Summer Vietnamese language classes opened on July 6 for youngsters in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.

At the opening ceremony

This is an annual activity held by the Prague Vietnamese Language Centre in order to help overseas Vietnamese learn more about their mother tongue and national culture.

Students were tested for language proficiency, then split into three classes: Grade A1 for beginners, A2 for intermediate level and Grade B1 for advanced.

The classes will last for two months using textbooks of the Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training and materials of the Prague Vietnamese Language Centre compiled by Nguyen Quyet Tien.

At the opening ceremony for the classes, Tien presented the centre with six Vietnamese – Czech dictionaries.

Director of the centre Nguyen Van Son said the centre has run Vietnamese classes for 17 years, helping thousands of children understand the language and Vietnamese culture 

He added that the success of the classes was possible thanks to support from the Vietnamese State and the Czech Republic’s Ministry of Education.

Dao Thi Loi, who has been living in the Czech Republic for 10 years, said her seven-year-old son is studying at the centre.

The Vietnamese classes are very useful to help children speak, read and write Vietnamese fluently, she added.

As one of the students at the centre, Bui Viet Hieu, 14, born and raised in the Czech Republic, shared that he has been learning at the centre for seven years.

He said he learns Vietnamese to communicate with his parents and grandparents and preserve Vietnamese culture.

The Czech Republic recognised the Vietnamese community as one of its ethnic minority groups in 2013.