From a Vietnamese 5 student

As the Vietnamese saying goes, "Uống nước phải nhớ tới nguồn - Ăn quả nhớ kẻ trồng cây," which means "When drinking water, remember its source, when eating a fruit, think of the person who planted the tree." My Vietnamese Language Programme experience in NUS has been a truly wonderful and enriching one, because of the dedicated, fun and friendly teachers who treat us, the students, as their friends, guiding and supporting us with their hearts and souls, thus I look forward to each and every Vietnamese lesson, as it is the time when I can truly relax, enjoy, joke and laugh with my teachers and classmates through role-plays, hands-on activities and games, and still learn something new. The 'lessons' also include a Vietnamese Food Festival at the teachers' houses and a 'Vietnam Afternoon', where we get to meet, chat, eat and play exciting games with the Vietnamese community in school, all in Vietnamese of course! My passion for Vietnamese ignited further having gone for the Immersion Programme with my classmates, one month of learning; eating; thinking; talking; making new friends; travelling in Vietnamese in Vietnam was simply too short! Without a doubt, all these experiences and teachers' guidance have equipped me with the essential skills to write and communicate in Vietnamese confidently and effectively. :)   

Lee Rui Jun, Vietnamese 5 student, Semester 2, AY 2009/2010

A Vietnamese 4 student's message

Learning Vietnamese has opened a new door for me, helping me make some good friends and understand more about the Vietnamese culture. My Vietnamese has been greatly improved thanks to the careful guidance of four teachers. In the classroom, they are the teachers whom I truly admire and respect. Outside the classroom, they are like my friends. This close bonding has captured my heart and motivated me to learn Vietnamese for the past two and a half year..

Yeh Ze Yang Jared - Vietnamese 4 student, Semester 2, AY 2009/2010

Why Vietnamese?

Honestly, Vietnamese was sort of a ‘substitute’ module I took because I couldn’t take Korean Language which was what I actually wanted. I had zero knowledge about Vietnamese language, Vietnamese culture or simply anything about Vietnam at all. However, I chose it because it was not a very popular language and hence more special. (:

Going through Vietnamese 1, I had learnt a lot about Vietnamese language and culture through the activities we had in class. I enjoyed the module thoroughly; yet I still held on to some hope that I might be able to take Korean the following semester. To my disappointment (now joy), in the following semester, I failed the second time, so I ended up taking Vietnamese 2. However, the more I learnt about the culture, the more I love the language and the whole country itself. The things we learnt in class were practical and really useful especially for my trip to Vietnam. The sense of achievement I felt when being able to communicate with the locals is hard to describe. :D

Now I’m thankful for my failed attempts at taking Korean. If not for that, I would not have been able to discover so much more about Vietnam, not just the language but also the food, music, films and people. :D Learning Vietnamese have been really fun and enjoyable with our passionate teachers. Now I no longer have to hesitate before taking the next level, because Vietnamese lessons are like Pringles, “Once you pop, the fun doesn’t stop!”

Tan Kai Ling, Khuê

Vietnamese  3 student - Semester 1 AY 2010/2011

Vietnamese language is the most enjoyable module that I had ever taken in NUS. The module workload is manageable compared to other language modules in NUS. The teachers are also fun-loving and patient. It is definitely a module where you will enjoy and look forward to every lesson. It is also a door to the Vietnamese World where I get to learn about many interesting aspects of Vietnam. This includes Vietnamese Cuisine, Vietnamese culture and habits etc. The role-plays and skits are also interactive and easy for me to learn.The most appealing portion of the course is that it is only 5 hours of learning in class per week, as compared to other languages which requires at least 6 hours of learning per week. On top of that, there is no exam!

I benefited greatly from the Vietnamese Language module and I hereby recommend it to all my juniors to join the Vietnamese Family in NUS! =D

Ch'ng Xian Yi, Thắng

Vietnamese 3 student - Semester 1 AY 2010/2011

Vietnamese 1 - Semester 2 - AY 2009/2010 Students' Feedback

"Very interesting projects like cooking and travelling. The classes are very interactive and teachers are very helpful and approachable. Weakness: Need to spend time out of curriculum to do such projects and is quite tedious."

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"Like this module a lot. fun and interactive."

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"Strengths: the audio files provided were very useful - Activities such as projects etc. were very fun and showed us to the colourful Vietnamese culture."

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"Strength: the teachers are very friendly, they made the learning environment fun and interesting. The teachers has also put in lots of effort in helping students: such as uploading audio to aid our pronunciation, and also upload words of encouragement. They made us feel very positive towards learning this module. Weakness: I think pace of learning is too fast."

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"This module has guided the students to an amazing learning atmosphere...I love not only the language but also mainly the country."

