Intensive English Teaching: When parents reluctantly... volunteer!
(Baonghean.vn) - The enhanced English program is being implemented by many schools in Nghe An with the aim of enhancing students' English proficiency. During the implementation process, there are difficulties and shortcomings that require early adjustment.
Reluctantly... voluntarily!
This school year, Ms. Le K's daughter (Nghi Phu commune - Vinh city) entered first grade and was admitted to a local primary school. She is currently studying in an intensive English class with a tuition fee of 280,000 VND/month. When parents register their children to study, they must commit to studying for 5 years.
Talking about the decision to send her child to an intensive English class, Ms. Le K said that she had many concerns. However, because she had started something, she had to follow through, so she tried to send her child to the class, even though she herself was not completely satisfied.
She said: “The day I went to enroll my child, the school gave me a voluntary form, I thought about it carefully and decided to register, because the school announced that there was only one intensive English class. After the deadline for submitting the application, the school announced that 70 students had applied but the quota was only one class. Therefore, before the children enrolled, the school invited the parents of these classes to a meeting and announced that if they enrolled, they would have to make a long-term commitment. For that reason, I did not register anymore.
However, after this class, a teacher in the school called me and advised me to study instead of studying at the center and the school only arranged 1 intensive English class taught by a good teacher. It sounded good to me so I said "yes" because I thought that with so many students registering like that, my child would not be placed in the intensive English class. When I entered the school, I saw that the school announced that grade 1 had 2 intensive English classes and my child was placed in this class. Moreover, according to her, the way the school advised and "vaguely" implemented the intensive English class made many parents feel unsatisfied.
In fact, when the principal held the meeting earlier and was informed like that, I thought that if anyone wanted to, they would register separately and be selected, so I didn't register and went home. Now my child is on the list, and he wanted to transfer to the regular class but was not accepted, so he went to the regular class.
Ms. Le K - parent in Vinh city
In the above “difficult” situation, Ms. Le K confided that her family’s study of the intensive English class was “unwilling”. She herself, because her child had just started school, had no idea what the intensive English program was like and whether a first grader like her child, who “didn’t even know a single word”, would be effective in studying with a class of nearly 40 students.
Not substantial
For more than 2 years now, most primary schools in Vinh city have organized intensive English classes for students starting from grade 1. The implementation, as announced by the schools, is completely voluntary.
In reality, in schools, the majority of parents enrolling in intensive English classes exceed the set target. These results can be considered a positive sign. However, in reality, it is not necessarily encouraging. The case of parents whose children are studying at a primary school in Nghi Phu commune, Vinh city mentioned above is an example.
As for the rest, many parents have "voluntarily" registered their children for classes, but not "volunteered" because they think that is the fastest way for their children to get into classes with "chosen teachers", especially at the elementary level.
An English teacher at an elementary school in Vinh city sent a private message to a reporter from Nghe An Newspaper about the implementation of intensive English classes at the school, in which she plays the role of a teacher directly teaching the intensive English class, a parent, and a teacher of the school.
This teacher's sharing clearly states: The number of parents registering their children for intensive English classes in some schools is still very high, even increasing, because the school publicly announced that the intensive English classes will be assigned to homeroom teachers who are the school's best teachers (there is no specific criteria for what is considered good). That is, when selecting homeroom teachers, they will be divided into two groups, one group of teachers will be assigned to be homeroom teachers of normal classes; the other group will be assigned to be homeroom teachers of intensive English classes. These two groups of teachers are divided by the school board.
Although parents know that intensive English classes are ineffective, they still have to invest money, hoping that their children will be placed in a class with a good homeroom teacher. After entering the class, they feel too much pressure and want to withdraw, but it is too late because they have already signed up for a 5-year commitment. Moreover, if they want to withdraw from the class, it means that their children will be transferred to another class (a class with a homeroom teacher who is not considered good). This situation leads to some teachers who want to be the homeroom teacher of an intensive English class begging and lobbying, causing internal disunity in the school.
This female teacher added that her child is also in the class.Enhanced English, currently she cannot withdraw (even though the teacher's child in the school does not have to pay tuition). What she is more worried about is the quality of the program because according to her, "it is not effective", because "the output assessment is based on the center's questions".
In many cases, the English Enhancement class taught by her with the basic English program to get a score of 5 was difficult for both the teacher and the students. Meanwhile, the students had to study 2 English Enhancement programs (one English - Math program published and sold by the center, 1 Kid's box textbook). Meanwhile, 3 programs were studied at the same time, completely different, no books complemented each other but also "overlapped, causing difficulties for students".
Review process, rectify quality
The Enhanced English Program is currently being implemented by the Nghe An Department of Education at 4 levels, with the highest concentration at primary and preschool levels with nearly 2,500 classes and more than 87,000 students enrolled. In reality, the implementation process still has many shortcomings.
While parents in Vinh City believe that the enhanced English classes are "hiding behind" to select teachers, in other districts, although they do not recruit students for each class separately, the implementation process has some inappropriate things.
Many parents in Dien Chau, Quynh Luu districts and many other localities said that the so-called intensive English centers actually hire English teachers from schools to teach, and the quality is not guaranteed. Many schools arrange unreasonable class hours, causing a gap between students who register for intensive English classes and students who do not have the conditions to study intensive English classes.
In Nghia Dan district, through an exchange with Mr. Nguyen Van Hung - Head of the district's Department of Education and Training, he said that currently in the district, about 70% of schools are implementing enhanced English on a voluntary basis. The current difficulty in implementation is that English centers in the area do not have enough teachers, so many centers are having to contract with English teachers in the school to teach.
Since the beginning of this school year, the teaching of enhanced English in kindergartens in Tan Ky district has also been temporarily suspended so that the district can request schools to review the organizational procedures of the associated units. However, through the implementation process, Mr. Pham Tan Phuong - Deputy Head of the Department of Education and Training of Tan Ky district also admitted: We do not really trust in the capacity of English centers in the area. Meanwhile, if we cooperate with centers from Vinh city, the cost is difficult to guarantee. In previous years, the centers often organized in batches and taught continuously. Teaching English in kindergartens has brought a new atmosphere to schools, but to teach effectively, many other supporting factors are needed.
Regarding the teaching of intensive English, in a previous exchange with Nghe An Newspaper, the leader of the Department of Education and Training also said that, besides the advantages, there are still many shortcomings and inadequacies. That is, the organization and coordination between foreign language centers and educational institutions are not really tight (unreasonable arrangement of class hours, arrangement of school teachers to participate in teaching assistants, classroom management, especially hours of foreign teachers). Meanwhile, the industry has not arranged an independent testing center to evaluate output standards for intensive English classes. In some localities, teaching conditions and tuition fees are not suitable for the population level.
Faced with the above reality, the Department requires educational institutions implementing the enhanced program to do a good job of democracy and publicity in schools, especially for parents and students. Absolutely do not force students to participate in enhanced programs; arrange and schedule appropriate classes and study time. Organize management and support for students; build records and management processes to closely monitor and supervise the center coordinating the implementation of the Enhanced English Program.
Recently, the Department of Education and Training has also announced a 6-step process for selecting foreign language centers to organize intensive English teaching at schools and selection criteria. Hopefully, along with the issued documents, tightening the input selection process will help the implementation of intensive English in schools to be effective and achieve the set goals./.
