B: Shivendu Paul, President of the Metali Listeners Club of India wrote: I downloaded your app VOV Media and listened to your programs nicely.We try to listen to your programs regularly. Your program quality is very nice. Your website is colorful and documented.”

A: We’re very glad that you’ve promoted our VOV Media app to the Metali Listeners Club members. The app is a move in VOV’s development strategy to digitize our radio programs. It can be used on both Android and IOS platforms. With this new app, you can listen to our program anytime anywhere on your smart phone. Please download this app and click on VOV5 to listen to our broadcasts.

The interface of VOV Media apps

B: In the meantime, VOV still maintains shortwave broadcasts to all 5 continents  We are very happy to welcome new listeners almost every week. Many of our old listeners have returned to their shortwave passion after several years of suspension.

A: Shivendu Paul said the Metali Listeners Club members listened to VOV’s program on May 17 from1600 to 1630 UTC on the frequency of 7220 KHz. He wrote:We loved your programs, News, and Current Affairs Program. We are interested inculture, the life style of Vietnamese people, historical places, tourist attractions, and destinations of Vietnam.”

B: Mr. Paul told us that it is summer now in India and schools are on summer vacation for about one month. He asked: Do schools in Vietnam have summer vacation?

A: Yes, they do. The pupils will begin summer vacation in late May. This week schools are wrapping up academic programs, organizing sports competitions, music and dance performances, and year-end parties.

B:The school year in Vietnam begins on the fifth day of September and ends in late May or early June, which means pupils have almost three months of summer vacation.

A: While the children are eager for a summer break, their parents are concerned about what to do with their children while they’re home from school. There are nursery schools to watch the younger kids for the summer. And many public schools organize summer classes for sports and games such as swimming, volleyball, basketball, football, and chess, and for arts such as singing, dancing, and playing musical instruments. Some schools and education centers have good facilities and labs where children can study physics, chemistry, and robotics.

B: Some Vietnamese parents are worried their kids will get rusty in their academic subjects and fall behind their peers when the new school year starts, so they are already signing their kids up for summer classes in math, foreign languages, and literature to prepare them for the upcoming academic year’s fierce competition.

A: Extra classes in the summer are costly and not all families can afford them. In the cities, there are more educational and recreational options for children than in the country, where most children stay home for the summer to help their family with housework and farm chores.

B: This week we received a lot of post mails. I love to look at the stamps on them and open the letters. That makes me feel I’m in closer contact with the senders. Your hand-writing, your photos, and your postcards are real and tangible.

A: Me, too. I’m reading a letter from John Cooper of the US. He reports listening to VOV’s broadcast on April 28 on the frequency of 7315 khz and rated SINPO 54555.

B: John wrote: “I really enjoyed listening to VOV. It has been quite a while since I have submitted a reception report. I used to listen to you weekly when you broadcast from Woofferton in the UK. I’ve been listening weekly since you switched to the US transmission site. I’ve found the reception to be much stronger and clearer. I especially like the news as I’m able to gain insight into what is going on in Vietnam and Asia. I also enjoyed the program Discovery Vietnam, the talk about food, and the music as well.”

A: Thank you very much, John Cooper, for your comments and the money you sent for return postage. Your reception report tallies with our station log so we definitely will verify it. We hope our reply letter will arrive at your house soon.

B: Here is a reception report from DX’er Harold Woering of Indiana, the US, who listened to our program on May 9 on the frequency of 7315 khz. He said the audio was very good. The signal was in the range of S10-S20 and SINPO was 55545. Harold wrote: “A very informative program and especially hearing about news in the Southeast Asia area. I’ve been listening to VOV since the 70s and always appreciate your point of view and commentaries. A job well done! Congratulations! It’s always good to hear you on the shortwave bands.”

A: Thank you, Harold, for supporting VOV and shortwave. We’ll verify your reception report and we’re looking forward to hearing from you more regularly. Listener Balamurali of South India asked us about how Vietnam generates electricity for industries and households. How many hydro and thermal power plants are there? Does Vietnam produce enough power for domestic demand? Does it export power to neighboring countries?

B: Vietnam depends mostly on hydropower and thermal plants to meet its power demand, which is expected to increase 7-10 percent a year through 2030.According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Vietnam has 306 hydropower plants in operation with a total capacity of about 15.5 GW. 193 new plants are under construction and 245 more are going through the investment phase. The Ministry said it has rejected over 210 potential projects because of environmental and efficiency concerns.

A: The state-owned company Electricity of Vietnam said it manages 18 thermal power plants with a total capacity of 24,000 MW. 6 hydropower and 4 thermal power plants will go on stream this year to meet the increasing demand. Other sources of electricity will get priority, especially thermal power, which is expected to contribute 49.3 percent of output by 2020 and 55 percent by 2025. Despite environmental pollution and other effects from coal firing, Vietnam is continuing to develop a new network of coal-fired plants. Last year it imported 3.2 million tons of coal for thermal power plants.

B: Vietnam has three wind power plants with a total capacity of 54 MW and plans to have 1,000 MW of wind power by 2020. It has canceled its first nuclear plant project. Electricity production has not been sufficient to supply 100% of the domestic demand and Vietnam does notexport power to neighboring countries.

A: This week we acknowledge letters from Staffan Crona of Sweden, Sharwan Kumar Gandhveer of India, P.S.Sekar of India, Muneer K.P of the UAE, John Rutledge of China, Mark Whalin of the US, and Andrew Kuznetsov of Latvia.

B: We’ll verify your reception reports and we hope you’ll receive our verification cards soon. Please send your reports to English Section, Overseas Service, Voice of Vietnam, 45 Ba Trieu Street, Hanoi, Vietnam. Our email address is englishsection@vov.org.vn. Thank you for listening. Please join us again next Wednesday for another Letter Box edition. Goodbye.