German Teaching Enhanced in Vietnamese Schools

 

Speaking at the workshop, Mr Nguyen Trong Hoan, Deputy Director of the Department of Secondary Education, Ministry of Education and Training, said: ''At the time of cooperation with other countries being promoted, we are very interested to see that young people in Vietnam increasingly want to learn German. We recognise the obvious importance of teaching German at schools in Vietnam.''

 

''There has been growing interest in Germany, the German language and study in German universities over the years,'' said Mr Jonas Koll, Cultural Attaché at the Embassy of Germany. He pointed out that thanks to the memorandum of understanding signed in 2013, the status of the teaching German at high schools in Vietnam has been raised from pilot level to the official implementation. Thus, the German language is not only taught as a second language but also first foreign language at high schools in Vietnam. Mr Jonas Koll said: ''That is the moment Vietnam expressed clear support for German as a foreign language. The mission of ZfA is to promote ‘prominent peak' in Vietnamese schools where students are able to participate in exams to earn DSD I certificate or even DSD II. This can be seen as the most direct path to the universities in Germany.''

 

Andrea Kunze, Office Coordinator in Vietnam ZfA, stressed the importance of the improvement of framework conditions for the teaching of German in schools. Currently, German is not yet included in the official curriculum in 7 out of 9 schools participating in the project. It means that students have to learn German outside the normal school schedule in extracurricular hours, about 6 lessons per week. Representatives of ZfA also stressed the importance of putting German in the main course from secondary school so after 7 years learning German language and culture, students are able to take DSD II exam. With this German certificate, the procedures to study in German universities will be simplified.

 

Mr Heribert Wegmann, Coordinator of ZfA in Asia, highlighted the great opportunity of cooperating with Vietnam partners to promote the teaching of German in Vietnam. German programme in Vietnam is part of the Schools: Partner for the Future initiative (PASCH) which is implemented globally with 360,000 students enrolled at more than 1,000 German partner schools. The main objective of the programme is to increase mutual understanding between the peoples, the presence of the German language abroad, promote the widespread image of a modern-day Germany as well as enhance cultural cooperation to bring people in different countries closer together.

 

In 2007, within the framework of the PASCH Initiative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany, German language teaching projects began to be put into pilot training schools in Vietnam. At that time, German was taught only at a single school in Vietnam. Today, German is taught in 9 schools in the cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City and Hai Phong, with the support of ZfA. There are 1,629 students studying German at those schools. After attending German courses in schools, students often take the DSD certification exam and with this certificate, students may apply to attend university in Germany.