After the Covid-19 pandemic passed, my family welcomed overseas Vietnamese relatives to visit home more often. In addition to the usual family gatherings and outings, recently, there has been a new trend: older siblings with children and grandchildren have asked me to buy Vietnamese language books to bring back to teach their grandchildren.
My cousin, Kim Nga, in the Aurota area of Little Elm, Texas (USA), laments that her grandchildren are less and less willing to speak Vietnamese. Partly because their parents are too busy and have little time to talk to their children at home. What’s more regrettable is that many young parents do not teach their children to speak Vietnamese from a young age.
Ms. Nga said that in the house where three generations still live together, a rare occurrence in the Vietnamese community in this area, the only Vietnamese the children often hear is their mother telling them to study, to eat quickly, not to play games... And they only speak Vietnamese when asking for this or that dish.
Ms. Nga said that to encourage children, many families prepare Vietnamese dishes on weekends, entice the children to choose dishes, then pretend to ask a lot of questions so that they can speak Vietnamese. Or take them to a Vietnamese restaurant and let the children read the menu and order dishes in Vietnamese. Little by little, they hope that by describing the dishes, remembering the ingredients, names, etc., they will help the children increase their vocabulary. On holidays, many parents also turn on Vietnamese game shows for their children to listen to, and play games with prizes.
According to incomplete statistics, in the US there are currently nearly 200 facilities and centers teaching Vietnamese, concentrated in states with large Vietnamese populations such as California, Texas, Washington... but they mainly rely on volunteer teachers, mostly on a small, spontaneous model. They search for and buy Vietnamese language books, books about Vietnamese culture and history, and refer to images and videos online to prepare their own lesson plans.
In fact, some pagodas and churches with Vietnamese communities have Vietnamese language classes organized by retired elders on weekends. However, according to Thuyen Nguyen, a doctor living in Renwick, Houston, Texas, this form is gradually becoming less effective. Taking children to Vietnamese classes is also not easy for working parents.
The Covid-19 pandemic, along with the development of technology, has created opportunities for many groups to teach Vietnamese online via the Zoom platform. In addition, some online media, such as the YouTube channel teaching Vietnamese for grade 1 of VTV Television, the Monkey Junior app... are trusted by many parents.
Back to Ms. Nga's story. Following the introduction of many friends in the country and abroad, she bought the "Hello Vietnamese" series - a Vietnamese language teaching book series for overseas Vietnamese children that just won the 2023 national A prize by Ms. Thuy Anh, the "Fun Vietnamese" series, the Vietnamese level A, B, C series by Doan Thien Thuat, Basic Vietnamese by Nguyen Viet Huong... to the Vietnamese History series with color pictures, in Vietnamese and English. She also asked to buy comic books entirely in Vietnamese, Vietnamese folk songs with pictures... so that when she returned home, her grandparents would "entice" her grandchildren to look at pictures and learn.
Teaching Vietnamese to overseas Vietnamese, especially the younger generation, is receiving attention and promotion. In addition to learning basic grammar and vocabulary for beginners to read and write, students are also supported to communicate well in real-life situations. Some prestigious universities in the US such as Yale University, Brown University, Princeton University, University of North Carolina, University of Houston, University of California, University of Washington, etc. have also taught Vietnamese to students under credit-based programs, although the number of courses is still relatively small.
For children in kindergarten and elementary school, Vietnamese has been officially taught in the curriculum of some elementary schools, first in the state of California. Although the number of students studying it is still small, it is a good sign that Vietnamese is considered an official foreign language in the public education system in the US.
XUAN HANH
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