Jean de La Fontaine, a famous school in Paris, is the first and only school in France that teaches Vietnamese to secondary pupils along with their subjects. 

 Vietnamese was introduced into the school in 1995 through cooperation between the Vietnamese embassy in France, the French embassy in Vietnam, the French Ministry of National Education, Youth, and Sport  and the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie  (Association of Francophonie Universities).

A large number of French and Vietnamese French families attended a lunar New Year gathering for parents of pupils studying Vietnamese at the school. Some of the families were represented by three different generations. Everyone said they love to celebrate the Vietnamese Lunar New Year festival (Tet).

They were also pleased at the teaching of Vietnamese to link their children to the home country. The Vietnam-France Association was founded to help strengthen exchanges between the parents, and also provide learning materials and information about Vietnamese traditions and culture.

Taking part in the event with his wife and a 12-year-old son, Nguyen Van Hai said he has always arranged for his son to visit relatives in Vietnam at least once a year. He said he was moved to see so many French friends gathering at the event to enjoy Tet.

“I like to go back to Vietnam with my grandparents and swim at the beaches in Nha Trang and Phu Quoc. The Vietnamese sea is very warm, even when it rains or storms. I am also looking forward to Tet because I will be given some lucky money," said his son, Nguyen Tam.

Delphine Arnaud, a French woman, said she took her 12-year-old son, Yael, to the Tet event because he has been very keen on Vovinam (Vietnamese traditional martial arts) since he was a little boy and his teacher encouraged him to learn Vietnamese to understand more about the country’s history and traditions.

She said she celebrates Tet every year with him and gives him small traditional Vietnamese gifts.

Ms. Arnaud said she wants to send Yael to Vietnam so that he can have a better understanding of Vietnamese culture.

Paule Boury and his wife  have adopted three Vietnamese children. He said he has known about Vietnam for a long time because both his and his wife's grandparents and father had lived there.  He also said they had been to the country more than 18 years ago.

Their three children are now learning Vietnamese at the school and they have been members of the association for seven years.

They thanked Vietnam for their wonderful children and said they have committed to teach them never to forget their roots.

Le Vu, Chairman of the Vietnam-France Association, said in spite of financial and human resources difficulties the association is trying its best to let people know that there is a school in Paris that teaches Vietnamese as a main subject.

(VOV)