English in Vietnamese preschools is governed mainly by the Ministry of Education and Training’s programme for familiarising kindergarten children with English, issued with Circular 50/2020/TT-BGDĐT. It is voluntary, depends on families’ agreement and the school’s conditions, applies to children aged three to six, and asks schools to introduce English through play, songs, stories and daily routines without formal reading and writing, while keeping Vietnamese as the first priority. Private bilingual schools may offer more English as a supplementary programme, but always on top of the national preschool programme.
Since 2020, national policy has moved further, setting a long-term goal of making English a second language in Vietnamese schools, with preschool familiarisation part of the plan. For curriculum leads and international teachers, this creates both space and responsibility: space to build rich bilingual programmes, and responsibility to do so in ways that protect children’s Vietnamese and respect the national framework. This article explains the rules, the principles behind them and how a bilingual programme can be designed to fit.
The 2020 familiarisation programme
Before 2020, English in Vietnamese preschools grew mostly through private initiative and local projects, with little national guidance. Some schools hired foreign teachers for short sessions, others used commercial programmes, and quality varied enormously. In late 2020 the Ministry issued a national programme for familiarising kindergarten children with English, giving the field a common framework for the first time.
The programme describes its purpose as helping children become familiar with English in a natural, enjoyable way, building positive attitudes towards a foreign language and initial listening and speaking abilities that prepare them for learning English in primary school. It is organised around everyday topics close to children’s lives, such as family, the body, animals, colours, food and the school, and it lists expected outcomes in terms of understanding simple instructions, responding to greetings and questions, and using familiar words and phrases.
Crucially, the programme is not compulsory. Schools may implement it where families agree and where conditions allow, including suitable teachers and materials. It also includes safeguards: it must not overload children, must not replace the national preschool programme and must not take time away from Vietnamese language development. In areas where children are still building Vietnamese as a second language, such as many ethnic minority communities, Vietnamese takes priority.
The principles in the national guidance
Familiarisation, not formal teaching. The aim is exposure and enjoyment, not a syllabus of vocabulary to be tested. Children should meet English through play, music, movement, stories and routines, in short and lively episodes that follow their attention rather than a fixed lesson length.
Listening and speaking first. The programme focuses on understanding and simple spoken responses. Formal reading and writing in English are not part of the kindergarten years.
Voluntary and agreed with families. Schools should consult families and implement the programme only where there is agreement and capacity.
Vietnamese comes first. English must not reduce time or attention for Vietnamese language development, which remains the basis for learning in primary school.
Qualified teachers and suitable materials. Teachers need appropriate English and early childhood skills, and materials should be suited to young children rather than adapted from programmes for older learners.
Evaluation through observation. As with the rest of preschool, children’s progress in English is observed and described, not scored or ranked. Teachers note what children understand and say, and use those notes to plan, rather than holding performances or tests to show families how much English children have learned.
The national direction: English as a second language
The 2020 programme sat within a wider national project on teaching and learning foreign languages that ran from 2017 to 2025. In 2024 and 2025, policy statements at the highest level went further, setting the goal of gradually making English a second language in Vietnamese schools, and the government subsequently approved a long-term plan to that end, with preschools included at the familiarisation stage. Implementation details, including teacher supply and the pace of change in different regions, are still being worked out.
For preschools, the direction is clear even where the detail is not. English exposure is likely to become more common and more expected by families, including in public kindergartens where it was rare. This raises the importance of doing it well. A second language introduced through drills, worksheets and long sessions of repetition does little for young children and can crowd out the play and conversation that build their first language. A second language woven into meaningful activity, with adults who speak it naturally and warmly, can give children a genuine head start.
The policy also creates a teacher supply challenge. There are not enough teachers with both strong English and early childhood training to staff every preschool, and the gap is largest outside major cities. Bilingual schools that invest in training their own teachers, both Vietnamese teachers in English and international teachers in early childhood pedagogy, will be better placed than those that rely only on recruitment.
How private bilingual schools fit the rules
Private bilingual schools usually go well beyond the familiarisation programme, with English present for a substantial part of the day. They do this as a supplementary programme on top of the national preschool programme. The key condition is that the national programme is fully implemented: its areas of development, expected outcomes, daily routine and care content remain the base, and the Vietnamese language outcomes are met in Vietnamese.
In practice, schools organise their English in different ways. Some assign an English-speaking teacher to each class for part of the day; others use a one-teacher-one-language model throughout the day with a Vietnamese and an English-speaking teacher side by side; others rotate English sessions through the timetable. Each model can work. The questions that matter are whether English is used for real communication rather than only for lessons, whether children hear rich Vietnamese as well, and whether teachers in both languages plan together around the same themes.
Global Nexus treats Vietnamese as the anchor language and English as a second language for thinking, not only for vocabulary. Both languages are used side by side in the same themes and projects, so a child who learns about rain in Vietnamese meets the same ideas in English through songs, stories and investigations. The framework explicitly avoids flashcard drills and pressure to perform, and it observes children’s language in both languages without scoring it.
Common pitfalls in preschool English programmes
Too much, too formal. Long English sessions with children seated and repeating words are the most common problem. Young children learn a language by using it for something that matters to them, and attention in a seated group of three- and four-year-olds lasts minutes, not an hour.
