20 more Peace Corps volunteers arrive in Vietnam to teach English

Twenty additional Peace Corps volunteers have arrived to support English language instruction in high schools in Vietnam. This milestone marks the completion of a 2020 Implementation Agreement between the U.S. and Vietnam governments, with the Peace Corps and Vietnam’s Ministry of Education and Training as implementing agencies.

The volunteers will be assigned to high schools in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City from December 2024. They will work with local teachers to improve English skills for Vietnamese students, helping to expand educational and employment opportunities. Some volunteers will also teach at schools where current volunteers are completing their terms.

Upon arrival in Vietnam, volunteers begin a comprehensive 10-week training program that includes Vietnamese language classes, TEFL training, and teaching internships with local teachers. This training will help them develop the skills necessary to adapt to the local context and work effectively in the Vietnamese education system. Volunteers who complete the program will be formally sworn in in December 2024 and begin their tenure.

As the two countries prepare to celebrate the 30th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2025, the presence of these Peace Corps volunteers affirms the shared commitment to deepening people-to-people ties and strengthening bilateral relations.

This new group of volunteers will bring the total number of Peace Corps members working in Vietnam to 36. On December 30, 2022, wearing traditional Vietnamese ao dai, the first nine Peace Corps volunteers took an oath to begin their two-year English teaching assignment in Vietnam. These volunteers will teach English alongside teachers at nine high schools in Hanoi, under a program developed by the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training. They were selected based on a number of criteria, including attitude, openness, adaptability to change, and eagerness to learn./.