Test when English is a second language

Information from the Ministry of Education and Training said that in general, for the strategy of making English a "second language in schools", by 2030, the whole country will need 22,000 more English teachers in preschools and primary schools.

In fact, even the capital Hanoi is having difficulty recruiting and retaining English teachers at primary schools. A principal believes that the project is an opportunity to improve the foreign language foundation for students, but is also worried about how to recruit enough teachers to implement it. The current teaching profession's income is not attractive to young people who are good at English because of low salaries, they have many opportunities to choose with much higher incomes.

Therefore, to achieve the goals set out in the project, there needs to be a policy to attract staff and encourage students who are good at foreign languages to choose the teaching profession.

Many education experts also pointed out that the biggest bottleneck to implementing the project is people, motivation and consensus. In any reform, the program is just a framework. The people who turn the framework into reality are the teachers. This project not only requires teachers to be good at English but also to be proficient in bilingual teaching methods, both imparting subject knowledge and developing foreign languages. This is a complex skill that cannot be "crammed" into a few short courses.

According to Associate Professor Bui Manh Hung, Coordinator of the 2018 General Education Program Development Board, if the Government 's project is considered a long-term strategy, the immediate shortage of teachers is a reality that we must accept. However, that reality cannot last long. The 5-year preparation roadmap is not long, just enough to train 2 university courses of English teacher training.

Mr. Hung also gave an example: Some subjects such as music and fine arts, if due to lack of teachers these subjects are not included in the high school curriculum, then it is unknown when students will have the opportunity to choose subjects that suit their abilities, interests and career orientation. However, because they are elective subjects, the lack of teachers to teach these subjects can be solved step by step, it is not required to have them all right away when the program is implemented.

There was also a debate before making foreign languages a compulsory subject from grade 3. However, the Ministry of Education and Training and the curriculum drafting committee still firmly maintained the policy. Reality has shown that up to this point there is still a serious shortage of teachers, but if it is not a compulsory subject, the provinces in difficult areas will not have the political determination to find ways to manage, recruit, order teacher training...

Therefore, introducing English into schools from grade 1, so that one day English will become a second language, is an inevitable step. Once this is a project approved by the Government, reforms in remuneration, training, and teacher recruitment... must certainly be carried out in parallel.

Associate Professor Bui Manh Hung emphasized that teaching English as a second language in schools needs to be implemented in a development context that is appropriate to specific and achievable goals. This is a long-term strategy, not something that can be rushed or formalized. A language can only truly live in school life when it has enough soil to germinate, enough people to cultivate it, and enough time to spread.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/phep-thu-khi-tieng-anh-la-ngon-ngu-thu-hai-185251105205701444.htm