Vietnam lacks teachers of English

Tran Phuong Anh in Dong Da district in Hanoi said she had to reduce her budget on travel and clothes to save money to pay her two children’s classes at an English center, for which she has to pay VND50 million a year for four lessons a week.

Anh said the English lessons at the public school “are not good enough”. 

Shr is satisfied about the teaching method used at the English center. “My children can study with foreign teachers who have new learning methods. In general, their English skills have significantly improved since they began attending classes there.”

“I found that many teachers of English at school have bad pronunciation. I don’t believe they can be good teachers,” she said.

The Ministry of Education & Training (MOET) has acknowledged the low qualifications of teachers. A survey conducted by the ministry to prepare teachers for the new education program found that only 53 percent of teachers met standards in foreign language capability in 2011-2012, while the figure was 69 percent in 2017-2018.

A secondary school teacher of English in Ha Tinh province, who has 10 years of experience, admitted that she cannot communicate in English with foreigners because she has never met and talked to foreigners before, and doesn’t have the opportunity to practice speaking.

Pham Thi Le Hang, head of the Ha Dong district’s education sub-department, complained about the serious shortage of teachers in the locality. The current teaching staff gives two lessons a week. A local school has 2,000 students, but only two teachers of English.

In an effort to improve English teaching quality, the schools in the district two years ago began using partners to organize English teaching at school.

However, Hang noted that schools are less competitive than foreign language centers which are equipped with modern facilities and teaching aids.

Le Hong Vu, head of the Tay Ho district education sub-department, said it was not uncommon that teachers of English cannot communicate in English. 

Three years ago, when joint teaching programs began in the locality, Vu asked teachers of English to work as assistants to foreign teachers. 

Some of them could assume the role of assistant, while some others could not communicate with foreign teachers and were not allowed to give lessons.

MOET said it is providing retraining courses to help upgrade the quality of teachers of English. However, experts doubt that 100 percent of teachers can meet the required standards for the new general education program.

RELATED NEWS

Vietnam faces shortage of native English-speaking teachers

English teacher makes dream come true