Quang Nam has opened many English teaching centers. Competition to attract students will help improve the quality of teaching, but also pose the problem of tighter management.
Recently, in localities, especially in Tam Ky city, English centers have flourished to meet the increasing needs of the people.
Recorded in two major centers
Misa English Center (No. 64 Le Loi, Tam Ky City) was established in 2008, is one of the oldest foreign language centers in the province. After a long journey, the center has affirmed itself as a quality and prestigious training place, attracting many students in Tam Ky City and neighboring localities to study.
Mr. Doan Dinh Chien - founder of Misa English Center said that in the first years of operation, the center attracted a large number of students with about 800 students. Recently, in Tam Ky area, there have been many centers established, causing the market share to be divided, the scale of the center has narrowed, currently there are an average of 250 - 270 students.
Meanwhile, Galaxy English Center has just celebrated its 11th anniversary. Although it has changed owners several times, the center has maintained its development. Currently, in addition to the main facility at 226 Huynh Thuc Khang, it also has a second facility in Tam Thang Commune (Tam Ky City). According to Ms. Nguyen Minh Tam - Director of the center, the center's target audience is preschool children and primary and secondary school students. Currently, the center trains about 250 students, including 3 preschool classes with 30 children.
Like Misa English Center, Galaxy English Center was also selected by Tam Ky to teach English at preschools and kindergartens in the area according to the plan of the City People's Committee; at the same time, it regularly accompanies the Tam Ky Department of Education and Training in organizing activities serving teaching and learning such as English club activities for students.
Bustle
Tam Ky City is currently considered the locality with the most bustling English center market in the province. In addition to the two English centers Misa and Galaxy, in the central area of this provincial capital, there are 19 centers established at different times, of which some centers are quite large in scale and are attracting the attention of many parents and students such as Ama (established in 2014), Popodoo (2016), Jena (formerly AEC, in 2017), Amy, Ely (2019) ...
The emergence of many English centers will benefit learners because the centers are forced to compete to attract students, from investing in spacious facilities, improving teaching quality and lowering tuition fees.
However, some people believe that there is unhealthy competition, even false advertising to attract students, racing for quantity while ignoring quality.
“The establishment of many centers will better meet the needs of society, contributing to improving quality. However, there are also some centers that use tricks to attract customers, badmouthing other centers to attract parents and students. There are also some centers that rent or renovate old houses, so the facilities are not guaranteed. This really requires management, inspection, and supervision from the management agency,” shared a representative of an English center.
What programs and curriculums do English centers teach, what kind of teachers are there, how much are the tuition fees, how are the training goals at the center different from those at high schools, etc. are issues that parents and students are concerned about before deciding to send their children to study.
Textbooks, foreign teachers
Through surveys, most English centers today choose to use teaching materials and especially build a team of teachers with "foreign" elements. It is understandable because with the psychology of most parents and students who prefer to learn English with native speakers, this is considered one of the important criteria to attract learners, even the survival factor of each center.
According to Ms. Nguyen Minh Tam - Director of Galaxy English Center, the center is very interested in foreign teachers and currently has a contract with 1 American teacher, 1 French teacher in addition to 12 Vietnamese teachers. The center also uses Cambridge and Macmillan textbooks for teaching.
Meanwhile, explaining the reason for choosing the Cambridge curriculum, the leader of Misa English Center said that this is an international curriculum according to European standards, used by many English centers. From this curriculum, teachers will develop lesson plans, distribute appropriate teaching programs, report to the Department of Education and Training for appraisal for licensing and annual inspection and supervision.
“Our goal is to train students to listen and speak English, and students from junior high school and above can aim for a further goal of preparing for IELTS or TOEIC certification exams. Therefore, in addition to international curriculum, the center also invites 4 foreign teachers to teach.
The selection criteria are very careful, fully meeting the requirements of teaching quality and dedication to the profession. Misa says no to Western backpackers" - Mr. Doan Dinh Chien (founder of Misa English Center) said.
Compete with quality
According to some leaders of English centers, to affirm the brand and attract learners, the key issue is to improve the quality of teaching and learning, while competitive tuition fees are only secondary. Because unlike before, parents now have many places to choose for their children to learn English; if any center does not teach quality, it will soon be eliminated.
From the center's reality, Ms. Nguyen Minh Tam said that foreign teachers who want to work in Vietnam must meet all the required procedures; the most important thing is that in addition to having enough professional qualifications, they must also demonstrate their level and ability to teach in class.
“The salary of foreign teachers is 35 million VND per month, so the center must check very carefully to select those who are truly capable of teaching. In addition to the center's assessment, the teachers' qualifications are also verified through the learning results sent to each parent and the assessment of the students,” Ms. Tam added.
