In-depth
Vietnamese language classes in U.S packed, growing
  • | Oregonlive | March 23, 2010 01:09 PM

The parking lot at Portland Community College's Southeast Center campus sits almost empty Sunday mornings. Then, just before 1 o'clock, the entire stream of cars going down 82nd Avenue seems directed to the afternoon's only activity at the campus, the Van Lang Vietnamese School.

First-grade students at Van Lang Vietnamese School hand in worksheets to their instructor Angela Chau.

Soon, hundreds of chattering students and parents reverberate through the corridors. There are so many students -- 630 -- attending the Vietnamese language school that its administrators are considering a move to a larger place for the second time in six years.

It's a far cry from the nonprofit school's beginnings 20 years ago with less than 100 students in Beaverton.

Parents and volunteers who teach and run the weekly classes tie the popularity to the desire for first-generation immigrants to give their American-born kids a sense of Vietnamese heritage.

"We come in here after the war, and the older generation is thinking a lot about preserving the Vietnamese culture," said Hang Le, Van Lang vice principal.

The Vietnamese population also has increased in the metro area, from 8,347 in 1990 to 20,428 in 2008, census figures show.

On this particular Sunday, Hung Luong arrives at the school drilling his 7-year-old son, Vinh, on Vietnamese accents and spelling. One of the hardest aspects of learning the language is its complicated accenting system. Students must constantly study spelling charts because even a word like "pho" (the popular beef and noodle soup) without its accent can be rendered meaningless to a native reader.

Van Lang teaches kindergarten through ninth-grade comprehension levels, but older students also attend, including Michael Vu Quoc Nam, a junior at Portland State University. Noting that most Van Lang students use a mix between English and Vietnamese with their parents at home, he said, "We're familiar with the Vietnamese language, but we've never formally learned it until now."

Inside one of the larger classrooms, first-grade teacher Angela Chau sings Vietnamese folk lullabies with her students after their spelling exam. Although students seem to enjoy the chorus, their teacher requires pitch-perfect participation.

Instructors emphasize discipline with their frequent exhortation to "Sit up straight."

The routines help Van Lang students succeed in public schools and stick with their education, said Henry Hung Hoang, Van Lang's vice president of internal affairs.

"We could be the one to help prepare Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese people to get into the higher level classes, because here is a way for them to start learning," Hoang said.

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