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" Strengths: Enjoy very much in the learning process. Workloads are not so heavy like others language modules. The teachers are very interactive with the students. Very special events held like Cooking project and Travelling Agency project in Vietnam. Weakness: N.A."

Vietnamese 1 - Semester 1 - AY 2009/2010 Students' Feedback

"It is a very interesting, fun and interactive module, in which the projects and activities planned help one to practise using the language in practical settings. As it is a language module, the intensity of the module is understandable and appropriately paced."

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"The module incorporates many fun elements such as cooking projects and all, and it introduces us to the Vietnamese culture which is really great! Not too much information is crammed in such that it overloads the students, so I think the content is just great."

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"The course materials are appropriate and the module is made interesting with cooking projects and travel projects. Besides learning the language, we are also exposed to Vietnam's culture and people. All the tutors are very friendly and approachable."

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"This is an interesting module. It different from the other modules I took in NUS."

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"The module is very fun. The workload is just right for a language module. Quite substantial amount is taught within a semester."

Vietnamese 1 - Semester 2 - AY 2008/2009 Students' Feedback

" I get to learn the basics of Vietnamese language which allows me to make basic conversation with Vietnamese. Lesson is interesting and enriching. The cooking project helps me to have a greater understanding in Vietnamese culture and travelling project enables me to find out more about the beautiful places in Vietnam. The projects are enjoyable."

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"LAV1201 is by far, one of the best modules I have taken in NUS. Having taken French level 1 before, I must say that LAV1201 is comparatively much more interactive, informative, and definitely much more of a pleasure to be taking. The teaching methods of the tutors are very different from the usual classes (even other language classes) - including events such as 'An Afternoon with the Vietnamese Students', a cooking project at co Bich's house, role-playing the parts of tour agency and tourists, etc. As such, although there were equally as many practical and oral tests for Vietnamese as for French, never was a lesson (or even test) boring. Meaningful friendships were forged, and creative thinking amongst students were definitely encouraged. I highly applaud the tutors for their methodology and utmost understanding towards students learning a 3rd language. I will definitely proceed on to level 2, and LAV1201 is a course that I will strongly recommend to all my NUS juniors."

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"This module is very interesting to read. It helps me to change mindset about learning a language. All along, I thought that reading a language will be difficult. But this module has proven me otherwise. In fact, learning this module helps to ease the stress my overall academic. This module has non exam which is a good thing. Instead, it spread out the marks through daily workload. This ensures that we are constantly in touch with the topics. In overall, I love this module."

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"Content of the course book is nicely done - uses movies, songs and pictures to help us to relate better to the course - tutors are patient and fun." 

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"Very interesting and fun but at the same time, requires student to put in hard work. My experience in LAV 1201 was a good one. I learnt in an atmosphere well balance with healthy pressure, increasing interest (note, it increases not decreases like other modules!). I think I could perform so much better in this module because of these factors. Co Le is a good coordinator! THIS is what I call learning!

Vietnamese 1 - Semester 1 - AY 2008/2009 Students' Feedback

~ ~ "Vietnamese 1 had been a very very enjoyable module because of the three caring and understanding teachers. They had put in a lot of effort in teaching us and this can be shown by all the activities that they have organised for us. Each lesson had been carefully planned out and I've learnt a lot from the teachers, with extra life skills and knowledge that can never be found in textbooks. This is the most enjoyable module in my entire NUS life till now." ~ ~

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~ ~ "Very interactive lessons were conducted! Has a great insight into the Vietnamese culture. All the tutors were exceptionally passionate and approachable." ~ ~

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~ ~ "The content is very well structured. It's a very good introduction module to the Vietnamese language. The pace is just nice and the teachers have done a very good job! Having 3 tutorials a week also helps to reinforce our knowledge of the language and gives us ample opportunity to practice speaking. The teachers also take the effort to talk to us and know each and every student." ~ ~

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~ ~ "The teachers are very enthusiastic and approachable. The lessons are always full of laughter and fun." ~ ~

Vietnamese Language Programme at the National University of Singapore

Vietnamese is taught as a foreign language at the National University of Singapore (NUS) to Singaporean and international students. Six modules are offered with three different proficiency levels: Elementary (Vietnamese 1 and Vietnamese 2), Intermediate (Vietnamese 3 and Vietnamese 4), and Advanced (Vietnamese 5 and Vietnamese 6). Upon successful completion of Vietnamese 2, Vietnamese 4 or Vietnamese 6, students will be granted a Language Certificate of Proficiency by the Centre for Language Studies at NUS. More information can be found at http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/cls/docs/pdf/Cert_web.pdf

If you would like to have more information about Vietnamese language modules, please check this out http://www.fas.nus.edu.sg/cls/viet/.