Taiwan to teach Vietnamese in elementary schools from 2018

By VnExpress January 11, 2017 | 11:28 pm PT

A growing number of immigrants has prompted Taiwan to add several languages to its school curriculum.

Vietnamese will be listed among seven other Southeast Asian languages on Taiwan’s curriculum for elementary schools from 2018, according to Taiwanese Minister of Education Pan Wen-Chung.

Pan made the announcement at an event in the southern city of Kaohsiung last month, saying the introduction of Southeast Asian languages on the core curriculum will offer greater opportunities for Taiwanese students and children from new immigrant families.

Au Quy Hi, Education Secretary at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in HCMC, was quoted by online newspaper Tuoi Tre yesterday as saying that Taiwan’s primary schools will start teaching Vietnamese to students at grade 3.

“At the moment, the material for learning Vietnamese in Taiwan is basically ready. These textbooks have been designed by research centers at universities across Taiwan,” said Quy Hi. “We are also promoting cooperation and exchange research projects between pedagogical facilities in Taiwan and Vietnam to prepare teachers for the Vietnamese lessons.”

Quy Hi also said teaching Vietnamese in Taiwan will help children of Vietnamese-Taiwanese couples to learn more about Vietnam and its culture, as there are a growing number of Vietnamese women marrying Taiwanese men.

“We hope the introduction of Vietnamese will help children of Vietnamese origin to better integrate into Taiwan’s education system and be on an equal footing with native children,” said the officer.

In Kaohsiung and New Taipei City, the government has organized two training programs to train Vietnamese brides as teachers.

Vietnamese-Taiwanese children account for 40.7 percent (over 80,000) of children with dual citizenship in Taiwan.

Currently, there are about 260,000 children of new immigrants in Taiwan's primary and secondary schools, according to Education Minister Pan.

> Vietnamese bride in China swallows razor blades in suicide bid