Not only the curriculum, the teaching staff, the organization of classes and activities at the centers are also very different from those at schools. According to the leader of an English center in Hoi An, while the number of students per class at schools is quite large, averaging 35 - 40, at the centers, each class has about 10 - 15 students, even 5 - 6 students. This helps improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning, especially increasing the ability to interact between teachers and students - the most important thing in learning English.
In addition, the center also integrates many learning activities, enhances extracurricular activities, creates joy and motivation for children to study. This is also the reason why many parents choose to send their children to study at the English center.
Parent Nguyen Thi Tuong Vi (residing in Tam Ngoc commune, Tam Ky city) said that for the past 5 years, every weekend she regularly takes her child to study at the English center in An Xuan ward, from a 2nd grade girl until now the child has been in 7th grade.
“School focuses on vocabulary and grammar, while at the center, my child can learn and communicate with foreign teachers, which has helped him go from knowing nothing to being able to speak English quite well. Although it is a bit difficult to take him to and from school, the family is happy with his increasingly improved academic results,” said Ms. Vi.
Meanwhile, talking about the reason for letting his child study at Galaxy English Center, Mr. Le Quang Luu (living in An Xuan ward, Tam Ky city) said that here his child can study with foreign teachers at a ratio of 50 - 50 study time, helping his English pronunciation skills to be quite standard.
“Not comparing with school, but with favorable learning conditions such as studying with foreign teachers, small number of students, the curriculum increases listening and speaking, so the ability and confidence in communicating in English of the children have clearly improved. This is the reason why I sent my child to school since he was 4 years old until now he is in grade 5” - Mr. Luu shared.
Tuition fees at English centers are determined by each center and according to a survey, the fee ranges from 2 million VND depending on each course (average 3 months/course). At Misa English Center, tuition fees range from 500,000 - 900,000 VND/month depending on the level; while Galaxy English Center sets quarterly tuition fees, from 1.9 - 2.7 million VND. According to parent Le Quang Luu, studying with foreign teachers, small class size, good learning conditions, so such tuition fees are easy to accept.
Tam Ky is the first locality in Quang Nam to implement the program "Introducing English to 5-year-old children" completely free of charge. After 2 years of organizing in all public preschool systems, the number of children accessing English has reached thousands.
At the end of the 2022-2023 school year, the number of 5-year-old children accessing the program "Getting to know English for 5-year-old children" of Tam Ky City reached 1,272 children. Last school year, the number of 5-year-old children participating in the program was more than 1,200 children. In the second year of implementation, the program received more attention from parents.
Ms. Trinh Thi Kim Hoang, whose child is studying at Son Ca Kindergarten (Tan Thanh Ward), said that in the afternoon when picking her child up after each school day, the child chattered and pointed to objects in the house and spoke English. "My child is very excited after each English class. He is also more confident when participating in some group activities at school," Ms. Hoang said.
"Previously, schools organized English teaching and learning on their own in the spirit of socialization, so many children did not participate due to their family circumstances. In the 2021-2022 school year, when the program began, we required public kindergartens and preschools to allow all 5-year-olds to participate in organized English classes.
After 2 years of implementation, up to now, the program has achieved certain results, from more systematic organization, lesson plans, and teaching methods for children being unified in a program framework" - Ms. Nguyen Thi Tam Hien - Deputy Head of the Department of Education and Training of Tam Ky City shared.
Five-year-old children in public schools in Tam Ky City have two English lessons each week, lasting from 25 to 35 minutes. The program arranges for 50% of the lessons to have foreign teachers to support listening and speaking activities. The cost for each lesson is from 160,000 VND (a lesson with 2 Vietnamese teachers) to 300,000 VND (a lesson with a foreign teacher), paid for by the city budget.
Previously, when the paid English teaching program was implemented in schools in the eastern part of the city, the rate of children registering to participate was only 50 to 60%. However, when Tam Ky implemented the free English teaching program, most of them received the agreement and support of parents as well as teachers at the schools.
[ VIDEO ] - An English lesson with a foreign teacher:
According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Noen - Director of AMY English Center, the unit in charge of the program "Getting 5-year-old children acquainted with English" at 11 kindergartens and preschools in Tam Ky City, the center has combined many teaching methods while always being flexible and innovating promptly to help children easily absorb and arouse their love for English. By directly interacting with foreign teachers, children are interested and absorb quickly, easily remembering lessons.
The center applies the method of learning while playing, playing while learning in English. Teachers use vocabulary with real images so that children can remember easily, thereby integrating sentence patterns with games to help children practice and apply in real life.
In addition, the center teaches through English songs, using lively body language to create a lively atmosphere. At the end of each semester, the center tests and evaluates the quality of each student by recording videos to test vocabulary, sentence patterns on learned topics and simple communication sentences.
