Foreign students of the Faculty of VNH&TV won first prize in the 2023 National Vietnamese Speaking Contest

Attending the event were Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Van Phuc; Associate Professor, Dr. Vu Hai Quan - Director of Ho Chi Minh City National University; Mr. Phan Anh Son - Chairman of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations; Mr. ONO Masuo - Consul General of Japan in Ho Chi Minh City and representatives of the Lao Consulate General and the Cambodian Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City; Director of the Department of International Cooperation (Ministry of Education and Training) Pham Quang Hung; Associate Professor, Dr. Ngo Thi Phuong Lan - President of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Ho Chi Minh City National University.

Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Van Phuc and Mr. Phan Anh Son, Chairman of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations, awarded the First Prize to the team from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities - VNU.

In particular, the national final round had the participation of 12 best teams from 12 training facilities representing 63 Vietnamese language training facilities across the country.

Nurture and cultivate friendship through the common language of Vietnamese

In his opening speech, Deputy Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Van Phuc shared: President Ho Chi Minh once advised: “Language is an extremely ancient and extremely precious asset of the nation. We must preserve it, cherish it, and make it more and more popular”. Uncle Ho's teachings in the past still have profound value and meaning today. In the trend of integration and development, Vietnamese is an important bridge connecting the homeland and country with international friends. For that reason, the teaching and learning of Vietnamese has always been given special attention, improved, and enhanced in quality by the Ministry of Education and Training in recent years.

Deputy Minister Nguyen Van Phuc opened the National Final Round of the Vietnamese Speaking Contest for Foreign Students in 2023

The Deputy Minister informed: Currently, there are about 22,000 international students studying at over 160 training institutions in Vietnam. In the past 5 years (2016-2022), Vietnam has received and trained more than 45,000 international students from 102 countries and territories. On average, each year, from 4,000 to over 6,000 international students are admitted to educational institutions in Vietnam.
In line with the training trend of countries around the world, taking language foundation as the key to open the first door in a promising but also challenging learning journey, the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training always identifies the key factor that determines the quality of teaching and learning of foreign students in Vietnam as Vietnamese proficiency. Therefore, improving Vietnamese proficiency is always considered an important and continuous task in the training process at all educational institutions nationwide.

Mr. Phan Anh Son - President of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations spoke at the Final round.

“Teaching and learning Vietnamese is not only about teaching language, equipping knowledge acquisition tools, but also promoting culture, spreading national identity and improving intercultural communication skills for international students studying in Vietnam in particular, foreigners and those who love Vietnamese language and culture in general,” Deputy Minister Nguyen Van Phuc shared, expressing his belief that through the Contest, international students, Vietnamese students, and teachers will have another forum to exchange expertise, culture, nurture and cultivate friendship on the basis of the common language of Vietnamese.
As the host of both the Southern Regional Round and the National Final Round, Associate Professor, Dr. Ngo Thi Phuong Lan - Principal of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Ho Chi Minh City National University shared: Vietnamese language and culture are increasingly affirming their position in the international arena, more and more foreigners love and learn about and study. Vietnamese has also become one of the foreign languages ​​taught at many educational institutions in many countries and territories around the world.

Assoc.Prof.Dr. Ngo Thi Phuong Lan - Principal of University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Ho Chi Minh City National University

The University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City has a training history of more than 25 years. The number of students registering for courses is up to 2,500 each year. This is also one of the most prestigious units in teaching Vietnamese to foreigners in the Southern region today.
“We hope that through this event, we will connect and cooperate better not only in Vietnamese speaking competitions but also in other aspects related to training, scientific research and community service,” Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ngo Thi Phuong Lan expressed.

Deep understanding and immersion in Vietnamese culture

2023 is the first year that the Ministry of Education and Training organizes the Vietnamese Speaking Contest for foreign students nationwide, aiming to create a playground for all foreign students in Vietnam to exchange and compete in learning, creating motivation for innovation in teaching methods and improving the quality of Vietnamese language training, while contributing to promoting Vietnamese education and culture to international friends.

The 12 final round teams brought understanding and love for the country and people of Vietnam in each performance.

Launched in August 2023, through 3 preliminary rounds in 3 regions of North, Central, South with more than 600 international students from 15 countries studying at 63 training institutions in Vietnam registered to participate. 12 teams representing 12 training institutions including international students from Laos, Cambodia, Korea, Japan, China, France, Australia, surpassed 63 registered teams to compete in the National Final round.
With the theme "Vietnam in me", in the preliminary round, the contestants mainly exploited the characteristics of Vietnamese culture, famous landscapes, attractive destinations, solidarity and friendship, and had very interesting perspectives on their first experiences in Vietnam. The entries used rich vocabulary, reasonable and attractive expressions, bringing many emotions, creating a good impression in the hearts of viewers.

Korean international students perform emotional excerpt of "Tieng Trong Me Linh"

Each contest is a unique combination of presentation, storytelling, acting, poetry recitation, folk song reading and singing in Vietnamese, creating extremely impressive and colorful entries. The contestants not only use Vietnamese fluently but also have a very deep understanding of the country and people of Vietnam and have truly immersed themselves in Vietnamese culture.
In the form of a speech contest, each team is selected 2-3 main speakers. Within the time limit of 7 minutes for each presentation, the teams not only showed their meticulousness in content, but also their illustrations were invested in very carefully, attractive and engaging to the audience. Beautiful images of Vietnam appeared before the public, fostering love for the homeland, country, and friendship and solidarity between nations and peoples.

Director of the Department of International Cooperation (Ministry of Education and Training) Pham Quang Hung and the Principal of the University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Ho Chi Minh City National University presented flags and flowers to congratulate the two teams that won second prize.

With 12 outstanding performances in the Final round, the Jury chose to award the First Prize to the team from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

2 Second prizes were awarded to teams from Thai Nguyen University of Education and Cuu Long University.

Delegates take souvenir photos with 12 teams competing in the Final round

The three teams that won the third prize included Vinh University of Technical Education, Hanoi University, and University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Ho Chi Minh City National University.
6 Encouragement prizes were awarded to Vinh Medical University, Friendship School 80, University of Foreign Languages ​​- Danang University, University of Education - Danang University, Kien Giang University, Ho Chi Minh City University of Education.

Press coverage of the event:
Tuoi Tre Online Newspaper:Group of international students from 8 countries won first prize in Vietnamese speaking contest