A place to nurture love for Vietnamese in Laos

Photo caption — Delegates from Champasak province with teachers and students of the Laos-Vietnam Friendship School in Champasak province at the opening ceremony of the new school year 2025-2026. Photo: VNA

On the first days of the 2025-2026 school year, the campus of the Laos-Vietnam Friendship School in Champasak province was filled with the sound of school drums, mixed with the laughter of overseas Vietnamese and Lao students, creating an exciting and vibrant atmosphere. Not only is it a place where regular lessons take place, this school is also a place to nurture love for the Vietnamese language, nurture dreams and preserve the close relationship between teachers and students through each lesson.

Nguyen Thi Hai Yen (Nanivanh Sengchanh), a 6th grade student,'s eyes lit up with passion when talking about her favorite subject. Hai Yen confided that she really likes learning Vietnamese because she hopes to be able to go to Vietnam to continue her studies in the future. For Hai Yen, each poem and story in Vietnamese is like a door opening to new dreams and opportunities. That innocent passion is also a vivid image showing the spreading power of the Vietnamese language learning movement in Champasak.

The Lao-Vietnamese Friendship School in Champasak Province was established in 1978. Over nearly half a century, the school has trained more than 43 generations of students, becoming a common home for nearly 500 children from kindergarten to junior high school. Of which, about 20% are children of Vietnamese people living in the locality. The school's special feature is the inclusion of Vietnamese language in the official curriculum from primary school, with a team of specialized teachers including both Vietnamese and Lao people who have been trained at universities in Vietnam.

For the school’s teaching staff, teaching Vietnamese is not only a professional task but also a responsibility and sentiment. Ms. Soukdavanh Tanphanith, a Lao teacher of Vietnamese, expressed: “Teaching Vietnamese is a responsibility and also a sacred sentiment. This is how we contribute to preserving and promoting Vietnamese culture and further strengthening the special friendship between the two peoples.”

In parallel, the school also organizes many useful playgrounds to encourage students to love and practice Vietnamese. Vietnamese language competitions and storytelling competitions launched by the Vietnamese Consulate General in Pakse (Laos) have attracted the active participation of students. Every year, many students of the school also achieve high results in the provincial excellent student competition, affirming the clear progress of the Vietnamese language learning movement in Champasak.

Ms. Dang Thi Cuc, Vice Principal of the Lao-Vietnamese Friendship School in Champasak Province, said that thanks to the attention of the Party and State of Vietnam, along with the support from Vietnamese provinces and cities that have sister relationships with Champasak and the companionship of Vietnamese enterprises in the area, the school has been equipped with many modern devices such as computers, projectors, learning robots to serve the teaching of Math, English, Vietnamese, science, etc. The school's students have a more dynamic learning environment, meeting the requirements of educational innovation according to the direction of the Lao Government.

Currently, all classes have 6 Vietnamese lessons per week. More importantly, through each lesson, teachers always try to instill in students a love for Vietnamese language, culture and history, helping them understand more deeply about their roots and become more attached to their homeland.

Sharing with VNA reporters in Laos, Ms. Ta Phuong Dung - Consul General of Vietnam in Pakse - said that teaching and learning Vietnamese in Southern Laos in general, and Champasak province in particular, has always been focused on and increasingly developed. In the province, Vietnamese is taught at many typical educational institutions such as Champasak - Lam Dong Gifted High School (Phonesavanh School) and Champasak Provincial Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities. These are all schools with a long tradition, a common home for many generations of Vietnamese and Lao students, where Vietnamese becomes a bridge connecting the community, helping Vietnamese students integrate while still preserving their cultural identity.

According to Consul General Ta Phuong Dung, in order to improve the quality of teaching, schools have actively sent teachers to participate in professional training courses, typically the course organized by the Consulate General last March and the course organized by the State Committee for Overseas Vietnamese (under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam) last August. These are practical activities, helping teachers update their knowledge, innovate teaching methods, thereby improving the learning efficiency of students.

It can be seen that the teaching and learning of Vietnamese in Champasak province in recent years has achieved many important results. It is not only to preserve the mother tongue for the young generation of Vietnamese people living far from home, but also a vivid demonstration of the close and loyal relationship between the people of Vietnam and Laos. Each class, each hour of Vietnamese language learning in Champasak has the meaning of a bridge connecting the past with the present, fostering the special friendship to become increasingly stronger.

Source: https://baotintuc.vn/nguoi-viet-4-phuong/noi-uom-mam-tinh-yeu-tieng-viet-tai-lao-20250912173801386.htm