"Each semester, the center coordinates with the school to organize extracurricular English activities and competitions such as "Ring the Golden Bell" to create a healthy and useful playground for students to demonstrate their English talents," said Ms. Nguyen Thi No En.
How are English centers in the province licensed and managed? What solutions are there to strengthen management, especially in terms of quality? Quang Nam Newspaper reporters had an interview with Mr. Phung Van Huy - Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training about this issue.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING STRICTLY MANAGES
- Sir, according to regulations, the Department of Education and Training is the local management agency that issues decisions to establish and grant operating licenses for English centers. So how is the appraisal and licensing process carried out?
- Mr. Phung Van Huy:
The regulations on the organization, operation and management of foreign language centers are implemented according to Decree 46 of the Government and Circular 21 of the Ministry of Education and Training. Specifically, the director of the Department of Education and Training is the person who issues the decision to establish the center, recognizes the director and deputy director of the center and issues the decision to allow the center to operate.
Before making these decisions, according to the process based on the reports of the centers, the department will establish an inspection team to assess the conditions, including the management staff, teachers (full-time and guest lecturers), facilities (number and area of classrooms, lighting conditions, hygiene), textbooks, teaching materials, equipment, etc.
The center either uses documents according to the list issued by the Ministry of Education and Training or compiles them on the basis of available textbooks such as Cambridge. Is the teaching curriculum appropriate according to regulations such as what is taught in preschool, what is taught in primary and secondary schools?
After granting operating licenses, the Department of Education and Training will annually issue a plan to inspect, supervise and monitor the operations of the centers; at the same time, periodically organize preliminary and final reviews and training sessions to assess the operational situation and promptly remove existing problems and difficulties. In the 2022-2023 school year, the department's plan is to inspect 50% of the centers operating in the province to grasp the situation and thereby correct any errors.
- There are opinions that not only Quang Nam but the whole country lacks strict management of English centers due to the lack of specific regulations. What is your opinion on this issue?
- Mr. Phung Van Huy:
It must be affirmed that the Department of Education and Training is strictly managing all English centers in Quang Nam in accordance with regulations, demonstrated through the appraisal of documents, granting operating licenses; periodic inspection, monitoring and supervision plans to detect cases that do not meet regulations, will require additional requirements, or decide to temporarily stop or suspend operations. In fact, in the past, the whole province had 21 centers dissolved, terminated operations, 2 centers were not licensed and 13 centers temporarily suspended operations, showing the determination of the department in management work.
However, through actual inspection, there are still some centers with inadequate facilities, inadequate scale, poor quality; and unfair competition. The Department has promptly corrected and requested corrections.
NEED QUALITY ASSESSMENT CRITERIA
- Currently, the subjects studying at English centers in the province are mainly preschool, primary and secondary school students, so they almost only teach and learn without taking any exams, so it is very difficult to evaluate the quality of teaching and learning (through scores or certificates). So what is the basis for the management agency to evaluate the quality?
- Mr. Phung Van Huy:
Previously, the Department of Education and Training organized exams and issued English certificates, so there was a basis for evaluating the teaching and learning quality of each center. Currently, the center mainly teaches to enhance and improve English communication for students; in addition, it organizes review sessions for students to take IELTS or TOEIC exams.
Because there are no exams or tests like in schools to assess quality, in management, the department requires centers to sign a commitment with each parent about the output quality according to age and class group. Of course, these are just tests and assessments of each center and the issuance of a certificate of completion; there are no specific regulations or criteria on quality. However, every center must try to build its brand and create prestige among parents and students; otherwise, who would send their children to school?
According to regulations, the center cannot teach like a school, mainly practicing English communication for students and preparing for exams according to the needs of learners to get direct admission points or exemption from exams. The new general education program, including English, is considered very superior. However, the program at school meets the basic requirements according to the curriculum framework of the Ministry of Education and Training, while the center's learning meets the more advanced needs of learners.
- From that reality, in your opinion, is it necessary to have a specific set of criteria to evaluate the quality as well as regulate the tuition ceiling for English centers to ensure stricter management?
- Mr. Phung Van Huy:
The government is drafting a new decree on the management of foreign language centers and the department will participate in providing comments. It is true that in reality, there are still some problems in the management of foreign language centers. In my opinion, to evaluate the quality of teaching and learning, there should be a framework of criteria or some form of output, not through the commitment or trust of learners and society. There is no exam, but it can be determined through an output survey at a certain threshold.
Similarly, the current tuition fees are also set by each center and agreed upon with parents, so some places are high and some are low. Therefore, there should be a ceiling regulation so that centers can set tuition fees that are suitable to the needs of society, avoiding the situation of overcharging, especially when the demand for English learning of urban people is increasing.
Thank you!
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