After checking airfares and other expenses, I decided I could not afford to return home for Tet (Lunar New Year).

Many universities in Vietnam now allow IELTS scores to be converted into admission points, a policy that has helped fuel the test’s growing popularity, raising the question of whether it truly promotes effective learning or simply pushes students into an expensive race for marginal advantages.

When I learned that many of my child's classmates already held IELTS scores of 6.5 to 7.0 while still in Grade 8, I realized that my child had entered the race later than most.

On the morning of Jan. 26, my phone was flooded with messages from friends and colleagues. All of them revolved around the same news: five confirmed cases of Nipah virus infection in West Bengal, India.

I recently found myself unsettled by a decision made by my four-grade child's parent association: contributing funds to hire someone to clean their classroom.

In Singapore, there is a nonprofit restaurant called Soul Food. What impressed me most was not a fancy menu but the people who run it. They are young workers on the autism spectrum, or ASD, and their philosophy is blunt and fair: "We want you to come for the good service, not out of pity."

When I was little, my younger brother, three neighborhood girls, and I used to crowd around the basement TV to watch the Spice Girls sing.

I made a decision that many people consider risky: I did not let my child spend all their time buried in books, even though they were capable of studying more to maintain strong academic results.

Vietnam's prevailing 48-hour work week - often extended further by overtime - is pushing many workers into chronic exhaustion, making them reluctant to spend on shopping, travel, or even healthcare.

At a late-year breakfast in Bristol, an elderly professor set down his teacup and spoke slowly. “Universities now pour most of their resources into checking whether students actually learn,” he said. “They no longer focus on improving teaching itself.”

I have long been familiar with the reality of public noise, from loud conversations and casual video calls to people watching TikTok or YouTube on their phone speakers.

The ongoing debate over the value of English-language certificates raises a fundamental question: What is the purpose of learning English, and how much proficiency is truly necessary?

The group chats I am in with close friends are often filled with nonstop talk about food, particularly how and where to find safe food.

On Saturday evening, after the CEO of Ha Long Canned Food Company had been arrested, I met my neighbor who was throwing several cans of the company's pâté into the trash.

Twelve days of annual leave existed on paper, but in practice they were almost unusable.

Some visitors to Phu Quoc say their holiday came with an unexpected frustration: finding the beach meant passing through restaurants or hotels, with no clear public access.

I have been eagerly following the news about the new 5.8-kilometer bicycle lane along Mai Chi Tho Boulevard in Thu Thiem.

I have adopted a strategy after working for 20 years, moving from "finishing tasks" to "creating value," and no longer measuring my worth by hours worked.

Last weekend, on a domestic flight, I found myself in an awkward and frustrating situation. It was something many others have probably experienced too.