Educational technology: "Spell, but don't spell Mr. Dai"

Over the past few days, social networks have suddenly reacted too loudly to Professor Ho Ngoc Dai's Vietnamese textbook, even though it has been used for about forty years now... With my understanding, I have the following thoughts:

How to spell Vietnamese grade 1

The first,Do not equate the way Professor Ho Ngoc Dai teaches spelling with the “improvements” of the national language of Associate Professor Bui Hien, because these are two completely different stories. Associate Professor Bui Hien proposed a way to improve his writing, while Professor Ho Ngoc Dai proposed a way to teach spelling that is different from the way we have known for a long time (but is actually not new to those who study language), Professor Ho Ngoc Dai still kept the writing method the same, without any changes. It is not appropriate to equate the changes of these two people.

Monday,Professor Ho Ngoc Dai proposed a way to spell by sound, different from the way we have learned and known for a long time, which is to spell by letter. This is also a way of spelling that is considered scientific, almost similar to the process of inventing the way of using the Latin alphabet to record Vietnamese by Western missionaries in the past. If you don't know, it seems strange, but if you take the time to learn a little, you will see the logic.

However, each spelling method has its own advantages and disadvantages. One small disadvantage should not negate the other advantages of the method. In fact, this spelling method has been taught in experimental schools for forty years, including teaching ethnic minority students to learn Vietnamese very effectively. Some of you whose children study using this method have given good comments.

Students of Con Cuong Town Primary School happily welcome the opening ceremony. Photo: My Ha

Tuesday,Many people scorn the way of teaching spelling using squares, triangles, etc., but they do not understand the intention of the pedagogue. If the goal is to read and write fluently after finishing first grade, then honestly, any method of learning can achieve that goal, including the spelling method in the early period of the national language, which was “a, be, cê, de…”, not “a, boong, cờ, dờ…” as it is now. So why do people have to teach children in the following way: reading words - analyzing - spelling - combining letters?

According to the philosophy of new teaching theories, students are not taught the final result, but are organized for them to find their own way to reach that result. My psychology teacher in college used to say: I don't prepare a feast for you, but guide you in preparing the food.

According to Mr. Dai's textbook, with the guidance of the teacher, the children will analyze the words themselves, find the sounds and rhymes, and then combine them into letters. Replacing unknown sounds and letters with drawings or objects is also a way to train children in the first simple thoughts about modeling, abstraction, generalization, conceptualization... which, according to traditional teaching methods, can only be approached in university or when studying philosophy.

By getting acquainted with these types of thinking operations early, children will train themselves to explore the world around them, read, study and be independent in life. In fact, students at the experimental school in Hanoi are very confident and independent from a young age. Of course, this is fostered and practiced through many subjects and many other teaching methods, spelling is just the first lesson.

Wednesday,Professor Ho Ngoc Dai's educational technology includes profound modern philosophies, in my opinion, in terms of "architecture" there is nothing to argue about, it is the most important invention in education of modern Vietnam. However, to build a house, in addition to architectural perspective, there must also be technical design and construction organization, which means a team of skilled teachers and workers is needed. Professor Ho Ngoc Dai may have been a talented architect, but the team of teachers and workers who designed and built that house may have this or that kind of person, leading to the house not being really perfect, even though just a few years ago, thousands of parents knocked down the gate of that house to submit applications for their children to study.

Comrade Nguyen Van Thong - Deputy Secretary of Nghe An Provincial Party Committee presented gifts to poor students of Tri Le 2 Primary School, Pa Khom school. Photo: Phuong Thuy

Thursday,Resolution 88, 2014 of the National Assembly has paved the way for the socialization of textbook compilation, thereby encouraging the existence of many different sets of textbooks. If it were proper, the Ministry of Education and Training should have organized a national council to evaluate Mr. Dai's textbooks. If it is found to be unqualified, then the experimental program of Mr. Dai should be stopped. If it is found to be qualified, then the recognition and recommendation should be given to educational institutions nationwide to choose Mr. Dai's textbooks, in addition to the Ministry's textbooks. At that time, whichever school wants to choose Mr. Dai, or choose the Ministry, is their right.

It is Mr. Dai's right to publish his books at the Education Publishing House or another publishing house that is authorized to publish general education textbooks. And, his experimental school itself has also ended its 40-year experimental process to properly and legitimately be a school that teaches according to the educational technology of its founder!

However, the Ministry of Education and Training did not do so. According to Professor Ho Ngoc Dai, the Minister hired a lawyer to advise on how to circumvent the law in order to continue expanding the pilot scope of the professor's textbook series to over 40 provinces, with approximately six hundred thousand students. Is it possible that they did so to monopolize the publishing, printing and selling of textbooks using Professor Ho Ngoc Dai's educational technology?

So, in my opinion, don’t “beat” Mr. Dai because of spelling. The person who deserves to be whipped is not Mr. Dai, but those responsible for allowing the general education textbook market to be monopolized and turned into a “disposable” product by vested interests to pick the parents’ pockets!