-the-scenes look at infant trafficking in Vietnam’s mountainous regions - Tuoi Tre News

 

[Green Meanie]

En foto's te maken...

Foto van mijn zoon tijdens hoogtepunt van de lockdown (maskers verplicht) 17 mei. Lekker een rondje rijden met zijn tweeën.
Dit is het meertje waar ik het over heb. Toen viel mij op hoeveel knoppen er aan de planten zitten (niet eerder in deze hoeveelheid gezien op deze plek). Ik zal er van het weekend nog eens langsrijden (en foto's maken).

 

[FredVN]

Verlaten plaatsen in Vietnam (Tja…)

Tja, wie het weet mag het zeggen. Het lijkt op links een toilet en rechts een douche, alleen is in beide hokjes geen gat in de vloer te bekennen. Verlaten is het zeker.

 

[Badgast]

Tis gewoon een bushokje voor de snelweg die ze daar over 10 jaar willen gaan aanleggen....

 

[FredVN]

Ah, natuurlijk...

Ook de twee moeders van Minh's leerlingen, die ik gisteren het probleem voorlegde, hadden geen flauw idee.

 

[FredVN]

Let's talk about sex: Vietnam's millennials on condoms, consent

Experts warn that in Vietnam, the lack of sex education means young people don't know enough about safe sex and some are relying on abortion as a form of birth control. Photo: AFP


Huong has had two abortions in two years.
No one had ever talked to her about sex: not her parents, not her teachers -- and her friends knew as little as she did. "I was terrified when I found out I was pregnant...I think if we had been told about safe sex, we would not have fallen into this trap," the 20-year-old explains. She is not alone. A lack of sex education at home or in school in Vietnam, has resulted in some relying on abortion as a form of birth control, experts say.

Talking about sex is "sort of forbidden", says Linh Hoang, a 23-year-old on a mission to change outdated attitudes in a country unused to open discussion about sex or gender identity.

Vietnam has a young population and their sexual values have vaulted the conservative barriers of an Oriental country, with dating apps, condoms and abortion pills easily available. But the generation gap has left young people without information and support as their sex lives evolve.

Parents edge away from the topic of safe sex and society "has no idea what sex education is and how to do it," said Linh, who recalled her own biology teacher attempting to cover reproduction without explaining what sex was to a group of confused 13-year-olds. Together with three friends all in their early 20s, Linh runs sex education start-up WeGrow Edu from a co-working space in Hanoi, where they stash gift boxes filled with sanitary pads, pregnancy tests and condoms -- as well as vital guides on how and when teens might use them. "It's not difficult to get contraception in Vietnam but the social stigma around it is so heavy," she told AFP.

Experts say that Vietnamese society has become more permissive and young people have discarded taboos surrounding pre-marital sex but some parents and teachers are scared to discuss the topic for fear of encouraging sexual activity. Photo: AFP


Abortion as a contraceptive
From demonstrations on how to use a condom to more nuanced discussions about gender roles, WeGrow Edu's classes aim to deliver essential information to Vietnam's youth. For decades, Vietnam enforced a two-child policy but had little comprehensive information on reproductive health and no access to free family planning services. That led to one of the world's highest rates of abortion, according to sexual health non-profit the Alan Guttmacher Institute.

The scheme was scrapped years ago and condoms are now cheap and available at almost every supermarket and pharmacy. While abortion pills -- meant to be signed off by a doctor -- are also on offer in some chemists prescription-free.

Abortion rates, although declining, are still high, family planning experts told AFP.

In 2005 there were 37 abortions for every 100 babies born, according to ministry of health data cited by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

By 2019, the official figure had dropped to 12, although the UNFPA says the actual number is thought to be higher given a quarter of abortions take place in private practices.

Huong, a pseudonym to protect her identity, says she had no idea what to do when she discovered she was first pregnant aged 16, after having sex with a friend, and had to ask an older girlfriend for help. "It really hurt. (After) I felt... so insecure and empty," she says of the procedure at a private clinic. She later learnt a little about contraceptives when dating her boyfriend, but not enough to prevent her falling pregnant again at 18. She was able to use easily accessible pills for the abortion.

