Vietnam has been consistent with its policy on teaching many differentlanguages at general schools. However, it meets a lot of bigdifficulties that hinder the programme implementation. Insight fromVietnam Net online newspaper.
English remains the biggest choice for students
Under the current regulations, the foreign languages taught at generalschools are English and some other languages including French, German,Japanese, Chinese and Russian.
However, according to the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), 98 percent of students want to learn English.
Vu Thi Tu Anh, a senior official of the ministry, admitted that theministry is encountering a lot of difficulties when trying to maintainthe teaching of Russian, Japanese, French and Korean at general schools.
The other foreign languages have been accepted bystudents at universities and junior colleges, but they are still less“competitive” than English.
Also according to Anh,general schools, except the schools for the gifted, only teach Englishto satisfy the demand of the majority of students because of the problemwith the teaching staff.
Meanwhile, Nguyen HoaiChuong, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Education and TrainingDepartment, emphasised the necessity of teaching many foreign languages,which allows to diversify languages in the context of the internationalintegration.
Chuong said that in order to persuadestudents to learn other foreign languages, MOET needs to change thecurrent regulations and then improve the teaching staff.
In Ho Chi Minh City, students are allowed to learn second foreignlanguages when they enter the 10th grade. However, Chuong thinks thatsecond foreign languages should be taught to 6th graders already.
Nguyen Hoang, Deputy Director of the Nghe An provincial Education andTraining Department, thought that Vietnamese students only want to learnEnglish because they cannot see the benefit of other foreign languages.University students, like general school students, don’t want to learnother foreign languages, if they are not those of foreign languagemajoring schools.
Officials from the Ben Tre andKhanh Hoa provinces also said it is nearly impossible to teach moreforeign languages to students because of the lack of money, materialfacilities and teaching staff.
English teachers cannot meet requirements
Though English is the choice of 98 percent of students and Vietnam hasabundant English-language teachers, the percentages of “standardisedteachers” who can meet the requirements set by MOET remain modest.
A recent survey by MOET found that 75 percent of primary school and 90percent of high school teachers did not meet the standards.
Anh has attributed the low qualification of English teachers to thelow pay and hard work. At some schools, English-language teachers have40 teaching hours a week, much higher than the allowed number of 18hours.
Chuong admitted that only a small percentageof English-language teachers in Ho Chi Minh City can meet therequirements. A lot of students with C-level English certificate cannotlisten, speak or write.
According to Anh, a nationalforeign language teaching programme has been implemented since 2011which partially aims to upgrade the teachers’ capability. As many as 600teachers and 670 management officers have been trained over the lastthree years under the programme.
It is expected that the national program would benefit 80,000 teachers and 20 million students after 10 years.-VNA
English remains the biggest choice for students
Under the current regulations, the foreign languages taught at generalschools are English and some other languages including French, German,Japanese, Chinese and Russian.
However, according to the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), 98 percent of students want to learn English.
Vu Thi Tu Anh, a senior official of the ministry, admitted that theministry is encountering a lot of difficulties when trying to maintainthe teaching of Russian, Japanese, French and Korean at general schools.
The other foreign languages have been accepted bystudents at universities and junior colleges, but they are still less“competitive” than English.
Also according to Anh,general schools, except the schools for the gifted, only teach Englishto satisfy the demand of the majority of students because of the problemwith the teaching staff.
Meanwhile, Nguyen HoaiChuong, Deputy Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Education and TrainingDepartment, emphasised the necessity of teaching many foreign languages,which allows to diversify languages in the context of the internationalintegration.
Chuong said that in order to persuadestudents to learn other foreign languages, MOET needs to change thecurrent regulations and then improve the teaching staff.
In Ho Chi Minh City, students are allowed to learn second foreignlanguages when they enter the 10th grade. However, Chuong thinks thatsecond foreign languages should be taught to 6th graders already.
Nguyen Hoang, Deputy Director of the Nghe An provincial Education andTraining Department, thought that Vietnamese students only want to learnEnglish because they cannot see the benefit of other foreign languages.University students, like general school students, don’t want to learnother foreign languages, if they are not those of foreign languagemajoring schools.
Officials from the Ben Tre andKhanh Hoa provinces also said it is nearly impossible to teach moreforeign languages to students because of the lack of money, materialfacilities and teaching staff.
English teachers cannot meet requirements
Though English is the choice of 98 percent of students and Vietnam hasabundant English-language teachers, the percentages of “standardisedteachers” who can meet the requirements set by MOET remain modest.
A recent survey by MOET found that 75 percent of primary school and 90percent of high school teachers did not meet the standards.
Anh has attributed the low qualification of English teachers to thelow pay and hard work. At some schools, English-language teachers have40 teaching hours a week, much higher than the allowed number of 18hours.
Chuong admitted that only a small percentageof English-language teachers in Ho Chi Minh City can meet therequirements. A lot of students with C-level English certificate cannotlisten, speak or write.
According to Anh, a nationalforeign language teaching programme has been implemented since 2011which partially aims to upgrade the teachers’ capability. As many as 600teachers and 670 management officers have been trained over the lastthree years under the programme.
It is expected that the national program would benefit 80,000 teachers and 20 million students after 10 years.-VNA
