“As China’s economy recovers, employers are competing to hire low-skilled workers, but many of China’s best and brightest, its college graduates, are facing a long stretch of unemployment.”

Read more at The New York Times

When applying to VIA, I listed this as a future concern that Vietnam would one day face. China’s economic growth in low-skill labor markets and education were impressive, but where were the high-skill jobs that students were training for? I argued that the education of students was far outpacing the actual growth of white-collar jobs by merely comparing graduation numbers to the number of jobs available. Vietnam, I believed, would be heading in the same direction.

This article comes from The Chronicle and is about teaching online courses.

It talks about the negative perceptions associated with teaching (100%) online, strategies for organizing and designing courses, and some best practices. I found the article interesting but also still have the impression of online courses as being of a traditional classroom size of roughly 24-30 students. For larger, near 100-student classes, the same strategies can still be applied. We just have to remember to split them into smaller, more manageable parts. I think this is physically done well in Vietnam with class monitors/leaders for each “unit”, but this same setup could also be used online- i.e. course website assistants and forum moderators.

I’m still not convinced of 100% online courses- I prefer the hybrid version I experienced in Vietnam- but this may be due to lack of experience on my part. Or, like the article says, I just may not be suited to teach online-only courses.

It’s an interesting read. ‘Would love to hear your thoughts.

As a back-end developer, I struggle with front-end design. I have a number of separate websites that I would like to combine, but they are all different in design and purpose. Perhaps they shouldn’t be together, but, at the same time, I need to compile my work for a portfolio.

A trip to Mai Chau in 2008 with the A4 class.

Ideally, I would like to create my own design and pull my other projects in. Deciding which domain to use seems to be the first hurdle for me to overcome. I have three that I really like, but I should be rational and use bensonchu.com. Why not? I have a pet project that never got off the ground. It still lingers in my mind and, like all pet projects, no one ever wants to see it fizz out.

The logical thing to do is to redesign bensonchu.com. The other site is just not ready.

Simple. Decision made.

Now for the hard part- the look.

We’ll see how long this takes.

Dear Friends and Supporters,

I am writing to let you know about Blue Dragon’s emergency relief efforts following Typhoon Ketsana.

The typhoon struck central Vietnam on September 29. At least 163 people were killed by the storm, and over 6000 homes were completely washed away.

Blue Dragon has long been working in two areas of central Vietnam, Hoi An town and Hue province, where the typhoon hit. We are relieved to report that none of the families we are working with lost their lives as a result of the typhoon.

Sadly, however, almost all of the families and children we work with in those areas have been badly affected.

Hoi An Town

In Hoi An, where Blue Dragon runs the Hoi An Children’s Home, a flash flood caused by a collapsed dam resulted in the loss of many personal items belonging to the 30 kids living there. Thanks to some private donations from around the world, we have been able to replace those lost clothes, books, and personal effects.

Hue Province

In Hue, the typhoon was much more devastating. Many homes lost their roofs or were destroyed totally. Some families lost everything they owned.

Immediately after the typhoon, Blue Dragon worked with the United Nations International School (UNIS) to deliver rice, noodles, and other essentials to over 300 families in coastal areas of Hue province. We were careful to ensure that we were delivering emergency supplies to families who were in the greatest need, and had not received support from any other agency.

Follow-up

Almost a month has passed, but the situation in Hue province remains dire. Hue airport has been closed recently due to flooding, as storms continue to cause havoc. Many roads remain impassable.

One consequence of this ongoing disaster is that impoverished fishing families from coastal areas have been unable to go to work for a full month. This is leading to widespread hunger in many areas of Hue.

As I write, Blue Dragon staff are in Hue distributing over 4.5 tons of rice and noodles, which have been funded by the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Ho Chi Minh City. We are also providing families with simple water filtration systems which will provide clean drinking water for at least 2 years.

What’s next?

Everyone is hoping that the rain will ease and the floods start to recede soon. Once that happens, Blue Dragon will start helping families to rebuild damaged or destroyed homes.

At the moment, we have enough money for the ‘emergency relief’ phase of this work, but we would welcome donations to help us with the repair and rebuilding that will take place over the coming months. You can visit our website if you wish to donate – www.streetkidsinvietnam.com – or email us on info@bdcf.org.

See for yourself

The Blue Dragon blog – www.vietnamstreets.blogspot.com – has some photos of the affected areas, as well as images of our relief work.

With sincere thanks for your support,

Michael Brosowski
Director
Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation