News & Events

SINGAPORE – From 11th to 15th of May, TVU School of Foreign Languages Trieu To Hoa participated in a five-day Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) Bootcamp organised by Yale-NUS college in Singapore.

Hoa was among 50 students both from Yale-NUS and National University of Singapore.

Trieu To Hoa (dressed in red) in an NGO training session

Students were taught essential skills and knowledge required for working in the non-profit sector through workshop-style programmes, seminars and case studies.

“I’ve worked with a team of highly experienced professionals who led the various sessions of this NGO Bootcamp,” said Hoa, the fourth year student at TVU Foreign Languages School. “And the five-day bootcamp actually boosts my knowledge of how NGOs work, and on how communications and critical thinking skills are a must to be successful in today’s globalised society.”

Trainers are from Yale–NUS faculties and NGOs including the Association of Women for Action and Research, National University of Singapore’s Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health.

This five-day intensive training gave Trieu To Hoa a good opportunity to study in a typical Singaporean class where thinking skills are highly valued and appreciated.

Hoa’s thesis work on translation topic for her bachelor's degree at SFL was due on Friday 15, May, the day she was at the Singapore-based bootcamp.

“I was lucky to have great support from the School of Foreign Languages,” said Hoa. “The Board understands my situation and allows me one week extension.”

Yale-NUS is a liberal arts college in Singapore that is the result of a collaboration between Yale University and the National University of Singapore.

Following the Lecture Series delivered during Term 1 of 2014-2015, the School of Foreign Languages continues to offer the Lecture Series on Fine Arts and Literature in Europe to the University’s entire students and staff for Term 2 of 2014-2015.
 
This weekly Lecture Series features 19 lectures given by Diane Zorzi and Benoit Hamon, the two Sorbonne graduates who have joined the TVU School of Foreign Languages since October 2014.

Lectures Schedule - 2015

Unless otherwise noted, all lectures take place Thursday from 9:00 to 11:00 AM in Room B11.208 (next to the School Office), Campus One.

Mark your calendars, have some coffee, and learn for free!

WORKSHOP 2015 – FINE ARTS AND LITERATURE IN EUROPE

JANUARY

January 14th
A brief history of European classical music (2/2)

January 21st
Main rules of Renaissance painting’s composition (Italy, France)

January 28th
The birth of a new genre: the portrait in Renaissance paintings

FEBRUARY

February 25th
Main stories and characters of Greek and Roman Antic mythology

MARCH

March 4th
Study on Iliad and Odysseus by Homer
 

March 11st
Conceptions of Time from Greek Antiquity to German Philosophy: Being and Tragedy

March 19th
Comparison of several conceptions of destiny: the myth of Phaedra by Euripides, Seneca and Jean Racine

APRIL

April 8-9th
Study on Phèdre (Phaedra) by Jean Racine: the example of the French classical tragedy    

April 16th
History of French architecture through the study of main buildings in France and French buildings in Vietnam (1/2)

April 23rd
History of French architecture through the study of main buildings in France and French buildings in Vietnam (2/2)

April 30th
Study on Les Rêveries du promeneur solitaire (Reveries of a Solitary Walker) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau: the pre- and early Romanticism in France and Germany (1/2)        

UPCOMING EVENTS

MAY

May 7th
Study on Les Rêveries du promeneur solitaire (Reveries of a Solitary Walker) by Jean-Jacques Rousseau: the pre- and early Romanticism in France and Germany (2/2)

May 14th
From Méditations (Alphonse Lamartine) and Contemplations (Victor Hugo) to Illuminations (Arthur Rimbaud): French poetry from Romanticism to Symbolism in the 19th century

May 21st
Study on Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil) by Charles Baudelaire: French modernity in poetry

May 28th
Study on Le Coup de dès (A throw of dices) by Stéphane Mallarmé: symbolism, absence and being

JUNE

June 4th
What is beauty?

June 11st
Study on The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant: a naturalist brief story

June 18th
Study on Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert: a French realist novel

June 25th
Study on Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert: a French realist novel (2)

The International Sustainability Project between TVU and Swinburne is continued to implement this year on January 10th. Academics and students from Swinburne University of Technology (Australia) team up with TVU students to develop strategies for environmental protection.

“This is the second year Green Project is implemented. This demonstrates the commitment of the two Universities for sustainable development,” said Mr. Tran Van Trong, TVU’s Vice Rector, in his welcoming speech to kick off the Green Campus project. This program lasts 2 weeks in Tra Vinh city.

Seventeen Swinburne students majored in different disciplines including Biotechnology, Chemistry, Community Health, Biomedical, Design, Film, Business, and Sustainable Development have participated in this project.

Students from Swinburne and TVU form into six groups to survey the environmental situation on TVU’s Campus One to write proposals for the Rector to consider.

In addition to these activities, 34 students of the two Universities participate in community activities such as collecting waste at Ba Om Pond. They provide the orphanage with computers and build a playground for children. They also help farmers to harvest peanuts at Duyen Hai district.

The Swinburne team leader, environmental chemist Dr. Francois Malherbe, said: "Swinburne students have a chance to interact with the real environment in a remote province that is very different from that of Australia, so it helps them to enrich their knowledge."

He said after the greatly successful Green Campus program last year, Dr François Malherbe and Dr Vivienne Waller of Swinburne University, and Dr Ho-Dac Tuc of TVU School of Foreign Languages had presented two discussion papers at the 14^th International ACTS (Australasian Campuses Towards Sustainability) Conference in November 2014 in Australia.

The international universities participated in this Conference studied the environmental protection activities of Tra Vinh University as a reference model to boost environmental awareness in a developing country.

The Green Campus project was launched byTVU’s Rector when he signed the Talloires Declaration in October 2013.

English news by Pham Thi Diem Thi (Year 4 English major)

TVU – 28.1.2015. In the last week of January, TVU instructors of English have participated in a five-day workshop on Language Testing and Assessment conducted by Stephen Walker of Queensland University.

This workshop focuses on the core characteristics of English testing. Participants apply the concepts of validity, reliability and practicality as they design test types.

The workshop also familiarizes 25 participants with fundamental testing principles, including understanding test purpose and choosing relevant texts to make tests more valid and reliable.

‘This January workshop series is part of academic activities funded by the National Foreign Language 2020 Project,’ said participant Thuy-Van Huynh, Deputy Head of TVU Center for Teaching and Learning. ‘It will specifically build out significant capacity for teacher engaging in language testing and assessment.’
 
Participants include the majority of TVU School of Foreign Languages academics and English teachers from other units of TVU.

Stephen Walker is a Testing and Assessment Specialist at the Queensland University's Institute of Continuing & TESOL Education.

News by Aloki Nodi, Center for Communication and Public Engagement