VietNamNet Bridge – The Hanoi education department initiated
program on teaching English to first graders started in 2008. To date, 400
schools have joined the program.
The Ministry of Education and
Training decided that English is a learning subject for the students from the
third grade. However, the Hanoi Education and Training Department has decided
that the first graders would also have two English periods a week, commencing
from the 2009-2010 academic year.
The department, in a dispatch to
primary schools, suggested that the schools should cooperate with prestigious
English centers to organize English teaching programs for their students. The
curriculums for reference include DvnEd of the Education and Development of
Vietnam (E&D Vietnam), Phonics – Learning Box UK, and the curriculum
compiled by Language Link Vietnam.
It is estimated that to date, the
first graders of 400 primary schools in Hanoi have been taught English under
the program. Though English is just an optional subject to first graders, nearly
100 percent of students have registered for the English learning.
The Hanoi Education and Training
Department has reassured the public that the program would help students learn
English methodically and efficiently. The teaching quality would be inspected,
which will decide whether the teachers can continue working for the program.
However, a lot of parents have
complained that they cannot see the benefits of the program.
Nguyen Thi Ngoc P, a parent whose
daughter learns English at the Hoang Dieu Primary School, said she feels
disappointed when realizing that the daughter’s English skills are not better
than the children who do not follow the joint training program.
P said that she has to pay 6
million dong in tuition for the 10-month English learning, the tuition high
enough to think that the students would get the best teaching quality.
The mother said she still has to
bring the daughter to an English center in Hanoi to improve her English
knowledge.
“I told my daughter to stop going
to the English class at the school, because I cannot see any improvement in her
English. However, she told me that she would have to move to another class, if
she does not continue learning English,” P said, adding that she fears that
this would affect the daughter’s psychology.
Nguyen Van T, a parent in Dong Da
district, said that he is not sure if the English lessons at school are useful
to his daughter. T’s daughter not only learns English at school, she also goes
to a foreign owned English center in Hanoi.
“Sometimes my daughter complained
that the spelling of the teacher at the school and the teacher at the center is
quite different. Honestly, I do not know who is right,” T said.
A parent, whose child is now
learning English at the Nguyen Trai Primary School in Thanh Xuan district, said
she accepts to pay the high tuition of 500,000 dong a month, provided her child
can enjoy good teaching service.
However, she said she still cannot
see the efficiency of the program.
The mother believes that in
principle, every 25 students need one teacher. Meanwhile, at primary schools, a
teacher needs to take care for 40-60 students, which makes it impossible to
provide good teaching.
Especially, some parents have
doubts about the necessity of the English teaching program, believing that it’s
too early to teach English to first graders.
First graders have just begun
their study, and they still have to work hard with Vietnamese letters and words.
Therefore, this would be a burden on them, if they have to learn English at the
same time.
NDT
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