Vietnam has a young population and their sexual values have vaulted the conservative barriers of a Communist country, with dating apps, condoms and abortion pills easily available, but the generation gap has left young people without information. Photo: AFP

'Scared parents and teachers'
Nguyen Van Cong, a 33-year-old trained doctor and founder of health education programme "We Are Grown Up", says his team has taught thousands of school kids about safe sex and birth control to combat the "worrying trend" where "abortion is considered a contraceptive method".

While society has become more permissive and young people have discarded taboos surrounding pre-marital sex, Cong believes parents and teachers "are always scared" to discuss the topic for fear of encouraging sexual activity.

He spoke on the sidelines of a sex ed class at Hanoi school, where teens were urged to discuss everything from masturbation and STDs to contraception. "(Adults) mostly try to avoid talking to us about the topic," says Ngo Quang Huy, 17.

WeGrow Edu, partially funded by the US embassy in Vietnam, is now working with around 20 schools in Hanoi. As well as their gift boxes with contraceptives for teens, children as young as four are given books explaining the basics of consent.

And while the boxes are priced at $50, way out of reach of the average Vietnamese parent, Linh said demand is high. "Even my friends, when they first received the gift box had to confess that it was their first time touching a condom," she explained. "And that's the case for most people."


Bron: Let's talk about sex: Vietnam's millennials on condoms, consent - Tuoi Tre News


Zondag sex-dag.

Tja, ik blijf zondag en zondig nog steeds wat door elkaar halen. Zal de leeftijd wel zijn (of mijn cynische inslag…)

Het artikel schetst hetzelfde sombere beeld dat ik al eerder deed na het gesprek met een drietal studenten van Minh. Zie Vietnam Deel 2

Soms heeft men wel de klok horen luiden en gebruikt men een plastic tasje als condoom. Ze betaalden wel een hoge prijs… Zie Vietnam Deel 2

Zoals al veel vaker gezegd, bijdragen aan dit soort projecten, maar ook zaken als beroepskeuze-advies etc. zou een veel betere besteding van de sponsorgelden van Looking Forward zijn. Je bereikt er hele scholen mee en ze kunnen dan eindelijk echt vooruit kijken. Een “kaal” highschool-diploma is zeker in deze omgeving evenveel waard als geen highschool-diploma: helemaal niets! Zie met name deel 2 van
Vietnam Deel 2

Maar ja, als je alleen maar bezig bent om je eigen business ook voor de toekomst veilig te stellen door niets te doen aan “het aanmaken van nieuwe leden”…

 

[FredVN]

High-speed police bike chase captured on tape in Ho Chi Minh City

A motorbike of two suspected robbers is burned to ashes at the intersection of Truong Dinh Street and Nguyen Du Street in District 1, Ho Chi Minh City following a police chase at high speeds on June 9, 2020. Photo: Minh Hoa / Tuoi Tre


Ho Chi Minh City police officers captured two suspected robbers following a wild bike chase through many streets in the southern metropolis earlier this week.

A video of the pursuit went viral on Facebook on Friday.

The chase involved police officers from a special crime-fighting task force of Phu Nhuan District Police, according to the results of a verification process by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

In the early hours of June 9, the policemen, in plainclothes, spotted two men riding a motorbike at high speed from District 3 to Phu Nhuan District. The team decided to chase after the two men, suspecting that they had robbed someone and were on their way to escape. The long pursuit continued through multiple streets, with the robbery suspects using weapons and pepper spray to deter the officers at some points.

The high-speed chase only came to an end when the two suspected criminals lost balance and fell as they made a sharp turn at the intersection of Truong Dinh and Nguyen Du Streets in District 1.

As the men tried to run away on foot, the police officers were able to tackle the two suspects to the ground and put handcuffs on them. The suspects’ motorbike burst into flame shortly after the arrest.

