VietNamNet Bridge - Students in HCM City this year began using English textbooks based on Oxford Publishing Houses’ Family and Friends series, compiled by the HCM City Education and Training Department and published by the Education Publishing House.

The set of two textbooks – one lesson book and one exercise book – will replace the ‘Family and Friends’ by Oxford Publishing House which was used by primary schools in the city in the 2011-2012 academic year.

Do Minh Hoang, Chief Secretariat of the HCM City Education and Training Department, said the textbooks were a new version of ‘Family and Friends’ with lessons and exercises recompiled to become more suited to Vietnamese students. The copyright still belongs to the Oxford Publishing House.

The version will be used for HCM City’s students, starting from the 2015-2016 academic year.

Hoang said the education department decided to redesign the lessons in ‘Family and Friends’ after teachers complained that the curriculum was too demanding for students.

A teacher of English in district 1 noted that the new textbooks can be used for both the Intensive English Program and English as Optional Subject Program.

The students of the former program have four periods a week (45 minutes per period), and they use both the lesson and exercise books. Students of the latter program have eight periods a week which include four periods for learning math and science subjects in English.

Previously, the study of math and science subjects in English was encouraged by the education department. However, beginning this academic year, this is a requirement for students under the Intensive English Program.

A primary school teacher of English praised the new textbooks, saying that the new lessons will be more suited to Vietnamese students.

“There will be 12 instead of 14 lessons in Oxford’s textbooks. Some lessons, images and concepts have been redesigned to make it more easily approachable to Vietnamese,” she said.

For example, in the lesson about people’s names, instead of foreign names such as David or John, students will have Vietnamese names. Images of Vietnamese students, teachers and classrooms have also replaced images of schools in foreign countries.

An education expert, though agreeing that the new textbooks are better designed which makes it easier for teachers to give lessons, still said it would be not a good idea to change textbooks so regularly.

The HCM City education department in the past had decided to replace ‘Let’s Go’ textbooks with ‘Family and Friends’, and now it has replaced ‘Family and Friends’ with a new version. 

“It is necessary to consider the pros and cons of every textbook to find out what is the best for students,” he said. “Changing textbooks so regularly affects students’ feelings.”

Thanh Lich