All of the below events are open free of charge to the public. We would like you to plan carefully before registering with us so that we have enough seats for participants. If you register for our events but change your plan, kindly notify us by email. If you would like to be an American Center member, please register.
***REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED FOR ALL EVENTS EXCEPT THOSE NOTED OTHERWISE. Register here. You can also check out our Facebook page to see event schedule and click “Join” to register with us.***
All events take place at 1st Floor of the Rose Garden Tower at 170 Ngoc Khanh Street, Hanoi, except those noted otherwise. Remember to bring your ID with you. Members of the media are welcome to attend public events at the American Center. However, if you intend to being in still or video cameras, please contact the Media Team at least 24 hours in advance so we can determine whether the speaker is comfortable and, if so, request security access for your equipment. Please note that not all speakers will want to be filmed and interviewed. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.
Please Note: In the American Center (AC), we usually record, film and photograph our programs and activities to promote the AC and the work the U.S. Embassy does in Vietnam. We regularly use and post these images on our social media platforms. When participating in American Center programs, you provide your tacit consent for your image to be used in this way. If you prefer that your image not be used for non-commercial publicity reasons, please provide your request in writing to a staff member at the Help Desk. Thank you!
| Time | Program | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| Sept. 1, 10:00 – 11:00 | Conversation Hour | Holly Calkins |
| Sept. 1, 5:30 – 6:50 | The Strategy of Content Marketing: MOOC Facilitated Discussion #1. Register here |
Nikki Nguyễn |
| Sept. 5, 3:30 – 5:00 | The Next New Thing: Trends and Disruptions in the World of Startups | Deborah Magid, Director, Software Strategy, IBM Venture Capital Group |
| Sept. 5, 5:00 – 7:00 | Leadership Training Series: How to Connect – Communicate at a Higher Level (register here) | Hoàng Ngọc Bích |
| Sept. 6, 10:00 – 11:30 | Waste Management and Plastic Contamination | Jenna Jambeck, University of Georgia |
| Sept. 6, 5:30 – 7:00 | Pathways to Academic Success Series: Critical Thinking for Academic Success | Helen Huntley |
| Sept. 6, 4:30 – 5:30 | Women of Science: How They, and You, Can Change the World | Deborah Magid, Director, Software Strategy, IBM Venture Capital Group |
| Sept. 7, 4:00 – 5:30 | Success: MOOC Facilitated Discussion #3. Register here |
Trần Thị Thùy Trang |
| Sept. 8, 10:00 – 11:00 | Conversation Hour | Holly Calkins |
| Sept. 8, 3:00 – 4:30 | Innovations in Natural Science Museums | Reed S. Beaman, U.S. Embassy Science Fellow |
| Sept. 8, 5:30 – 6:50 | The Strategy of Content Marketing: MOOC Facilitated Discussion #2. Register here |
Nikki Nguyễn |
| Sept. 15, 10:00 – 11:00 | Conversation Hour | Holly Calkins |
| Sept. 15, 5:30 – 6:50 | The Strategy of Content Marketing: MOOC Facilitated Discussion #3. Register here |
Nikki Nguyễn |
| Sept. 18, 2:00 – 6:00 | World Water Quality Monitoring Day | U.S. Embassy Hanoi |
| Sept. 20, 3:00 – 4:00 | American English Club | American Center |
| Sept. 20, 5:00 – 7:00 | Pathways to Academic Success Series: Acquiring Collocations for Academic Success | Helen Huntley |
| Sept. 21, 2:00 – 4:00 | Emergency Preparedness and Personal Safety Awareness | Alan Chipman, U.S. Embassy Hanoi |
| Sept. 21, 4:00 – 5:30 | Success: MOOC Facilitated Discussion #4. Register here |
Trần Thị Thùy Trang |
| Sept. 22, 10:00 – 11:00 | Conversation Hour | Holly Calkins |
| Sept. 22, 2:30 – 4:00 | Hate Crimes in the U.S. | Lt. Brett Parson, Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police Department |
| Sept. 22, 5:30 – 6:50 | The Strategy of Content Marketing: MOOC Facilitated Discussion #4. Register here |
Nikki Nguyễn |
| Sept. 25, 5:00 – 19:00 | Leadership Training Series: How to Develop a Time Investment Strategy. Register here |
Hoàng Ngọc Bích |
| Sept. 26, 3:00 – 4:00 | Learning English Through American Sitcoms: Friends (1994 – 2004) | Bùi Phương Anh, U.S. Embassy Hanoi |
| Sept. 26, 4:00 – 6:00 | American English Club | AC Interns |
| Sept. 27, 2:30 – 4:00 | Trends in Law: Using Mediation to Solve Legal Disputes | Joanne Katz, J.D. is a Fulbright Scholar |
| Sept. 27, 4:00 – 6:00 | Musical Movie Night: Hairspray | Molly Stephenson, U.S. Embassy Hanoi |
| Sept. 28, 10:00 – 11:30 | Debate Club: Should students be allowed to grade and rank their teachers? | American Center |
| Sept. 28, 3:00 – 4:00 | AC Student News | American Center |
| Sept. 29, 10:00 – 11:00 | Conversation Hour | Molly Stephenson, U.S. Embassy Hanoi |
