CỘNG ĐỒNG VIỆT NAM OREGON
P.O.BOX 55416 Portland, OR 97238
www.congdongvietnamoregon.org
Phone: (503) 484-6728
P.O.BOX 55416 Portland, OR 97238
www.congdongvietnamoregon.org
Phone: (503) 484-6728
THÔNG CÁO CHƯƠNG TRÌNH SONG NGỮ VIỆT - MỸ
ĐÃ ĐƯỢC SỞ HỌC CHÁNH THÀNH PHỐ PORTLAND, OREGON CHẤP THUẬN
Portland, Oregon, USA
Kính thưa Quý Vị Lãnh Đạo các Tôn Giáo, Quý Vị Trưởng Thượng, Quý Vị Lãnh Đạo các Hội Đoàn và Đoàn Thể,
Kính thưa Quý Đồng Hương, các Bác, Cô, Chú và Anh Chị Em
Chúng tôi rất vui mừng thông báo đến quý vị một tin rất vui cho cộng đồng người Việt Quốc Gia tại Oregon nói riêng và toàn thể người Việt Quốc Gia trên thế giới nói chung. Ngày Thứ Tư 21 tháng 8 năm 2013 vừa qua, Sở Học Chánh đã thông báo với chúng tôi qua cuộc họp chính thức là họ đã đồng ý thành lập chương trình song ngữ Việt-Mỹ mà chúng ta đã dày công vận động. Thật không tả xiết nỗi vui mừng lần này. Kính mong quý vị mỗi người một lời cầu nguyện hoặc câu kinh dâng lên Đấng Tối Cao để tạ ơn Ngài đã đáp lời cầu xin của chúng ta.
Thay mặt Ban Chấp Hành Cộng Đồng Việt Nam tại Oregon, chúng tôi xin tri ân tất cả đồng bào, quý vị ân nhân, và rất nhiều vị đã cùng góp sức với chúng tôi vận động cho chương trình song ngữ này.
Để chưong trình song ngữ Việt-Mỹ được thành công trong tương lai, chúng tôi sẽ cố gắng học hỏi thêm với những quý vị có kinh nghiệm về chương trình song ngữ ở những thành phố khác hay trên những websites. Đồng thời chúng tôi sẽ cố gắng làm việc với các tổ chức, các phụ huynh trong cộng đồng để hổ trợ cho chương trình này được phát triển một cách vững chắc.
Chúng tôi sẽ thông báo đến quý vị tin tức chi tiết hơn trong những ngày tới.
Ngày 26 tháng 8 năm 2013
Thay mặt Ban Chấp Hành Cộng Đồng Việt Nam Oregon,
Kính mến,
Trần Quang Đệ
Chủ Tịch
503-484-6728 | http://www.congdongvietnamoregon.org/ | www.facebook.com/vncousa |president@congdongvietnamoregon.org
Letter by De Tran, Vietnamese-American Community of Oregon to Superintendent Carole Smith and Board Members
Carole Smith, Superintendent and Board Members
Portland Public Schools
501 N. Dixon Street
Portland, Oregon 97217
Dear Ms. Smith and Board Members:
We applaud your effort in getting the S.E. Asian communities together in the recent community meeting organized at the S.E. Asian Vicariate on May 11, 2013.
Many of our community members and leaders showed up to express our appreciation to Portland Public Schools and the opportunity to be included in the discussion of how to shape the school buildings our children will attend and the potential of a Vietnamese Language Immersion program in Portland Public Schools.
We are writing to you now to express our full support for the creation of the Vietnamese Language Immersion program in Portland schools. Vietnamese is the 2nd largest second language besides Spanish to be spoken in Portland. We have surpassed the number of Portland residents who come from other Asian countries during the past thirty years.
The Vietnam War which ended in 1975 has brought many Vietnamese to many parts of the world. In the United States, many Vietnamese reside in California, Texas, New York, Louisiana, Washington, etc… Oregon houses one of the largest groups of Vietnamese residents, particularly in Multnomah County and Washington County. Many Vietnamese now reside in many countries in Europe as well as in many other parts of the world. The Vietnamese language is now in demand as Vietnamese citizens around the world are working and contributing to the global economy.
A majority of our children were born in this country. They will be contributing citizens to this country where the Vietnamese language will certainly become a global language in technology as well as other fields of interest. A number of Portland families who adopted Vietnamese children will appreciate the opportunity for their children to learn more about their cultural heritage and to be in the same class with children who look like them. We learn that children develop their racial identity at a very young age. Developing a positive racial heritage will carry them through many barriers and obstacles for the rest of their life. PPS students in the Mandarin, Japanese, and Spanish Dual Language Immersion are a testament to this. Equally important, mainstream American children will be able to benefit from a language that has become increasingly influential across the oceans. The world is getting smaller because of advanced technology and how we conduct our global businesses.
In Portland, our Vietnamese community groups are strong and able. The heritage of a rich culture and language should not be neglected and wasted. As community leaders of a thriving community, we can offer our talents, support and assistance to a strong bilingual Vietnamese program in Portland Public Schools. We have 2 large Vietnamese Language Schools in Portland and 1 large one in Beaverton (total of 2,500 students) and children are taking Vietnamese lessons weekly. We have very strong background in teaching Vietnamese language and culture.
In Portland, our Vietnamese community groups are strong and able. The heritage of a rich culture and language should not be neglected and wasted. As community leaders of a thriving community, we can offer our talents, support and assistance to a strong bilingual Vietnamese program in Portland Public Schools.
Also, we understand that the Dual Language program is the best program model to support ESL students in English language acquisition. Many researches have proven this model as best practice. The results for PPS Spanish Dual Language have shared the same success. Vietnamese is the second largest language spoken in PPS ESL program. Our Vietnamese ESL students deserve the same service as our Spanish, Chinese and Russian ESL students. We appreciate the Board’s directives in increasing the numbers of our ESL students in the Dual Language programs. Expanding the DL program to include Vietnamese language seems to be the perfect fit that will address Board’s directives and PPS vision.
The benefits of bilingual education are invaluable for ALL children. Well-developed bilingual programs prove that our children can improve their “cognitive flexibility” to better able to see things from multiple perspectives and to understand how other people think. Children in bilingual programs have a more global view of the world and become more understanding and tolerant toward differences. Our society becomes enriched by bilingual citizens who respect and understand the hard work in learning a second language.
In closing, we wish to express our support and lend our assistance and expertise to Portland Public Schools in this important endeavor. Building a strong community and peaceful society for the Portlanders are our goals. We also would like to invite you to a community leader dinner where we can have an informal dinner to get to know each other better. We are available any evening the week of May 28th – 31st. Please let us know which date will work for you. As soon as get a confirmation date from you, we will send out an invitation. We look forward to hearing from you and to many months of future discussion and planning ahead.
Sincerely,
Mr. De Quang Tran
President
Vietnamese Community of Oregon
president@congdongvietnamoregon.org | www.congdongvietnamoregon.org |503-484-6728