On 11 October, the Ministry of Education and Training coordinated with the Central Vietnam - Laos Friendship Association to organize a preliminary round of the Vietnamese Speech Contest for Laotian students in Vietnam in 2019 for the Northern region. The contest attracted 42 teams from educational institutions with a tradition of training Laotian students. The final result was that 6 best teams being chosen to enter the final round.
The teams won Vietnamese speech contest for Laotian students in Vietnam in 2019
Opening of the event, Mr. Pham Quang Hung, Director of the Department of International Cooperation (Ministry of Education and Training), said that Vietnam and Laos are two neighboring countries with a long tradition of solidarity and special long-standing friendship. The cooperation and mutual assistance between Vietnam and Laos in the field of education has a long history. Since 1958, Vietnam had welcomed hundreds of children of Lao tribes to study to later return to build the country along with the construction of an education system in the liberated region of Laos.
By 2019, there were currently over 15,000 Laotian students studying at nearly 180 educational institutions in Vietnam at various levels of education from high school to doctorate with a wide range of industries and fields which Laos was in urgent need of training for the purpose of renovation, development and modernization.
According to Mr. Hung, the Vietnam Ministry of Education and Training of was aware that the key factor determining the quality of Laotian students training in Vietnam was Vietnamese language proficiency.Vietnamese had been developed as a complete program at the prerequisite stage and continued to be taught with academic subjects throughout the following years for Laotian students to help them overcome language barriers, knowledge acquisition as well as rapid integration into Vietnamese cultural life. Improving the language proficiency was always considered as an important and throughout task in the training process at all educational institutions across the country.
Mr. Pham Quang Hung, Director of the Department of International Cooperation (Ministry of Education and Training) gave the opening speech
Sharing the purpose and meaning of the competition, Mr. Pham Quang Hung said that this contest with the theme “My country Vietnam” aimed to encourage Laotian students to share their insights about the country, people and culture of Vietnam. They would use Vietnamese to express the things that they like most.
“The contest not only contributes to the traditional education and fostering of the two young generations on the special relationship between Vietnam and Laos, but also promotes the movement of learning and training at the educational institutions which have Laotian students in Vietnam. Laotian students will not only be interested in learning Vietnamese, but they also have an opportunity to understand and love the country, people and culture of Vietnam through the contest.” Mr. Hung said.
The team of Laotian student of Thuyloi University
There were total 42 teams from educational institutions participating in the preliminary round of the Northern region. According to the evaluation of the judges, all performances were prepared elaborately with the great efforts of Laotian students when expressing ideas, arguments and persuasions in a language which was not their mother tongue. The students all expressed their rhetoric with confidence with the ability to express fluency, expressiveness, and impressive illustrations.
There were 15 members in the team of the Thuyloi University including Khounpasird Singlattana, class 59PM1 - Faculty of Information Technology, an eloquent candidate and 14 other students from Laos to assist in the competition. Her speech with topic of "The quintessence of Vietnamese culture through ao dai" was ranked the third.
In the end, the Organizing Committee awarded two first prizes to the teams of Diplomatic Academy and College of Education (Thai Nguyen University). Four second prizes were awarded to the teams of the University of Industrial Technology (Thai Nguyen University), the University of Transport and Communications, Foreign Trade University and Quang Ninh Industrial University. Six third prizes were awarded to the teams of Northwestern University, Thuyloi University, branch of Thai Nguyen University in Lao Cai, Banking Academy, Academy of Journalism and Communication, University of Economics and Management Business (Thai Nguyen University).