VietNamNet Bridge – Besides the official English curriculum approved by the HCM City Education and Training Department, many others have been utilized for preschool children.

In October 2011, the education department released a decision on allowing Poly, a South Korean education service company, to apply Poly’s curriculum in teaching English to some preschools in the city.

Under the decision, the curriculum would be taught in a pilot program at four nursery schools, namely the HCM City Nursery School, Be Ngoan in district 1, Tuoi Tho 7 in district 3 and Vang Anh in district 5.

Poly has been applied in 56 schools in many districts in HCM City over the last two years.

According to the head of the Tuoi Tho 7 Preschool, before Poly was applied, the school, joining forces with CEC English Center, opened English classes for the children of the school. The children then had two English lessons a week and paid VND60,000 a month in tuition.

However, since the city’s education department approved Poly curriculum, the children of the school have shifted to learn English with Poly.

However, the number of children registering to learn English with Poly is modest, partially because of the high tuition.

The children have to pay VND320,000 a month in tuition for 8 lessons a month and VND480,000 a month for 12 lessons per month. Children have two lessons of learning with Vietnamese teachers every week and the other one with foreign ones.

According to Nguyen Thi Minh Nguyet, deputy head of the district 3’s education sub-department, about 10 preschools in the locality are teaching English to their children. Some of the schools follow Poly curriculum, others cooperate with CEC English Center, while the remaining with the other foreign language centers.

“The schools themselves decide which training establishments they should cooperate with, after consulting with the parents,” Nguyet said.

The 19-5 Nursery School decided to apply Poly as soon as the city’s education department approved the curriculum, though it had used another curriculum before.

However, since a lot of parents want their children to learn with CEC curriculum, the school has also signed a contract on teaching English with CEC.

No English teaching curriculum has been officially chosen to be utilized at preschools in HCM City so far.

Therefore, Son Ca 12’s 5-year-old children in Phu Nhuan district now learn English with the teachers from Tan Van English Center. The curriculum applied here is Tiny Talk. Meanwhile, the children of Hanh Phuc School in Tan Binh district said the English teachers come from Kiddy Land English Center which now gives lessons in accordance with Little Friends and First Friends.

Le Thi Minh Loan from the district 9’s education sub-department, stressed that the watchdog agency does not intervene the schools’ decisions on what curriculums to be applied.

Urban parents still try to bring their children to English classes even though the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) has stated that no need to teach English to preschool children.

A parent whose daughter goes to Ngoi Sao Nhi School in Binh Thanh district complained that the school does not set up English classes following the ministry’s instruction, while she wants the child to begin learning English as soon as possible.

Le Huyen