English as performance. End-of-term shows in which children recite memorised English can please families, but preparing for them often consumes weeks of rehearsal. Short, natural sharing of songs and stories serves children better and still shows families what children enjoy.
Separate worlds. When the English teacher arrives, runs an unrelated lesson and leaves, children experience English as a visitor rather than a language for daily life. Shared themes, shared planning and English used in routines solve most of this.
Thin Vietnamese. In some bilingual schools the investment goes to English and Vietnamese stories, conversation and early literacy receive less attention. Children then enter grade one with weaker Vietnamese than their peers, which is the opposite of what families want.
Accent anxiety. Families sometimes judge a programme by the nationality of its teachers. What matters for young children is fluent, warm, natural language and good early childhood practice. Well-trained Vietnamese teachers with strong English are an asset, not a second-best option.
Working with families’ expectations
Many Vietnamese families choose a bilingual preschool with high hopes for English, and some expect visible results quickly: words their child can recite, worksheets to show relatives, comparisons with other children. Teachers and leaders need a calm, consistent way of explaining why the programme does not work like that. Sharing observations, short videos of children using English in play where the school’s privacy rules allow, and explanations of how language grows over years rather than weeks help families see real progress.
It helps to name the long-term goal clearly. The aim of English in preschool is a child who enjoys the language, understands a great deal, speaks with growing confidence and arrives in grade one secure in Vietnamese. When families understand that goal, they are usually happy to support it, and many become the programme’s strongest advocates.
Families can also help at home without turning it into homework. Reading to children in the family’s strongest language, talking with them about their day, singing the songs they bring home and showing interest in the English words they use all support the programme. Teachers can suggest these simple habits at the start of the year and repeat them at every family meeting, so that home and school pull in the same direction without adding pressure on children.
A compliance and quality checklist for curriculum leads
Leaders designing or reviewing a bilingual preschool programme in Vietnam can use the following steps to check that English supports, rather than undermines, the national framework and good practice.
- Confirm which licence the school holds and how the bilingual programme is described in its approved documents.
- Map every English theme and activity onto the national areas of development and the themes in the school’s year plan.
- Check the daily routine: are meals, nap, hygiene, outdoor play and corner play all protected, with English woven into them rather than replacing them?
- Review Vietnamese language provision: are stories, conversation and early literacy experiences in Vietnamese as rich as those in English?
- Look at how English is taught: through play, music, stories and routines, or through drills and worksheets? Adjust towards the former.
- Check teacher qualifications in both early childhood education and English, and plan professional development for both.
- Make sure families understand the programme’s aims, including the priority on Vietnamese and the absence of tests or rankings.
- Observe children’s language in both languages over time, and use the observations to plan support for individual children.
Schools that can answer each step clearly will satisfy inspectors and, more importantly, will serve children well. Those that cannot often discover that their English programme has quietly displaced the play, conversation and care routines that the national programme and the research both treat as essential.
What the research suggests about starting early
Research on early bilingualism, including work by Ellen Bialystok and François Grosjean, supports the view that young children can learn two languages without harm to either, provided both receive enough rich input and are valued. Ofelia García’s work on translanguaging has shown how bilingual children use their whole language repertoire to think and communicate, which encourages teachers to see the two languages as working together rather than in competition.
The same research is cautious about the idea that starting earlier automatically means better results. In settings where a second language is heard only for short periods, the advantage of an early start can be modest, and what matters more is the quality and amount of input over many years. For Vietnamese preschools, this suggests that the goal is not to teach as much English as possible before grade one, but to build positive attitudes, listening skills and confidence, while giving Vietnamese the depth it needs for primary school.
Câu hỏi thường gặp
Is English compulsory in Vietnamese preschools?
No. The national programme for familiarising kindergarten children with English, issued with Circular 50/2020, is voluntary and depends on families’ agreement and the school’s conditions. Private schools may offer more English as a supplementary programme on top of the national preschool programme.
At what age can children start English in Vietnamese preschools?
The national familiarisation programme is designed for kindergarten children aged three to six. Many private bilingual schools also use English with younger children through songs, routines and play, as part of their own supplementary programmes rather than the national familiarisation programme.
Do Vietnamese preschools teach English reading and writing?
The national familiarisation programme focuses on listening and speaking through play and does not include formal reading and writing. Children may notice English print in books and the environment, but formal literacy is left to primary school.
Does learning English in preschool harm children’s Vietnamese?
Research on early bilingualism suggests children can learn two languages without harm to either when both receive rich input and are valued. The national guidance requires that English must not reduce time or attention for Vietnamese, which remains the basis for primary school.
What is the plan to make English a second language in Vietnamese schools?
Since 2024, national policy has set a long-term goal of gradually making English a second language in schools, and the government has approved a plan for this that includes preschool familiarisation. Implementation will be gradual and depends on teacher supply and local conditions.
How does Global Nexus use English in the classroom?
Global Nexus keeps Vietnamese as the anchor language and uses English alongside it as a language for thinking, woven into the same themes, projects, stories and routines. It avoids flashcard drills and pressure to perform, and observes children’s language in both languages without scoring it.