- Vietnam launches a foreign language initiative for preschool and early-grade students, covering Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and ASEAN languages like Laotian and Khmer.
- The project aims to enhance language skills by 2035, integrating global languages into education to boost student competitiveness domestically and internationally.
- Measures include teacher training, AI-enabled learning, and cross-subject integration, with special focus on border regions and high-demand fields like AI, biomedicine, and semiconductors.
The Government has approved a program to introduce Chinese, Japanese, and Korean language learning on a trial basis at the preschool level; it will also focus on teaching Southeast Asian languages including Lao and Khmer in border areas.
The newly approved initiative targets foreign language education enhancement through 2035 in building the young generation with strong language proficiency and helping to meet sustainable development requirements of the country in the new era. It aims at developing learners' foreign language skills to meet their demands for study, communication, and access to global knowledge, culture, science and technology, as well as international integration, helping improve the competitiveness of the workforce in both domestic and international labour markets.
Under the project, Vietnam will develop and implement teaching programs for languages from several ASEAN countries with Lao and Khmer languages prioritized, in the educational institutions that have demand and meet required conditions, especially at border-area communes.
Schools will continue piloting optional programs to introduce Chinese, Russian, French, German, Japanese, and Korean to first- and second-grade students, and they will also expand the teaching of Korean and German in institutions that are qualified and have demand.
The project also calls for strengthening foreign language teaching and training across the national education system, in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and other languages, in line with learners' needs and local conditions. Teaching and learning of Russian, French, German and other foreign languages will also be encouraged under the initiative.
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In these reports, eight key solutions to advance foreign language education were put forward, including an increase in the number of foreign language teachers while improving their skills. The education sector shall speed up the application of advanced technologies and artificial intelligence in foreign language teaching and learning, and continuously improve facilities and conditions for foreign language education, including that of courses delivered in a foreign language.
The project also focuses on international cooperation that enhances foreign language education in Vietnam. It demands that foreign language teacher and lecturer recruitment, including foreign nationals, should ensure quality and meet job requirements and professional standards, focusing on strengthening the teaching staff in border areas.
In addition, preferential policies would be promulgated to attract graduates with strong foreign-language skills and qualified foreign language teachers to work in socio-economically disadvantaged areas, while mechanisms allowing foreigners to teach at public educational institutions would be studied. Foreign language teaching will also be integrated into subjects like mathematics, natural sciences, social sciences and science, as well as training majors and disciplines, with the key areas being directed toward AI, semiconductors, biomedicine, security, and national defense.
