VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Education and Training
(MOET) has decided to verify the qualification of general school English
teachers in a plan to ensure that the teaching staff can meet the required
standards. However, it’s still unclear what will come after the verification.
30 percent of English teachers need interpretation
A MOET’s report showed that by
the end of June 2012, Vietnam had had 1062 out of the 11,784 working primary
school English teachers meeting B2 and 2785 meeting B1 level in accordance with
European standards. Meanwhile, more than 60 percent of current English teachers
have university degree or higher degree granted by Vietnamese universities.
In Hanoi, the city’s authorities
have pointed out that the English teachers at general schools are still bad at
listening, speaking and pronunciation.
A survey has found that only 40
percent of English teachers can listen and understand the lessons given by
foreign experts, 30 percent of teachers understand the lessons in foreign
languages, while the other 30 percent nearly don’t catch the main ideas of the
lessons, and they needed translation.
Listening, speaking and
pronunciation skills have been found as the biggest problems of English
teachers, while these are the most important skills for learners, especially
for primary school students, who begin learning a new language.
The noteworthy thing is that the
unqualified teachers can be seen not only in rural areas, but also in big
cities. Only the schools for the gifted, or high-quality schools have English
teachers with really high qualifications.
Hoang Tat Truong, former Dean of
the English Department of the Foreign Language University, a member school of
the Hanoi National University, also said that though the qualification of
English teachers at the school has been improved, some still don’t have good
skills.
Truong said that he once
cooperated with some lecturers when compiling exam questions. He estimated that
40 percent of the teachers and lecturers with the capability at an average
level could also join the council of compiling exam questions.
When asked to give detailed
comments about the actual qualification of English teachers at non-foreign
language majoring schools, he said 30 percent of teachers are excellent, 30
percent good, while the remaining are weak.
Truong said he can see a lot of
problems in selecting foreign language teachers for schools. A lot of English
teachers graduated from Russian faculty of universities and only attended some
basic English training courses.
Meanwhile, a lot of English majoring
graduates have become redundant because of the oversupply and many of them are
now working as politics teachers.
Diseases found, but how to cure?
Under the national project on
teaching and learning foreign languages in the national educational system in
2008-2020, foreign language teachers must have the foreign language capability
higher by two grades than the students.
For example, the lecturers at
universities and vocational schools must have C1 (fifth grade) in accordance
with the European standards at least.
MOET has promised to give
financial support to universities to send teachers to short term training
courses overseas (3 months) and long term courses (6 months – one year). Each
of school can send one key teacher to attend the training courses overseas
every year in 2013-2015.
However, doubts have been raised
about the feasibility and the efficiency of the program. Only one lecturer is
sent a year. Will the only lucky lecturer be able to undertake all the training
works of a faculty? Which agency would come forward and verify the
qualification of the lecturers to return from overseas training courses?
Nang Luong Moi
Business & Investment Opportunities
YourVietnamExpert is a division of Saigon Business Corporation Pte Ltd (SBC), Incorporated in Singapore since 1994. As Your Business Companion, we propose a range of services in Strategy, Investment and Management, focusing Healthcare and Life Science with expertise in ASEAN. Since we are currently changing the platform of www.yourvietnamexpert.com, if any request, please, contact directly Dr Christian SIODMAK, business strategist, owner and CEO of SBC at christian.siodmak@gmail.com. Many thanks.
No comments:
Post a Comment