Dear colleagues and students, E-magazine has been more than a tradition to teachers and students in ULIS. It has become our joy and pleasure to write, publish and read each and every issue of ULIS’ E-magazine, where the events in our university are updated, where the personal and sincere thoughts of freshmen are shared, and many more. This issue is no exception to that. You will find out more about the life of 1st year students and their feelings after spending one year together in our ULIS family. Useful tips for better studying are also passed around in this informative magazine. And some of the readers may even find yourself somewhere between the pages. If you notice, there seems to be a lot of cute monkeys dangling, jumping around, and having fun in this issue of E-magazine. Can you guess? Well, the magazine is all dedicated to our dear freshmen – the fresh monkeys. We hope your time in ULIS will be full of fun, life-time lessons and happy moments. Best regards, Board of Editors

IN THIS ISSUE

Events of the month ULIS’s got talents Miss E18 Teacher’s Corner The Vision My Very First Garden Voices of Freshmen Roommates A Death… Invisible Development Q&A Info box Useful Sources to Learn English Tips for Effective English Learning Fun Corner

I find this competition very exciting. It

is a good chance for every student in ULIS

to show their abilities. It organizes various

useful activities for students. It helps

students discover their own special

abilities. This competition makes

everyone understand that students in

ULIS are not only good at foreign

languages but they are also endowed with

special and unique talents. After the

competition, the most important thing, I

think, is that students are self-aware of

their values as well as their strengths.

Dam Thi Lan – 10E15

My class is an interesting group because we always know

how to create happy, funny and friendly memories together.

Particularly, an event has recently been organized especially

for the girls in the class - The women’s day 8/3. We had

unforgettable impromptu performances that the actresses

had not prepared in advance but still performed greatly in our

special Miss E18 Contest. They had to demonstrate their

talents to be the winner, and the highest title was given to a

lovely girl. Although there was only one winner in the contest,

we found that all of the contestants were almost equally

talented with excellent performances which brought us

surprising and fascinating moments, so it was really hard for

us to choose the winner. We had such a great time enjoying

the Contest and laughing together. We realized that each

person in our class has their own hidden strengths that need

to be discovered, so there definitely should be more

occasions like this for us to better understand ourselves and

others around us. I believe that organizing such activities is

not too hard for students in our class in particular and in ULIS

in general because many of us are active and confident

youngsters.

Nguyen Kim Phuong - 10E18

Since a kindergartener, I had

always fantasized about the

vision of becoming a teacher.

Standing in front of the whole

class of students looking at

you with innocent and

trusting eyes—that must be

really proud. I used to play the

teaching game all by myself

with pieces of chalk picked up

after class, and the tiny

shabby board Dad brought

home for me so as to keep me

from wandering the

neighborhood all day. Back

then, my only student was the

rag doll; and the timeworn

electric fan was the devoted

teaching assistant I had. I was

comforted with just that; and

the flame of passion was

started that way.

The passion maintained till I

got into high school. During

that time, I also had my own

class with little kids from the

same hamlet, which only

lasted for three or four

lessons before our schedules

clashed. My major started

with Mathematics, then

switched to Literature, and

finally English when I got

accepted into the English

specialized class at high

school. Whatever the major

was, never had I doubted I

would become a teacher in

the future.

With that unblemished vision,

I entered the fast-track class

at the Faculty of English

Language Teacher Education,

College of Foreign Languages

(as its former name), Vietnam

National University. It must

be the most motivating

environment I have ever been

in, though everything did not

start with such positive

feelings. Being a timid

provincial girl who was not

able to make a decent

utterance in English, I got

quickly intimidated by other

classmates and had a nasty

fright for speaking in front of

the whole class who, in my

eyes at that time, were just as

sophisticated as native

speakers. It took me as long as

two years in college to

overcome the initial

complexes and redefine my

characteristics; and it was not

until my junior year that I

made significant leaps in both

self-confidence and charisma.

I became more confident and

proud of my capability than

ever before, to the extent of

being somehow self-centered.