| Sept. 29, 5:30 – 6:50 | The Strategy of Content Marketing: MOOC Facilitated Discussion #5. Register here |
Nikki Nguyễn |
Conversation Hour
Fridays, 10:00 – 11:00 am
American Volunteers
Call it a conversation, or any one of this word’s synonyms – chat, colloquy, converse, dialog, discussion, etc. – this is an hour of informal talk and your opportunity to improve your English speaking and listening skills. An American host of the hour will introduce a topic and guide you through discussion around it. Come to chat and learn. Bring your friends and make even more friends!
American English Club
American Center Interns
Come join our American English Club, starting from 5:00 PM. This fun upcoming program will feature performances of some well-known and beloved songs. After the musical performances, the audience will join the host to learn how to sing one of these memorable tunes as a warm-up activity. Then, the club will continue with its interesting activities that will give you the opportunities to improve your English speaking skills, enhance your vocabulary, and have a lot of fun discussions and presentations.
Debate Club
American Center Interns
The goal of the American Center’s Debate Club is to create friendly environment where anyone can express and freely debate their ideas on interesting current topics. So if you like to analyze facts, communicates openly, or just interested in debate please make your way to the AC to join our club.
AC Student News
American Center Interns
Adapted from the CNN Student News, this program encouraged participants to reflect on and discuss international issues, while using opportunity to sharpen English language skills, especially listening and speaking.
The Next New Thing: Trends and Disruptions in the World of Startups
September 5, 3:30 – 5:00 p.m.
Deborah Magid, Director, Software Strategy, IBM Venture Capital Group
Startups engage in a variety of types of disruptions. They look at the possibilities for innovations in various industries and types of business as a set of opportunities not to be missed. Investors are interested in funding startups that use new technologies to transform business and society. The most successful entrepreneurs understand these transformations and create new companies to solve real problems.
Waste Management and Plastic Contamination
September 6, 10:00 – 11:30 p.m.
Dr. Jenna Jambeck, University of Georgia
Come join us in a talk on waste management and plastic contamination on September 7! Dr. Jenna Jambeck, Associate Professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Georgia (UGA), has been conducting research on solid waste issues for 20 years with related projects on marine debris since 2001. She also specializes in global waste management issues and plastic contamination. Her work on plastic waste inputs into the ocean has been widely recognized by the global community and translated into policy discussions by the Global Ocean Commission, in testimony to U.S. Congress, G7, G20, and the United Nations Environment program.
Women of Science: How They, and You, Can Change the World
September 6, 4:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Deborah Magid, Director, Software Strategy, IBM Venture Capital Group
When we read about science, it often seems like a man’s world. However, women have been leaders in science from the time of the ancient Greeks until today. We will take a look at some remarkable women and how they have changed the world. And we will discuss how we can all be part of the scientific advances that impact our lives every day.
Innovations in Natural Science Museums
September 8, 3:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Dr. Reed Beaman, Embassy Science Fellow
Museums have served as institutions of scientific research and informal education for many decades. While this effort continues, the way museums have played these roles has transformed drastically in the last few years. Dr. Reed Beaman, an Embassy Science Fellow from the U.S. National Science Foundation, will talk about innovations in natural science museums and will lead a discussion on how these can tie into efforts here in Vietnam.
Pathways to Academic Success Series: Critical Thinking for Academic Success
September 6, 5:30 – 7:00 p.m.
Helen Huntley
Critical thinking skills are essential tools for English language learners to compete effectively in professional and academic environments. In this session, participants will learn about the components of critical thinking: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. They will apply this knowledge through individual, pair, and group activities which will provide many opportunities for speaking practice. Critical thinking skills will also be examined in terms of the international English language tests required for overseas study.
