VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) believes that now is the right time to kick off its plan on teaching science subjects in English at general schools, despite a series of hurdles.

The HCM City Education and Training Department on Monday made public its plan on teaching natural science subjects in English in cooperation with the UK Education Ministry. The teaching would be implemented in a pilot program in the 2014-2015 academic year, before it is applied in large scale in the ensuing years.

In fact, the plan officially started one month ago, when principals and students gathered at a workshop on teaching math and natural sciences in English held by the department in mid-March.

Meanwhile, teaching in English has been applied at 10 schools in the city. At Tran Dai Nghia and Le Hong Phong High Schools for the Gifted, students follow lesson plans compiled by the schools’ teachers themselves. Most recently, the city’s education department has allowed the digital lecture method DigiClass to be used to help improve the quality of lessons.

A report of MOET released four months ago revealed that teaching in English had been implemented at 20 high schools for the gifted nationwide. Since that time, students of normal schools in big cities can also learn in English.

In the northern province of Nam Dinh, teaching natural sciences in English is a must for high-quality schools.

At the Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted, students began learning math, physics, chemistry and biology in the second quarter of the 2013-2014 academic year. They have two lessons for every subject weekly.

Teaching in English is also compulsory for other high-quality schools in the province, including Tran Hung Dao, A Nghia Hung and Tong Van Tran. Meanwhile, normal schools have been encouraged to have one lesson a week for every subject.

According to the Nam Dinh Provincial Education and Training Department, it is not the idea of Nam Dinh to compel schools to teach natural sciences in English. This is a national plan initiated by MOET. A training course was provided by the ministry in late 2013 to teachers from 63 provinces and cities.

While teaching in English has become a growing trend, some analysts are skeptical about this, saying that they do not really understand what the main purposes of the program are.

“The aim of teaching in English is vague,” a teacher of a high school in Hanoi said. “If we want to improve students’ knowledge of natural sciences, we’d be better to teach them in Vietnamese. If we want to improve their English skills, we’d be better to give them more chances to practice communications or do grammar exercises”.

“Teaching natural sciences in English will not be helpful to them,” he concluded.

Giao Duc Thoi Dai has quoted a headmaster of a high school in HCM City as noting that only the students who plan to study abroad and prepare for the SAT exam have shown interest in the lessons in English. Meanwhile, other students only care about the knowledge they need to pass the domestic university entrance exams.

Thanh Mai