At the police station, the two robbery suspects were identified as Nguyen Huu Tin, 27, from Binh Chanh District, and Linh Thai Bao, 37, from Tan Phu District. Both of them tested both positive for narcotics. Tin and Bao admitted they had snatched a bag containing a mobile phone and VND3 million (US$130) in cash from a person on Hoang Sa Street in District 3 that morning.

The criminal task force has handed over the suspects and material evidence to District 3 Police, which are holding both men for an investigation.


Bron: High-speed police bike chase captured on tape in Ho Chi Minh City - Tuoi Tre News


Zie de bron voor de video met de spectaculaire achtervolging.

 

[leeqnl]

Zie de bron voor de video met de spectaculaire achtervolging.

Ziet er ook echt verantwoord uit, met zo'n snelheid door Vietnamees verkeer rijden. Direct in t begin bij het spookrijdende busje zou mijn broek al vol zitten...

 

[FredVN]

Niet alleen bij jou...

 

[Badgast]

Aardig gepeperd scootertje...
Maar volgens mij riep de verdachte bij het omdoen van de handboeien nog dat ie geen lucht kreeg, moeten ze hem dan niet laten gaan?
....

 

[FredVN]

Ach, riep Fred Teeven niet ooit: "beroepsrisico van de misdadiger?".

 

[FredVN]

Onkruid vergaat niet…

Al meerdere keren zijn foto’s van dit gepost. Op de vraag wat het is moet ik nog steeds het antwoord schuldig blijven. Hoewel, dit begint op hydrocultuur te lijken. En omdat het water uit de sloten komt waarin uitwerpselen, dode dieren, afval, insecticiden etc. zitten, is dit waarschijnlijk het beste resultaat.

Over een maandje of zo rij ik nog wel eens langs om de ontwikkelingen te bekijken en te zien of dit ook iets is om net als de bird nest fabrieken op grote schaal hier op te zetten. Hele volksstammen hier sproeien per slot van rekening dit water over hun land “want je ziet er niets in”.

Jullie horen en zien de resultaten.

 

[FredVN]

Vietnamese grade school builds obstacle course in schoolyard to teach traffic safety

Kids drive electric toy vehicles on an obstacle course in the schoolyard at Tra Tap Primary School in Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. Photo: Le Trung / Tuoi Tre


A primary school in the remote mountains of Quang Ngai Province in central Vietnam has built an obstacle course in the schoolyard and is using electric toy vehicles to teach its students about traffic safety and regulations.

Thanks to the dedication of the school’s headmaster, the ethnic minority children have a chance to excitedly learn traffic rules through the simulation. ‘Roads,’ ‘traffic lights’ and ‘traffic signs’ are recreated to be completely similar to real-life ones in the schoolyard of Tra Tap Primary School, an ethnic minority day-boarding school in Quang Ngai’s mountainous district of Nam Tra My. The school’s Ca Dong ethnic minority students can now learn traffic rules while driving electric toy vehicles around the schoolyard.

The man behind the idea is Tra Tap’s headmaster Le Huy Phuong, who had thought of the idea for a long time before being able to turn it into a reality. Phuong built the traffic simulation model at no cost to the school budget, having raised funds from donations made after his plea on social media. Although the transport infrastructure of the Quang Nam’s mountainous regions has improved considerably in recent years, the local ethnic minority people’s awareness of road rules is still limited, Phuong told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

The situation is made even more difficult as most of Tra Tap’s students are not familiar with urban transportation systems. “We wanted to build a traffic simulation within the schoolyard through which the students can be taught traffic rules,” Phuong said.

A student sits on an electric toy car stopped at a crossroads in an obstacle course in the schoolyard at Tra Tap Primary School in Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. Photo: Le Trung / Tuoi Tre


After some preparation, the school started to build the simulation model at the beginning of 2020, taking advantage of the time the school was closed because of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The entire funding was VND50 million (US$2,150) raised from donors.

Workmen were hired to construct the obstacle course consisting of traffic signs, traffic lights, one-way roads, a roundabout, median strips, and pavements. Apart from the traffic simulation, trees and greenery were also planted in the schoolyard to provide shade and resemble real roads, according to the headmaster.

