Foreign languages critical in modern VN
Last week, Viet Nam News asked readers about the feasibility of the national master plan to improve the teaching and learning of foreign languages for the period 2008-20. Here are some responses:
Khoa Pham, managing director of Yola Institute, HCMC
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Your Say
Next week:
Ha Noi authorities are planning to pedestrianise six more streets in the Old Quarter by the end of this year.
In addition to the two existing pedestrianised streets, Hang Dao and Dong Xuan, Hang Buom, Hang Giay, Luong Ngoc Quyen, Ma May, Dao Duy Tu and Ta Hien are being considered for pedestrianisation.
If the plan comes into effect, the streets will be closed to motorised transport on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 7pm until midnight.
State officials said the project was expected to benefit local businesses by bringing more tourists to the area.
What do you feel about the plan? Do you think it would attract more tourists to the Old Quarter and help boost business activities there? Would you try going for a walk in the pedestrianised area to entertain yourself at weekends?
Do you think it would cause problems to traffic circulation and management in the area?
In your own country, are there a lot of pedestrianised streets and how are they managed by the authorities? Are they popular among local residents or tourists?
We welcome your opinions. Emails should be sent to: opinion.vietnamnews@gmail.com – or by fax to 84 (0) 43 933 2311. Letters can be sent to The Editor, Viet Nam News, 11 Tran Hung Dao Street, Ha Noi. Replies to this week's question must be received by Thursday morning, November 3. |
For a country with various disadvantagous like Viet Nam, to expect every graduate to speak fluent English by the year of 2020 is a highly ambitious plan, if not to say, impossible providing we keep funding our projects the same.
Learning from our past experiences, I do think that the plan should have a more focused target, rather than be egalitarian.
To make the most out of our resources, we should select English teachers with the best abilities and plenty of time ahead to serve in the industry. Those who are selected should be expected to participate in the process of training other unqualified teachers. Given this environment, we have to accept the temporary inequality.
Another promising solution is to privatise the process of training English teachers, which is still a territory of State-owned pedagogy universities or colleges. The education market for end learners has flourished in recent years with more and more players from the private sector. The market of training teachers and trainers, however, so far has received little recognition.
The Government needs to show more goodwill and provide specific measures to support the participation from the private sector. Then a new market would be cultivated, creating more jobs and social prosperity; and at the same time, the market could share the financial burden with the government.
As in the case of Thailand, the teaching of TOEFL or TESOL courses can be provided by independent institutions such as Teacher Training Centre ECC, the School of International Training, Siam Education Experience, and many more. The Ministry of Education functions as a superintendent to ensure the quality at the end of the production line, and to constantly investigate the operation of such education providers, rather than attempting to teach every single English teacher in the country by itself. This is the opportunity for the joint public-private effort to make a difference in raising Viet Nam's English proficiency level to a regional standard.
Mick Green, British, Ha Noi
The standard of education in general needs to improve in Viet Nam if the country wants to continue to internationalise and progress beyond a middle income economy. Improving standards of English – a global language – is a good metaphor for this.
I did a teaching course in my native Britain and worked as a language teacher for three years in Europe and Viet Nam.
Although I am no longer in the industry, I appreciate the need to improve the standards of foreign language education in Viet Nam.
A large part of the problem in Viet Nam is poor quality teaching. Many people recognise the benefits of learning English, so thousands of unregulated foreign language schools have sprouted across the big cities as a result.
Many employ people with no teaching qualifications simply because they are foreigners. Teaching is a highly skilled job and someone who doesn't know what they are doing can do more harm than good. I remember my first Vietnamese teacher in Ha Noi, she had no idea how to explain fundamental phrases and I ended up learning many phrases incorrectly.
There needs to be a high standard national curriculum that takes account of global English learning – TOEFL and IELTS for example. At the moment many schools use out-dated phrases and vocabulary. Lifetimes of work have gone into developing the most effective ways of learning and teaching English, so why not harness them?
There needs to be a standardised method of teaching native Vietnamese English teachers to ensure high quality. There should also, of course, be more equality in their salaries.
Nakahama Itaru, Japanese teacher at Nui Truc Japanese Language Centre, Ha Noi
I'm very glad that the teaching of Japanese is being done at many levels in the education system of Viet Nam. Viet Nam is one of the countries that has strong ties with Japan, and I can sense that students here are very enthusiastic about studying another foreign language.
The training in a foreign language could serve many purposes. However, if we aim at fostering communication skills, it's better to change the foreign language curriculum that puts too much focus on grammar and theories.
We should shift the focus on communications and practical skills with native speakers. Vietnamese students should also attend the annual Japanese language proficiency test that attracts 700,000 foreigners who want to know their exact level of proficiency.
Michael Semone, TOEFL teacher, American, HCM City
Improving Viet Nam's English proficiency level to an international standard is a huge challenge. First, we must first recognise that such a task requires the entire political and social system to commit to a long-term master plan. There are no shortcuts or quick fixes as we are talking about changing language behaviour for a large population.
It might take years, if not decades, to see the fruits. In other words, whatever plan or strategy the government determines to implement, patience, long-term commitment and execution discipline are critical. Second, ample research has shown that early exposure to foreign language has a dramatic and positive impact on children's language acquisition.
There can be no good tree without a solid root. If Viet Nam is serious about bringing English to the No.2 spoken language in Viet Nam, as Lee Kuan Yew did with Singapore, it is important to employ a comprehensive, innovative approach and commit to responsible training, benchmark and evaluation programmes targeting students from primary school through colleges. And in order to have a sufficient workforce to implement the strategy, the Government, private sector, and international organisations must come together and collaborate to deploy and utilise resources at large scale in an efficient manner.
Le Minh Ha, Vietnamese, university English teacher, Ha Noi
The quality of English teaching at universities in Viet Nam is far below regional standard. Even the most prestigious English teaching universities in Viet Nam can by no means compete with normal universities in Thailand, the Philippines or Malaysia.
We do not have such good English teachers, including those from native-speaking countries, and the number of lectures is also much smaller.
The Ministry of Education and Training made a good move by introducing English as a subject to be taught from third grade on. Of course, it is difficult to implement in reality, as English teachers outside big cities are all poorly trained. It is not good for children to some extent. They are like white paper and what they are taught at early ages is imprinted forever.
On the up side, however, at least children in the rural areas have equal opportunities to access English, which is very important. Without the plan, only parents in big cities could afford to send their children to English lessons. — VNS