HANOI, Dec 1 (Reuters) - Every Tuesday, 79-year-old Nguyen Thi Loc joins a group of grey-haired students to study English at a house in Hanoi, with the aim of socialising and keeping her brain sharp. The informal classes are free and are taught by Phung Thi Yen, who trained as an English teacher but currently works as an office worker. Loc has never studied a foreign language before, but with her newly acquired skills she chants in chorus with her classmates: "Never too old to learn English". English is Vietnam's most commonly taught foreign language after having become a mandatory subject at school in the 1990s. "Even though we are old, we still should try to study, because studying helps the brain," she said.

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