World Water Quality Monitoring Day
September 18, 2:00 – 6:00 p.m.
U.S. Embassy Hanoi
September 18th marks World Water Quality Monitoring Day. Clean water is important for human health and for the well-being of our planet. If you’d like to hear what Vietnam, the United States, NGOs and private companies are doing to help provide clean water in Vietnam, or if you’d like to learn how you can get involved, please come to the U.S. Embassy’s American Center on Monday, Sept 18th, at 2:30 pm.
Pathways to Academic Success Series: Acquiring Collocations for Academic Success
September 22, 10:00 – 12:00 midday
Helen Huntley
Vocabulary learning is more effectively addressed through the recognition and learning of chunks of words occurring naturally together. This session will present practical activities designed to help students notice collocations and practice them through a range of reading, writing, speaking and listening activities which focus on the academic experience.
Emergency Preparedness and Personal Safety Awareness
September 21, 2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Alan Chipman, U.S. Embassy Hanoi
We will specifically talk about Emergency Preparedness Plans and Personal Safety awareness strategies. Regional Security Officer Alan Chipman is currently the senior security official for Mission Vietnam and has previously served in multiple countries to include, Cambodia, Algeria, India, Iraq, Japan, Yemen and now Vietnam. He will focus on the importance of planning and preparedness for natural disasters, various crisis scenarios, and personal safety considerations. We look forward to discussing this topic with the audience and have organized the presentation to include a participation exercise.
Hate Crimes in the U.S.
September 22, 2:30 – 4:00 p.m.
Lt. Brett Parson has been serving the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington for over two decades. He oversees the department’s Special Liaison Branch, at the executive office of the chief of police. Parson is nationally and internationally recognized as a resource for investigations involving crimes against LGBTQ and vulnerable groups. He has spoken in several countries on the subject of providing diverse policing and investigating hate/bias crimes.
Come and join our visiting U.S. speaker, Lt. Brett Parson, in his talk on hate crimes in the U.S. Interpreter will be provided.
Trends in law: Using Mediation to Solve Legal Disputes
September 27, 2:30 – 4:00 p.m.
Joanne Katz, J.D. is a Fulbright Scholar
The American Legal System is an adversarial system, which focuses on a win/lose strategy to solve problems. Mediation offers a collaborative approach, where people in disputes can find ways to solve their problems where both parties are satisfied. This presentation will explore different conflict resolution models, and explore the benefits of using Mediation as it’s being used more throughout the world.
Joanne Katz, J.D. is a Fulbright Scholar at Foreign Trade University School of Law. She has been a Professor of Legal Studies in the Department of Criminal Justice, Legal Studies & Social Work at Missouri Western State University for over 26 years. Katz has researched, presented and published on issues related to restorative justice, mediation and collaborative processes for over 25 years. She has received several research grants, and has studied issues related to restorative justice in juvenile courts and stakeholder attitudes about restorative justice and the criminal justice system. Katz is a founding member of the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice, and served on its Board. She is the past Chair of the Section on Restorative and Community Justice for the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. In 2009, she was awarded the rank of Distinguished Professor.
Office English 4.0 announcement
Register at https://goo.gl/6k7JH4 by 5:00 p.m., September 23, 2017 (Hanoi time)
The American Center, Public Affairs Section, U.S. Embassy Hanoi, is offering an Office English course for university graduates and mid-level officers who are living in Hanoi. This course is NOT for undergraduate students. To be eligible to attend this free course, you must have a minimum English proficiency of pre-intermediate level and you will need to pass an entrance examination.
If accepted into the course, you must be able to commit 6 hours a week to attend classes at the American Center from 5:00 – 7:00 pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, starting on October 2, 2017. This course will be conducted by American and Vietnamese professors from the Hanoi University.
This course aims to enable professionals to communicate in English naturally, independently and confidently in real life office settings. Using an outcome-based syllabus in this 50 hour course, you will have the opportunity to:
- Practice spoken and written English in office/business communications
- Enhance language knowledge including vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation through communicative outcome-based tasks
- Study of interesting and relevant office/business texts from genuine business sources
- Practice English for International business skills: delivering presentations, conducting meetings, negotiations, and socializing within various office/business environments.
Please register for this course by completing the form https://goo.gl/6k7JH4 by 5:00 p.m., September 23, 2017 (Hanoi time). Only selected students will be notified by September 20, 2017. Placement test will be confirmed later.