Not surprisingly, this marked

the point when I began having

second thoughts about my

future career.

Attracted by a wider range of

opportunities which would

enable me to freely challenge

myself in more promising

environments, I began to

think of teaching as a boring

and repetitive job which

would only constrict self-

development. Throughout

that time, doing business,

organizing events, meeting

people, earning money and

getting around seemed much

more attractive alternatives to

teaching, as they would give

more grounds for me to prove

myself. And so, I swayed back

and forth between ideas.

Seriously, who does not for

once in their life? I even went

as far as applying for a Master

program in Business

Management, so that I could

switch my major after

graduating.

Life is full of interesting

coincidences; and one of them

is that I found myself revived

again, by the teaching job

itself. I came to realize that

teaching is not all about you,

but about what you can do to

help others. With that in

mind, working with people

would never be boring, and

you yourself can be greatly

inspired by those you need to

inspire in return. Up till now,

having been teaching large

classes for over half a year, all

I must say is that I have

matured a lot along the way.

It became so big an

encouragement for me to

know how much my words

influence my students, how

much they look up to me and

how significant the bond

between us means to both

sides. They would say in great

attitude, “Thank you teacher,

we are so blessed to have met

you,” though it is me who

should be grateful for their

appreciation. Isn’t it a blissful

thing to be able to stand in

front of a class with all

attentive and trusting eyes

and to know that they all

appreciate your existence? I

have realized that there is no

greater feeling in the world

than to help others achieve

their goals. It feels even more

thrilling than when you

achieve your own; or in my

case, when I was given the

title of Overachiever for my

accomplishment in high

school. So formidable is the

power of helping people I’ve

never seen before! After all,

isn’t living about others and

not just about yourself? More

importantly, there are always

people supervisors, senior

teachers, and even students

themselves - who help me

realize how sufficient as a

teacher I am, thus could never

stop improving myself to live

up to others’ expectation.

Indeed, there is never enough

room for self-development in

becoming a good teacher.

Interestingly enough, the

childhood vision of mine has

become clearer than ever.

From my own experience as a

young teacher who had

struggled through a career

crisis, I would tell someone

entering college that they

should be open to everything,

and choose a major that

points them towards what

they would choose as their

ultimate profession-

something that they would

enjoy and that can also

provide for the necessary

comforts in life.

“The future’s not ours to see,

que sera sera,” there the song

goes. I don’t know what the

future brings, but for now,

may I keep this path forever,

and may passion burn a

never-dying flame inside me.

Nguyen Thi Lien Huong -07E1

“Mom, I’m gonna be a

teacher!”

“Of course my dear, three

years later, when you

graduate.”

“No, Mom. I mean NOW! I’m

gonna have my first class in the

next few weeks!”

Now and then my mother still

recalls that exhilarating

conversation and pictures me

as a cheerful 5-year-old child

who has just been given a box

of crayons and a painting book

for her birthday. Actually, it

was not my birthday and I was

no longer a child but a college

freshman; however, on that

blissful day, I did receive a

precious gift that enabled me

to paint a gorgeous classroom

with the loveliest colors I have

ever known – my beloved

students.

While my heart was singing

happily, my mind was

somehow anxious about the

first lessons in my teaching

career. It however was not a

puzzle to figure out why my

heart and my mind did not

share the same feeling.

Although I was chosen to be

one of the 25 students in the

Honor/Fast-track program

partly because of my strong

passion for becoming a

teacher, I was then confused

by the fact that many of my

classmates did not really enjoy

teaching and some even

applied for this program just

because it was prestigious.

Amazingly, such questions

about my future career found

their answer in a 16-square-

meter classroom with two

neatly arranged rows of table

packed with 20 students,

where I began my journey, a

both promising and challenging

one.

My first class was a

heterogeneous group of

university students and

working adults whose English

level was quite low. That

choice was disobedient since

my parents had once advised

me to take only high-level

classes which were believed to

be more motivated to learn

and therefore tend not to

cause troubles to the teacher.

However, I was determined to

choose a “not-so-excellent”

class to challenge myself to do

more than the work of a mere

knowledge-giver. It does not

mean that I was free of tension

when going to the first lesson.

As I climbed the staircases to

the fourth floor of the building,

my heart started to beat faster

and even jumped in my chest

excitedly and nervously. I felt

like a singer the first time

performing on the stage of a

big theatre. Drowning in my

flow of thoughts, I was only

pulled back to reality by the

vibrant sounds of people

talking and laughing. The

students did not expect that

they were going to have such a

young teacher so they were

stunned and curious when I

said hello to them, going

straight to the board, and

started to introduce myself.

That was like when the singer

started to sing; her love for

singing was so strong that it

vanquished her fear, at that

moment she entered the music

world and all mattered was to

take the audience with her to

that fantastic land. I was happy

that my audience, my students,

joined me on the trip to the

world of English and showed

genuine enthusiasm in every

activity. If happiness was to be

defined, the singer would be

proud of the flowers and

applauses she received, and

the teacher, which was me, felt

wonderful about the twinkling

eyes and the bright smiles on

my students’ faces.

My class always went home

with a good mood and

everyone seemed to look

forward to the next lesson. I

might have feared it was purely

my imagination if it had not

been tested by an angry storm.

One evening it poured like the

water pipe system in the sky

had broken down, or maybe it

was just meant to be a kind of

test to prove how badly

someone wanted something. I

waded through the murky

flood with no other feeling

than my heart’s fear of being

broken if there was only the

empty classroom to welcome

me. I could not believe my eyes

when I saw my students were

actually waiting for their

teacher on the first floor. I was

deeply moved and proud as

they anxiously called me:

“Teacher! We are here. Please

wait there! We will go out and

help you get into the building.”

There were eyes on the streets

gazing at me admiringly or

maybe even enviously as my

students led me across a small

bridge of stones and bricks that

they built to cross the water.

While we were all soaking wet,

our hearts were warm, and the

lesson was even more

energetic than usual.

From then on, even when wind

and rain rattled the windows,

and the grumble of thunder

worried my mother, I would

eagerly leave the house

knowing that my students

would also be challenging the

storm and they would be

waiting for me. As long as my

students were there, I would

pass any test of weather, and

together we would still have

wonderful lessons and enjoy

the journey in our own world

inside the classroom.

Teaching is like gardening. It

needs one’s passion to start,

time and effort to nurture, and

then some day we find it

extremely rewarding to see

how our care has encouraged

the growth of the various

plants in the garden. I am

contented to be a passionate

gardener and to work hard on

my special garden, the garden

of dreams.

Nguyen Thuy Linh – 07E1

hen I started writing these words, I

have been a real student for seven

months. Time passes so fast. I still

remember the first day I left my

house, my parents’ arms and started student

life.

I live in Foreign Language Dormitory with eleven

girls. They come from some provinces in the

North of Vietnam. Some of them are one year

older than me. Some are at the same age to me.

We broke the ice and made acquaintance so

quickly. At the first night, we ate ice-cream

together and talked about ourselves. Everything

seemed to be yesterday. Now, we are a family.

I feel like there’s no distance among us. We

share many things even our secrets. Seven

months is not a long time in our lives. However,

we had a lot of warm moments, chatting with

each other until midnight. We talked about our

first loves, our families and many memories in

High school. It is the first time we lived apart, so

missed our parents and our relatives.

Sometimes, one of us cried alone when thinking

of families, we gave her cheers and advice. We

held our hands and promised to study hard and

get high results which make our parents happy.

Every month, we organize a small party, in

which we sing, play games and watch films. We

smile and burst into tears with the main

characters naturally.

In our lives, we have memories which are

unforgettable and so do I . The thing I like most

is that we played one-two-three to choose the

person having to buy many things for the whole

room. We laughed and shouted so loudly when

one of us was the loser and others were luckier.

On special days, we went for a walk in famous

streets and places in Hanoi, eating specialties.

We walked hands in hands, took photograph

and enjoyed sweet memories together.

