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:
- All visitors to the American Center (AC) in Hanoi must undergo additional security checks of their personal electronic devices (laptops, cell phones, fitness trackers, etc.). These new procedures are being implemented worldwide to enhance the security of U.S. Embassy buildings. Please note that these new security screening requirements, which includes powering on the equipment in front of the guards, will lengthen the wait times for guests entering the AC. Guests should plan to arrive at least 30 minutes prior to an event to ensure they can get through the screening procedures in time. We recommend you consider using the U.S. Embassy’s equipment and leaving your devices at home to shorten the screening time for all guests. In the meantime, if you plan to bring this or other electronic equipment to the AC, please allow more time for these new screening procedures. Thank you for your assistance and patience.
- 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 |
|---|---|---|
| December 2018 |
Future Leader CampRegister here by 5:00 pm Dec. 4 |
American Center and CSDS |
| Nov. 1, 3:00 – 4:30 | Why Study a STEM or Business-related Field at a Liberal Arts School?. Register here | EducationUSA Advising Center |
| Nov. 5, 5:00 – 6:30 | Mastering the Soft Skill of Attitude, Level 2 | Cynthia McKinney |
| Nov. 6, 3:00 – 5:00 | Leadership and Strategy in Action | Mark Runge |
| Nov. 7, 2:30 – 4:30 | Art as a Catalyst for Change and Reconciliation, a Panel Discussion. Register here | C. David Thomas, Suzanne Lecht, Phạm Xuân Nguyên, Nhung Walsh, and Fenghua Wang |
| Nov. 8, 11:00 – 12:00 | Religious Freedom in the U.S., Looking Forward, Looking Back. | Khashayar Ghashghai |
| Nov. 8, 3:00 – 4:30 | How to Perfect Your English by Choosing the Right Intensive English Program in the U.S.. Register here | EducationUSA Advising Center |
| Nov. 9, 2:00 – 5:00 | U.S. Open House Day – International Education Week | U.S. Embassy Hanoi |
| Nov. 14, 10:00 – 11:30 | Debate Club: “Should Smoking Be Banned Worldwide?” | American Center Interns |
| Nov. 14, 12:00 – 1:30 | Pronunciation Workshop | Jacqueline Gilbertson |
| Nov. 14, 5:00 – 6:30 | English for Career Preparation | Rebecca Garcia |
| Nov. 15, 2:30 – 4:30 | Learning English Through Drama. Register required here by COB November 14 | Rachel Brown-Glazner |
| Nov. 19, 5:00 – 6:30 | Mastering the Soft Skill of Teamwork Level 2 | Cynthia McKinney |
| Nov. 20, 4:30 – 6:00 | Debate Club | American Center Interns |
| Nov. 21, 12:00 – 1:30 | Pronunciation Workshop | Jacqueline Gilbertson |
| Nov. 21, 5:00 – 6:30 | English for Career Preparation | Rebecca Garcia |
| Nov. 23, 1:00 – 4:00 | Tech Fair for High School Students | American Center |
| Nov. 26, 5:00 – 6:30 | Mastering the Soft Skill of Networking Level 2 | Cynthia McKinney |
| Nov. 27, 5:30 – 7:00 | MOOC Work Smarter, Not Harder: Time Management for Personal and Professional Productivity. Register (required) here | Nikki Nguyen |
| Nov. 28, 12:00 – 13:30 | Pronunciation Workshop | Jacqueline Gilbertson |
| Nov. 28, 5:00 – 6:30 | English for Career Preparation | Rebecca Garcia |
| Nov. 29, 3:00 – 4:30 | English Language Workshop – How to Improve Your Speaking Skills. Register here | EducationUSA Advising Center |
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 to improve your English speaking skills and enhance your English vocabularies on a variety of topics. The participants will join the host to learn how to sing one of the popular memorable songs 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.
From Strangers to Familiars
American Center Interns
From Strangers to Familiar is a program that engages people in deep conversations in order to develop connections between humans. From Strangers to Familiars not only gives participants an opportunity to master their English communication skills but also helps them create ultimate long-lasting networks through the program’s chain of deep talks. Everyone has a chance to share and everyone is listened.
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.
Mastering the Soft Skill of Attitude, Level 2
November 5, 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.
Cynthia McKinney
A positive and enthusiastic attitude is critical in workplace success and success in life. Having a positive attitude in the workplace can help with promotions. Employers promote employees who not only produce, but also motivate others in the workplace. The activities in this course seek to teach participants about the importance of enthusiasm and a positive attitude in the workplace. Participants will hear strategies for turning negative thinking into positive thinking. This course will also discuss strategies for displaying enthusiasm during an interview and on the job.
Leadership and Strategy in Action
November 6, 3:00 – 5:00 p.m.
Mark Runge
Please come join a two-hour workshop on leadership & strategy to achieve personal and professional success. You will be engaged in activities that help you understand the skills involved in critical thinking and reasoning and how you could translate this into action to better understand the world and how you fit in. Professor Mark Runge is the former Co-Owner and Managing Director of ACC Consulting International, Vietnam and he lectured at RMIT Vietnam and FPT University. He is currently a visiting Professor traveling to many different countries giving lectures to MBA students – Vietnam, UAE, South Africa, Kenya, Switzerland and Afghanistan.
Please join us for an insightful few hours of open discussion and audience participation activities.
