One of the key new provisions in the Politburo’s Conclusion No. 91-KL/TW regarding the continued implementation of the Resolution No. 29-NQ/TW of the 11th Party Central Committee on the ‘Fundamental and Comprehensive Innovation of Education and Training to Meet the Requirements of Industrialization and Modernization within the Context of a Socialist-Oriented Market Economy and International Integration’ is the establishment of English as the second language in schools.
According to Principal Nguyen Thi Ngoc Dung of Tran Quang Co Primary School in District 10, speaking is the weakest English skill among high school students today. They have limited exposure to a standard English communication environment. Many students have poor pronunciation, making them reluctant to communicate with foreigners, while those with good pronunciation lack a proper training environment.
According to Principal Tran Tuyet Suong of Hoang Van Thu Secondary School in District 10, the widespread approach to improving English teaching quality centers on the engagement of native English instructors.
To stably and effectively implement the teaching program, schools must use their own teaching staff for English to become the second language in schools in the long term.
‘Hiring native teachers is a crucial first step to help students and teachers in public schools adapt to a standard English communication environment and foster an active English learning movement in schools’, said the Principal of Hoang Van Thu Secondary School.
However, this method cannot be sustained due to the high costs and unstable teaching staff, he said.
With a different approach, Principal Pham Thuy Ha of Dang Tran Con Primary School, District 4, said that in order to create an English communication environment, the school not only teaches foreign languages in English classes but also integrates them into STEM and STEAM educational activities, creating conditions for students to apply foreign languages to other subjects and real-life communication situations.
However, according to English specialist Pham Tri Thien General Education Division under the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, creating an English communication environment should not be limited to teaching Math and Science in English but should expand to many other forms of learning, such as organizing for students to watch movies, tell stories, practice singing, and give presentations in English.
Tran Ngoc Thien Anh, who oversees the English program at Dai Truong Phat Education Group, stated that a key limitation in foreign language teaching at high schools today is the lack of technological tools for instruction.
She continued that effective implementation of enhanced educational environments necessitates the integration of advanced learning management platforms, supplementing facility upgrades and modern teaching equipment. These platforms should provide functionalities for streamlined student testing and evaluation, learning process tracking, and comprehensive reporting, enabling educators to adapt their instructional strategies to individual student progress.
In parallel with classroom teaching, schools need to promote online learning, extracurricular activities, academic and talent playgrounds to help students have more environments to practice foreign languages and improve their English communication skills.
According to Director Nguyen Van Hieu of the Department of Education and Training in Ho Chi Minh City, students have developed strong foreign language proficiency, particularly in English, over the past 10 years.
The leader of the education sector emphasized that this is one of the key conditions for education to foster international integration, in line with the Ho Chi Minh City Education and Training Development Strategy to 2030, with a vision to 2045, which aims to elevate the city's education to an advanced regional level.
Currently, the current landscape of English language instruction within general education institutions benefits significantly from robust governmental support, encompassing both policy directives and administrative oversight at various levels, which facilitate the implementation of national projects and prioritize investment in infrastructural and pedagogical enhancements, he said.
He advocated for school principals to curate and present to parents English language programs that adhere to established standards, specified learning outcomes, and foreign language proficiency benchmarks for each educational stage. Specifically, at the primary level, alongside the acquisition of foundational knowledge and skills, emphasis should be placed on cultivating students' autonomous learning capabilities and fostering a propensity for inquiry and academic exploration.
