VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese will soon be officially taught at primary and secondary schools in California, USA.

Director of the Education Council of Garden Grove Kelly McAmis, has announced that teaching will start at Santiago and Los Amigos secondary schools as from 2014.

Kelly said the Vietnamese 1P class is for 7th and 8th grade students, who need an A-G mark for the Vietnamese 2P before entering higher education. Students learning Vietnamese from 9th to 12th grade have to follow the world language development programme.

Kelly said the main problem for Garden Grove is to find qualified teachers in the granting of bilingual education certificates to students who are fluent in English and their mother tongue.

Bao Nguyen, a member of the Council, said students have to sit tests in Vietnamese listening, speaking, reading and writing skills.

Washington State, for instance, has many Vietnamese schools, such as Hong Bang in Renton, Van Lang and Dac Lo in Seattle, Hong An in Everett, and Hung Vuong in Auburn.

According to plan, Vietnamese will be officially taught at the Burien Primary School in Seattle as from September, this year.

Burien School Director Anne Reece said the Dual Language programme as it is called, has subjects taught in both English and Vietnamese. It has already proved successful at the Stafford Primary School in Houston City, Texas.

Bao Nguyen expressed his hope that Vietnamese will be taught on a larger scale as from 2014 to help young students understand their Vietnamese roots and traditions.

Source: VOV