Art as a Catalyst for Change and Reconciliation, a Panel Discussion
November 7, 2:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Facilitator: Fenghua Wang, U.S. Embassy Hanoi
Panelists: C. David Thomas, Suzanne Lecht, Phạm Xuân Nguyên, and Nhung Walsh
Art has the unique power to provide the tools and platforms to bring communities together to engage in challenging conversations. In 1987, seven years before the lifting of the U.S. trade embargo and eight years before the normalization of relations, David Thomas traveled to Vietnam with a group of educators in the U.S. Indochina Reconciliation Project. This was his first return to Vietnam since serving as a U.S. Army combat artist/engineer in Pleiku, South Vietnam, in 1969-70. During this trip Thomas met with then Deputy Director of the Vietnam Fine Arts Museum, Mr. Nguyen Van Chung, and the idea for the first major cultural exchange project between the United States and Vietnam took root. Since then, Indochina Arts Partnership (IAP) has sponsored about 40 Vietnamese artist as fellow to study in the United States. The IAP engages and cultivates art communities between the United States of America and Southeast Asia by activating partnerships and collaborations, developing resources that empower artists and creative projects, and furthering the boundaries of art in its intersection with other disciplines.
Suzanne Lecht, Art Director of the Art Vietnam Gallery, is recognized as the leading authority on contemporary art in Vietnam. In 1994 while living in Japan, Suzanne was captivated by images of the works of Hanoi’s Gang of Five, early pioneers of contemporary art in Vietnam so she moved to Hanoi and has worked with Vietnamese artists and helped many exceptional artists to achieve success. Her first exhibition was in Hong Kong in 1997, The Changing face of Hanoi, and the gallery has continued to exhibit internationally and locally promoting local as well as international artists.
Phạm Xuân Nguyên is a Vietnamese writer and literary translator. An army veteran, he used to be Chairman of Hanoi Writer’s Association. Now he is an independent writer and member of the Vietnamese Independent Writer’s Group. His literary works include Nhà văn như Thị Nở (Such Thi No-Like Writers) and Khát vọng thành thực (Sincere Aspiration). He also translated Sleepless Time by American war veterans, Immortality – Slowly – Prototype (a trilogy by Milan Kundera), The Post-Modernism Context by J-F. Lyotard, Literature and Cruelty by G. Bataille.
Nhung Walsh is a curator and cultural producer from Hanoi. She has participated in cultural programs at UNESCO and worked on Vietnamese cultural heritage and development projects and collaborates with museums, institutions, and independent art spaces in Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, and the United States. Her research explores the politics of war memories; censorship and the influences of daily images; and technologies as medium and languages in new media art. Her projects in Vietnam aim at building new audience for arts through activities that connect art and technology, independent publishing and literature, and other disciplines. She holds master’s degrees in international studies from Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, history from The University of Alabama, and art administration from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Currently, Walsh is director of Indochina Arts Partnership, a non-profit organization that supports exchanges and develops art education programs in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
Religious Freedom in the United States, Looking Forward, Looking Back
November 8, 11:00 – 12:00 midday
Khashayar Ghashghai, Deputy Director, Office of International Religious Freedom, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, U.S. Department of State
Register here
Did you know that International Religious Freedom Day was October 27? Freedom of thought, conscience, religion and belief is central to American identity and values. These are universal rights. Please join us in a discussion and Q&A with Khashayar Ghashghai on the topic of religious freedom in the United States.
Presenter’s biography: Mr. Khashayar Ghashghai assumed the title of Deputy Director, Office of International Religious Freedom in August 2018. He was previously coordinator for the first-ever U.S. Department of State Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom. Mr. Ghashghai also served as Special Assistant in the Office of the Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights. He has served previously in Nairobi, Kenya and Peshawar, Pakistan. Mr. Ghashghai holds a Master of Arts in War Studies form King’s College, London, and a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature from Texas A&M University.
Learning English Through Drama
Nov. 15, 2:30 – 4:30 p.m.
Rachel Brown-Glazner
Register required for this workshop: https://goo.gl/KKP1Jr. Deadline is COB November 14, 2018. Kindly note that only selected participants will be contacted to attend the event.
Speaking English through drama helps build confidence while having fun. Through acting out some comic short plays, Rachel Brown-Glazner, an American officer at the U.S. Embassy, will create some fun activities to practice speaking English. This workshop will accept only 30 students. Please register early to reserve a spot.
Mastering the Soft Skill of Teamwork Level 2
November 19, 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.
Cynthia McKinney
Teamwork is an essential part of workplace success. The ability to work as part of a team is
one of the most important skills in today’s job market. Employers are looking for workers who can contribute their own ideas. They also want people who can work with others to create and develop projects and plans. In this course, we will learn the what, the how and the why of teamwork. Level 2 will also discover the barriers to teamwork and strategies to overcome these barriers. This course will also study different types of personalities and how this impacts teamwork.
Tech Fair for High School Students
November 23, 2018, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Student Tech Fair 2018 promises to be a place for students to interact with experienced STEM project development teams, and gain hands-on experience in the field. Attendees will be able to interact with the products created by students and technology products such as Lego Mindstorm EV3, 3D printer, VR, and meet people with the same interest.
Register here http://bit.ly/Techfair2018
Mastering the Soft Skill of Networking Level 2
November 26, 5:00 – 6:30 p.m.
Cynthia McKinney
In this course we look at the importance of networking as a strategy for career development and exploration. Everyone has a network, even if you don’t realize it, and when it comes to job searching, this network may be just as important as your skills and experience. Participants will learn about taking initiative and overcoming fear (which is quite common). Level 2 will focus on the value of informational interviewing and how to do this. Level 2 will also look at guidelines to consider when using social networks, texting, and email for networking purposes. This level will also discuss a strategy to help grow your network as well as provide practice for networking (i.e. starting conversations).