Student life makes me more confident and

active. However, the most wonderful thing is

having more new friends, who are always

besides me. They make me feel less lonely

when my family is not here. Perhaps, I never

forget warm memories which now are part of

my life. It’s as plain as the nose on your face. I

want to express my true emotion to my

roommates, my 505 A >:d<.

Student life started with me, an18-year-old

girl, like that. What about you?

Ngo Thi Trang – 10E20

W

A Dea h…

he city where I lived had a park with a mini

zoo. Although it was called “zoo”, there

were only a few animals: some normal

birds, some little squirrels and one

chimpanzee locked in a cage, alone and

lonely. When I was in secondary school, I

usually rode my bike through the park, looked

into “the zoo” and saw the birds sang, the

squirrels teased each other. However I

noticed the cage where the poor chimp

locked. He screamed every day; hit the iron

door as if he wanted to escape. But that time

I could not feel that, I just knew that his

action was very strange and I was curious.

Sometime later, I did not go through that park

because the place where I studied was in

other street. Thinking of my friends, studying

and preparing for the exams took almost all

of my time. It was like a storm that pulled me

away from the zoo, so the image of the chimp

was fading in my mind. Sometimes I thought

about it, but this did not make me noticed.

One day my younger brother asked me if I

remember the park and the chimp. I said yes.

Then he told me the story:

Since the park was to be deserted, the addicts

often gathered there to inject, especially in

front of the chimp’s cage. At first, the chimp

had no reaction, he just saw these people

injected each other and used drugs. Gradually

he got used to it. A day like any day, after

having injected, the addicts threw the

syringes around the cage. There would have

been nothing if the stupid chimp hadn’t taken

one and… injected himself, mimicking these

people as the inherent nature of the

primates. He felt hurt. He startled, through

the syringe and moaned.

Sometime later, he got weaker and weaker.

He did not screamed or beat the iron door.

The corner where the cage was placed was

getting quieter. One day, one of the addicts

realized that the chimp had died. He had lain

stiffly in his cage for a long time. The people

told the authority to resolve and they realized

that the chimp had the symptoms of the

century disease. Everybody was very

surprised. It was unbelievable that how a

chimp locked everyday could suffer from the

terrible disease. The reason was found out

quickly: he died of injecting HIV virus through

the syringes around the case…

Listening up to this point, I laughed, but I

suddenly stayed silent. Something covered

my mind. These different feelings… I thought

about the

fate of the

wild

animals.

They were

T

and are being killed by the heartlessness and selfishness of human being. If they hadn’t been

insensitive, if they had listened , they would have known that the chimp desired for freedom,

desired for coming back to the great forest, for being able to live with his fellows, and that chimp,

as well as many chimps, wouldn’t have died unjustly, by this way or another…

P/s: if you think this is a funny story, no problem… However, after you laugh, please let your mind be

silent and think… do not let the laughter makes you heartless.

Pham Nguyet Lieu – 10E15

have been a freshman of ULIS - VNU

for a semester and 5 weeks. What I feel

about new environment? What about new

friends? What I have learned? New school,

new friends, new ways of studying... were

fun, interesting, and a bit strange to me. In

the first week studying in the college, I

remembered I had to rush from the 1st floor

to the 4th one to find class, sighing with relief

when seeing some classmates in a hall, then...

suddenly realized every student is studying in

another hall! :))

I study in class E15 with other 27 students.

After 5 weeks there were many things to

discuss. My new friends are pretty wonderful.

Bach is the tallest boy in…. the school, maybe.

He’s also good at English and love games.

Xuan is a good buddy, he was the only and

the first boy who talked to me on the first day

at school; he’s also sociable and helpful; he’s

been accepted to conduct a research on

“Department For Students” that makes me

proud. I often call him “Jami” as an Arabian

used to call him. :)

I

Duc is older than us, he was born in 1991. He

is not very sociable but I like to play volleyball

with him because of his experience in this

sport. :) Phi is a grown-up boy; he’s good at

sports and English vocabulary. That’s the

boys. What about the girls!? I can’t help

laughing when Van Anh - one talkative,

extremely funny, humorous, sassy girl of the

class - talks

or does

cheeky tricks.

