Starting with the teaching staff

Flexible teaching methods

In the 2018 General Education Program, English is an elective subject in grades 1 and 2 and a compulsory subject in grades 3, 4, and 5 of primary, secondary and high school. Statistics for the 2023-2024 school year show that the total number of students in grades 1 and 2 studying English nationwide will reach over 80%. The number of students from grades 3 to 5 studying English will reach 100%. Some localities have implemented over 90% such as: Hanoi (98.5%); Ho Chi Minh City (98%); Hai Phong (over 96%); Binh Duong (100%); Hung Yen (100%); Ninh Binh (95.2%)... by using socialization to organize elective English learning.

With the flexibility in teaching foreign languages, many diverse forms of learning have emerged, demonstrating the solidarity in overcoming difficulties and sharing between regions or between localities. For example, 40 teachers from Nam Dinh still teach English every week to students in the mountainous districts of Mu Cang Chai and Tram Tau (Yen Bai), nearly 60 teachers in Da Lat City (Lam Dong) still teach students in disadvantaged schools in Ha Giang every week... Localities have made great efforts in all conditions to pay attention to students learning English.

However, there are still challenges in learning and taking English exams. Ms. Nguyen Thi Mai Hoa - Vice Chairwoman of the National Assembly's Committee on Culture andEducation pointed out that through observing the annual high school graduation exam scores, we see two clear peaks in the foreign language section. The first very high peak is the peak of the number of students with low foreign language scores, around 4 - 5 points; and the lower peak next to it is the number of students with high scores, around 9 - 10 points. "The gap between these two peaks is very far, showing that our journey to speed up the progress to make foreign languages ​​the second language in schools is an arduous journey" - Ms. Hoa raised the issue.

Solving the problem of recruitment sources and teams

According to many experts, the most difficult thing at present is to ensure enough teachers. Associate Professor, Dr. Ha Le Kim Anh - Vice Principal of the University of Foreign Languages ​​(Vietnam National University, Hanoi) said that it is necessary to solve the problem of the lack of English teachers, especially in mountainous areas. In addition, there is a difficulty in perception, there are still parents who think that English is an elective subject and only need to pass the subject. This makes it difficult to create momentum and improve the quality of English use in career development.

In addition, experts also emphasized the investment in facilities, infrastructure, reform, innovation in examinations, etc. Prof. Dr. Tran Van Nhung - former Deputy Minister of Education and Training (MOET) noted that to make English the second language in schools, all the difficulties will lie in disadvantaged areas. The success or failure of all these strategies depends on how difficult the implementation is in disadvantaged areas.

From the experience of countries around the world, Prof. Dr. Tran Van Nhung proposed the motto “arrow, bullet”, which means there must be someone who goes first. The talented person must go first, they will find a way to develop and then can return to help the community, pulling the whole “train” forward. Whether in big cities like Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City or remote areas, people need to go first. It is necessary to pilot to expand the teaching of natural sciences in English, then social sciences.

Regarding the issue of recruiting English teachers, Dr. Thai Van Tai - Director of the Department of Primary Education (Ministry of Education and Training) said that in the coming time, it is necessary to synchronously deploy solutions to overcome difficulties. For localities that have recruited teachers but have difficulties in the implementation and recruitment process, and do not have a source of recruitment, the locality needs to report to the authorities at all levels to have their own local policies and support widespread communication.

Source: https://daidoanket.vn/dua-tieng-anh-tro-thanh-ngon-ngu-thu-hai-bat-dau-tu-doi-ngu-giao-vien-10291389.html