Living and working in different parts of the world: Laos, Malaysia, Australia, Germany and Belgium, the tireless inspirers have diligently nourished and developed the love for Vietnamese language over the years.

The inspirer of Vietnamese language education Nguyen Thuy Lien (in Malaysia)

After 12 years of working as a high school teacher in Ba Ria - Vung Tau province and Ho Chi Minh City, Ms. Nguyen Thuy Lien moved to Malaysia with her family. In 2016, she mobilized, organized and directly taught the first free Vietnamese classes in the Vietnamese community in Malaysia and established the Vietnamese Club in Malaysia.

From one to two small classes in Kuala Lumpur, currently, her classes have attracted many students from the Vietnamese community in all states: Johor, Penang, Kuan Tan, Selangor ... She also keeps the key role in organizing extracurricular activities for students on the occasion of the New Year, International Children's Day (June 1), Mid-Autumn Festival... Every year, the cultural performances, ao dai performances, Vietnamese folk games are organized in order to create a space for Vietnamese language exchange and preserve the beauty of Vietnamese culture for students in the Vietnamese community in Malaysia.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, she experimented and successfully organized the conversion of teaching form from face-to-face to online. This helps maintain the operation as well as expand the scale of the Vietnamese Club in Malaysia during the pandemic. As a result, classes are no longer limited by geographical distance, and students living far away can easily register to participate in the Club's online learning.

Ms. Lien is also the organizer and directly taught the first Vietnamese language communication course for the Malaysia Coast Guard in the diplomatic activities program between the Vietnamese Embassy in Malaysia and the host country government. The course ended successfully and was highly appreciated.

The inspirers of Vietnamese language education: Ms. Nguyen Thuy Lien (in Malaysia), Ms. Tran Hong Van (in Australia), Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen (in Laos) – at the positions from the left to the right

The inspirer of Vietnamese language education Thu Huyen (in Laos)

With the desire that Vietnamese children in Laos both know how to speak Vietnamese fluently and read and write Vietnamese well, Ms. Thu Huyen (or Viengkeo Douangchaleun in Lao language), who is currently working at Hanoi - Vientiane General Hospital asked permission from Phat Tich Pagoda and the Vietnamese Association, Vientiane Capital to open a free Vietnamese language class at the Pagoda. Not only does Ms. Huyen's class teach free to children of overseas Vietnamese, she also teaches Laotians who love and want to learn Vietnamese for 3 sessions a week.

She has spent her own money on buying the desks, chairs, books, pens and all equipment for teaching. In the first days of teaching, she was somewhat timid, shy and lacked of teaching skills. But with the determination to convey Vietnamese language to the overseas Vietnamese community as well as the Lao community, Ms. Thu Huyen has continuously researched and learned through Vietnamese language textbooks. In addition to opening free Vietnamese language classes, she also organizes many community activities practising 100% Vietnamese language, including a program for teenagers and children with a Q&A session about Vietnamese folk songs and proverbs. To contribute to increasing the effectiveness of teaching Vietnamese language, she also sets up a bookshelf and encourages reading for free at Phat Tich Pagoda, Vientiane Capital. She has bought shelves and bookcases herself and called for contributions of various books on Vietnamese culture, history and science.

The inspirer of Vietnamese language education Tran Hong Van (in Australia)

Wishing to preserve the home language in a foreign country, Dr. Tran Hong Van, a researcher of "Maintaining the Mother Tongue" at Charles Sturt University (Australia) registered to participate in the VietSpeech project funded by Australian Research Council (ARC).

From the research results, Ms. Van and the VietSpeech team tested a program to support families in helping their children speak and learn Vietnamese called SuperSpeech. The program was conducted online (due to the Covid-19 pandemic) and lasted 10 weeks, with the participation of 15 families across Australia and received extremely positive feedback and requests from many families. They wished the program to be continued. The VietSpeech team also released the Multilingual Children handbook, a free online document that provides knowledge on topics to overseas Vietnamese families.

In 2021, Dr. Tran Hong Van proposed the initiative to produce the program "Keeping Vietnamese", broadcast weekly on SBS Vietnamese radio. By telling the stories of families and young people of the second and third generations in Australia and countries around the world, the program spreads and promote the love of Vietnamese language. Sofar, the program has produced approximately 70 episodes, some of which have attracted more than 10,000 listeners. This is the highest rate of listeners among radio programs broadcast in community languages.