She often

makes minor

scandals in

Math =)) Our

class’s

secretary is

on the way to

Vietnamese Communist Party that everyone

looks up to her. :) Hang is a gracious, pretty,

hard-working girl especially in maths.

About my class’s monitor – my buddy. I first

knew him on the first day at school, in

Pronunciation lesson. He adventurously took

the position of a monitor, and at first I find

him not interesting at all, he was blue, a bit

skinny, ugly with red hair… But now after 5

weeks know more about him and we soon

became buddies. Hahaahh, he’s fun, funny,

humorous, and proactive and I know, a

thoughtful person inside. We call him P!nk, I

also call him ‘lovely little boy’ because

sometimes he’s just like a kid. :)) To be

honest, we have many things in common and

we find ourselves easy to share our own

stuffs with each other. I hope we will build a

long last friendship and corporation in the

future. :)

About the subjects, as for first year students

of 721, Reading, Listening, Writing, Speaking

are compulsory almost every morning. But we

have to self-study very hard because we also

have Basics of Vietnamese culture, Advanced

Maths, Philosophy. Now, our Target skill to

master is Listening. But to listen well, we

must speak and pronounce English fluently,

naturally, correctly as well. We were lucky to

have Mr.Tuan Anh teaching Listening skill this

semester. He is very proactive, professional,

interactive, and funny also. For 4 skills we

study, we have assignments every week, so

we can develop our Team-work skill too. You

know, Socializing is very important in life. As

far as you’re in an active environment you’ll

have to integrate into it, but not to get mixed

with it, however.

It's interesting when you look back and

suddenly realize that you are growing up. :)

Tran Duc Thang – 10E15

Q: As a “English 721” student, I want to

know the location of the library of

University of Economics and Business

(UEB); and the administrative procedures

of the library like how to borrow books

and how long we can keep them?

A: You can go to the library of Vietnam

National University located in the 7-storey

building in front of B2 building and ask the

librarian for more details.

Q: We’re learning about Economics,

when we graduate, will we have the

Economics diploma or the Language

diploma?

A: You will have a double-majored

degree: English and Economics.

Q: Where can I submit the form if I have

some problems with marks of general

subjects?

A: Should you have any problems with the

marks of general subjects such as

Philosophy or Psychology, go to the Training

Office in A1 building. Basically you will have

to file a form in which you explain what is

wrong with your marks, submit it and wait

for other actions to be taken.

Q: I’ve been wondering if there could be

any way to give more authentic

environment to us to practice

communicating with the native speakers.

A: Why don’t you take the initiative to go

meet with many foreigners to talk and

improve your communication skills in

English? There are various places where you

can try such as Sword Lake, the Old Quarter

or the Ethnic Museum.

Q: Is there any likelihood that our

university will be able to organize such

events as English speaking contests, game

shows, debates or field trips to UK/US

Embassy and encourage us students to join

while we are still these young-and-fresh

men?

A: Actually English Club (EC) and English

Teacher Development Club (ETDC) have

been organizing quite a few activities like

these for students. You may contact the

leaders of these clubs for registering. Also,

it is a good idea to keep track with what is

happening at the American Center at the US

Embassy so that you will not miss any

interesting event or seminar held there.

Q: I want to ask you about the

scholarship in our school. As I know, the

scholarship for us to go abroad is rare. Is

there any scholarship like this? If there is

any, how to achieve this scholarship?

A: It would be a good idea if you seek for

a scholarship to study abroad from different

sources instead of waiting for a scholarship

from our university. There are bunches of

study abroad scholarships out there, either

from the embassies of foreign countries or

other companies and organizations. Do

some research to see what is being offered.

Q: Can I set up a club on my own? If yes,

what are the necessary procedures?

A: Yes you can, but you need to contact

the Student Association first to present

your club plan and ask for the next steps.

Q: I am a first-year student, should I work

part-time?