The urban-like traffic simulation model was completed in April after a few months of construction. Since its completion, the school has been teaching one lesson every week on practical road rules as well as traffic safety.

Ca Dong ethnic minority students walking on the schoolyard that has been turned into a traffic simulation model to help them learn about road regulations at Tra Tap Primary School in Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. Photo: Le Trung / Tuoi Tre


Through the simulation of transportation systems, the teachers guide their students on how to operate vehicles safely and to comply with the signs and traffic lights. “If we want to reduce road accidents, we have to teach the children the knowledge of traffic rules. We would like to help them to comprehend the road rules through the traffic simulation,” said Phuong.

Phuong recently ordered ten electric toy vehicles including toy cars, toy bikes and electric bicycles at the cost of nearly VND18 million (US$775) to help his students learn by playing with them. “We are very excited to be able to drive the toy vehicles while being taught traffic regulations,” said Ho Tuan Vu, a fourth grader.

Nguyen Thi Thao, a teacher at Tra Tap, said the traffic simulation not only makes the schoolyard more lively but also helps the pupils understand road rules effortlessly. “The fact that the children don’t have to learn the traffic regulations on paper makes them eager to take part in the lesson on the subject. All of this is thanks to headmaster Phuong’s devotion to the school’s pupils,” Thao said.

Two students drive electric toy bikes on an obstacle course in the schoolyard at Tra Tap Primary School in Quang Ngai Province, Vietnam. Photo: Le Trung / Tuoi Tre


Bron: Vietnamese grade school builds obstacle course in schoolyard to teach traffic safety - Tuoi Tre News


De ouders van de kinderen zijn veel meer gebaat bij deze oefenplaats. Zoals die hier als blinde paarden bij scholen weg rijden met één tot vier kinderen op de motor erbij…

Kunnen ze daarna het goede voorbeeld aan alle andere Vietnamezen geven.

 

[jaap43]

Ik kom in de tekst wel heel vaak "ethnic minority" tegen, net of dat een heel bijzonder kwalificatie is.

 

[FredVN]

Minh: Ze willen alleen de "Etnische minderheid" benadrukken. In Vietnam biedt de regering bepaalde voordelen voor de minderheid, maar anderzijds beschouwt de samenleving ze als minder "ontwikkeld" dan Kinh - de meerderheidsgroep.

Na de fotoshoot op school heb ik nog een aanvulling geschreven, die hier ook nog op in gaat.

Vietnam Deel 2

Ik blijf mijn best doen.

www.motor-forum.nl

 

[Badgast]

Zie ik nou in de ena-laatste foto een verboden in te rijden bord, met erna een stoplicht met eronder een rotonde-bord, maar geen rotonde?
Ik vraag me af of dit wel goed gaat aflopen met die kinderen.... Of is het misschien beter dat ik me niet in dat verkeer ga mengen ? ;-)

 

[FredVN]

Nee, je kunt hier beter niet komen rijden: je klinkt als een Vietnamees in het verkeer.
Verboden in te rijden geldt voor de linkerkant van de weg.
Er is wel degelijk een rotonde, maar die is even breed als de middenberm. De meeste, zo niet vrijwel alle Vietnamezen gaan vóór de rotonde langs als ze linksaf moeten.

 

[Badgast]

A ja, keek er overheen... maar, dan mis ik dus een verboden in te rijden bord op het gedeelte waar die 2 boompjes staan, aan linkerzijde, achter die "rotonde", dit gaat bij mij helemaal fout denk ik....

 

[FredVN]

Dat is ongetwijfeld bewust gedaan om ze ook aan de harde werkelijkheid te laten wennen.

Vietnamezen die uit het witte gebouw links komen rijden niet door om netjes via de rotonde naar links naar de poort te rijden. Nee, die slaan meteen bij de eerste de beste mogelijkheid linksaf en rijden dan aan de linkerkant van de verkeerde weghelft naar de poort om daar vervolgens de motor blind tussen een mogelijke rij andere fietsen te gooien. De rest zit niet voor je dus die zijn er niet.