In March of 2023, Dr. Tran Hong Van established an organization to promote the maintenance of Vietnamese Language and Culture called VietSchool. VietSchool has 3 main missions: after-school Vietnamese language classes (with the motto of teaching modern Vietnamese language) for primary school students in the Inner West, Sydney and online Vietnamese language classes; activities of reading books with children, providing 01 set of Vietnamese language and bilingual books for 100 Vietnamese families in Australia, along with videos, documents and seminars instructing how to read stories with children to develop linguistic thinking and connection; SuperSpeech program, a training course for families on how to help their children maintain Vietnamese language and develop bilingualism.

In addition to research and communication work on the topic "Maintaining the Mother Tongue" for overseas Vietnamese children, Dr. Tran Hong Van also participated in volunteering to teach Vietnamese at Inner West Vietnamese Language School (2018 - 2019), Montessori Kindergarten (2018 - 2020) and opens free Vietnamese language classes at home for children in the Vietnamese community in Croydon, Sydney.

The inspirer of Vietnamese language education Dao Thi Chau Ha (in Germany)

Dr. Dao Thi Chau Ha has sticked with the new land when she worked in Germany as a graduate student, then, married a German man and had children. With her husband's encouragement, Ms. Chau Ha was determined to pass on to her children the voice of her homeland. Using technology and updating media advances in teaching and developing Vietnamese language in Germany, Dr. Dao Thi Chau Ha has created lively and attractive products for learners and viewers.

Ms. Dao Thi Chau Ha hosts the ​2023 Mid-Autumn Festival in Germany. (Photo: NVCC)

She has built the Youtube channel “Ms Chery Bear” to share videos and audio about Vietnamese culture and Vietnamese lessons. She has established “Trẻ nói tiếng Việt ở nước ngoài” ("Overseas Vietnamese Children speak Vietnamese") Club on Facebook. She has organized online Vietnamese language classes for overseas Vietnamese children. The classes have attracted students from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. She has participated in the Reading Garden Project (Lesegarten) of HORAMI – a German - Vietnamese bilingual book publisher in Germany. In this project, she has taken on the role of a reader and Podcast host. She has read books and chatted weekly with children in the “Trẻ nói tiếng Việt ở nước ngoài” Club via Zoom application, read books to children living in Vietnam through the activities of the "Stars" Book Club; composed poems praising the beauty of Vietnamese language as well as short, easy-to-learn poems to help children have fun learning Vietnamese language. In the context that children's Vietnamese learning environment still has many limitations, unlike learning Vietnamese language in Vietnam, these learning materials are very useful. Some of her poems include “Tiếng quê hương”, “Đối thoại mẹ con”, “Sinh nhật của bé”, “Thế giới của bé”, “Niềm vui của mẹ”. She has built a set of Vietnamese learning materials with a system of multiple-choice questions about Vietnamese language on the Quizziz interface with about 100 exercises.

The inspirer of Vietnamese language education Hellen Ngo (in Belgium)

Helen Ngo (Full name in Vietnamese is Ngô Đỗ Thu Hường) used to work as language policy coordinator for Sint Niklaas City, Belgium. In 2021, she and her colleagues in countries around the world launched “Việt Happiness Station” (in Vietnamese: Trạm hạnh phúc - Chạm cảm xúc) Channel.

“Việt Happiness Station” channel specializes in culture, education, and science. It all revolves around the experiences of Vietnamese expatriates. Her and her colleagues' wish is to create a forum where people can tell everyday stories and emotions, share work experiences and integrate into the community, find the most suitable way as well as the least vulnerable methods to live in the new environment.

To create conditions for everyone, especially the overseas Vietnamese young generation, to speak and write Vietnamese, her team regularly organizes competitions with the topics on cuisine, travel, cultural experiences, and connections of love of family and homeland... Specifically, the team successfully organized the contest “Nói món Việt cùng con 2021”; the contest “Du lịch cùng con 2022”; the writing contest “Kênh Việt tìm tác giả cộng đồng tài năng - Headhunter 2022”; piloting program “Trại tiếng Việt mùa Xuân 2022”; project “Tủ sách Việt trong Nhà hàng Việt ở nước ngoài” for phase I/2023 and project “Podcast của tôi - Chuyện của tôi” 2023... to encourage Vietnamese youth / overseas Vietnamese youth, overseas Vietnamese students, develop the power of the stories, spread positive messages and inspire listeners.

This project also accompanies Vietnamese/overseas Vietnamese youth and overseas Vietnamese students in the process of self-discovery, to transform differences into special abilities that are valuable to the community. The project “Podcast của tôi - Chuyện của tôi” has a worldwide scale. The target audience is Vietnamese/overseas Vietnamese youth and overseas Vietnamese students, aged 13 to 32.