A: It might be a good idea for you to try

working part-time when you are a student,

as long as this job does not have any

negative effects on your study. Being a

tutor is a nice choice, don’t you think?

Tips for effective English learning Improving English vocabulary

You may want to go to Ego4u.com

for very useful tips to improve your

English vocabulary such as learning

10 English new words a day, learning

new words from reading, listening to

songs or watching movies and films.

Improving general English using the Internet

I am a 1st year student. When I entered university, I

couldn’t get on well with new environment and

catch what my teacher was saying. However, after

the 1st semester, my English skills were better and I

felt more confident. In my opinion, the most

important thing when studying a foreign language

is interest and diligence. I know there are a lot of

ways studying and useful sources but I specially

care about the Internet. It will be a useful source if

we know how to make use of it. There are many

websites which teach English and you can learn

from. Moreover, to raise your enthusiasm and

interest, you can learn English by watching films or

listening to songs. However, you shouldn’t use

computer for too long time because it’s not good

for your eyes. In my opinion, you should have some short breaks while studying English. Instead of

playing computer games, you can listen to music or chat with your friends in English. These are my

effective ways of learning English and I hope that they are useful for you too.

Nguyen Thi Tuyet – 10E18

Improving English pronunciation skill

In my opinion, if you want to improve the Pronunciation

skill, you should buy the book “Ship or Sheep”. I used this

book to study pronunciation and prepared for the entrance

exam. I think this book is very useful. It is written in a way

that everybody can easily understand. The book is

accompanied with 2 CDs and they will help you practice

correct English pronunciation. Each unit starts with

introducing about the sound, then guides you how to

pronounce that sound correctly. After that you are

provided with several exercises to practice.

This book costs only 12,000 VND, and you can find it in

every bookstore. Just go to the bookstore in A2 building,

you can buy the book and start learning with “Ship or

Sheep”.

Luong My Linh - 10E17

Speaking to the crowd confidently!

YES, YOU CAN!

Do you want to be a convincible and

confident speaker when standing in

front of the crowd?

Do you have a PC or a laptop?

Do you have a mirror?

Step1: Search for some speech of Barack Obama on

Youtube, try to remember his body language,

his face and his voice, his speed while making

speech.

Step2: Find a topic that you interested in, find

useful information, make the outline with main

ideas.

Step3: Stand before the mirror and try to speak to

yourself first (do not forget use body language

and control your speed)

Step 4: Do this act again, day by day, until you think

that is ok.

And finally, prepare for your own speech in class

before you go to school. Trust me, I did all of

those steps, and it worked! Try your best! You

can do it!

Nguyen Thi Anh Hong - 10E18

Grandma wouldn’t lie

Little Johnny was at his first day of school. The teacher advised the class to start the day with the pledge of allegiance, and instructed them to put their right hands over their hearts and repeat after him. He looked around the room as he started the recitation, “I pledge allegiance to the flag…” When his eyes fell on Little Johnny, he noticed his hand over the right cheek of his buttocks. “Little Johnny, I will not continue till you put your hand over your heart.” Little Johnny replied, “It is over my heart.” After several attempts to get Little Johnny to put his hand over his heart, the teacher asked, “Why do you think that is your heart?” “Because, every time my Grandma comes to visit, she picks me up, pats me here, and says, ‘Bless your little heart,’ and my Grandma wouldn’t lie.”

Great Mystery

Newsboy: Great mystery! Fifty victims! Paper, Mister?

Passerby: Here boy, I'll take one (After reading a moment) Say, boy, there's nothing

of the kind in this paper. Where is it?"

Newsboy: That's the mystery, sir. You're the fifty-first victim.

Why They Have French Lesson -What's the idea of the Greens having French lessons? -They have adopted a French baby, and want to understand what she says when she begins to talk.

Goodbye and Badbye! -What do good friends coming home say? -Goodbye. -So they’re enemy what do they say? -Uhm….I don’t know… -You’re stupid. It’s “badbye”.

My Daughter's Music Lessons - My daughter's music lessons are a fortune to me! - How is that? - They enabled me to buy the neighbors' houses at half price.