New textbooks will be less academic

The results of the grassroots voting will also be one of the bases for the Provincial Textbook Selection Council to select textbooks for Nghe An in the 2021-2022 school year. Nghe An Newspaper has recorded the opinions of a number of teachers at schools.

Class time of students at Lang Khe Primary School, Con Cuong. Photo: Duc Anh

Teacher Phan Thi Van Huong - Teacher at Phu Hong Secondary School (Yen Thanh):

Photo: Duc Anh

Up to this point, we have carefully studied 3 sets of 6th grade Literature textbooks according to the new program and I personally chose the "Connecting Knowledge" set.

In general, this book series is written in the direction of developing students' abilities, with a clear and explicit structure, and helps students develop listening, speaking, reading and writing skills according to the goals of the new General Education Program.

The content of this book is not heavy, helping students apply the knowledge and skills they have learned to practical applications, the reading comprehension texts are suitable for the level of 6th grade students. In particular, the issues raised in the lessons are very close to 6th grade students and their lives. For example, in the texts, I really like the poem "Bullying" by Nguyen The Hoang Linh, a good poem, easy to understand with simple, emotional evoking materials.

In this book, the system of scientific questions is open-ended and not as academic as the old program. Another advantage is that the content in the lessons is closely connected, the center of the lesson is the text, in line with the current teaching orientation.

With this book, I think organizing teaching is not too difficult because the book is written on the basis of inheriting the old program with some old lessons. At the same time, developing new parts, developing students' skills. With the new program design, students will also absorb the lessons easily, simply and can apply them to practical situations.

Teacher Tran Son Hong - Math teacher, Doi Cung Secondary School (Vinh city):

Photo: Duc Anh

“Through the study of the new grade 6 textbooks implemented from the 2021-2022 school year, we see many advantages. The first is the beautiful presentation and suitable for the psychology of students. The second is the approach to mathematics of the 2018 General Education Program, which is suitable for the formation of basic and specific competencies of Mathematics. For example, the approach to geometry in grade 6 will be easier than the old program. Because the previous program design was discrete but academic and required students to memorize a lot. But the new grade 6 geometry approach is through jigsaw puzzles and drawing to help students naturally approach the properties of geometry so that later in grades 7, 8 and 9, students will deepen and consolidate the theory more firmly. With grade 6 arithmetic, the presentation is balanced, but compared to the old program, the new program reduces the theory and increases practice for students. This approach is gentler and more effective for the development of students' thinking. I am also very optimistic about the new program because it is suitable for students' psychology and physiology, reducing academic content.

In the past, to implement the program of replacing textbooks for grade 6, teachers in Vinh city have been trained quite a lot. However, I personally think that the 2018 general education program is quite different from the old program in order to orient students' abilities. Therefore, it requires teachers' approach to ensure the formation of basic abilities for students. Thus, teachers must have information technology skills to be able to develop learning materials and especially design lessons that are suitable for developing students' abilities. In addition, teachers must also invest effort and enthusiasm, preparing good learning materials for their lessons.

Currently, although we have been trained, we also hope that education management agencies and universities will organize more training topics for all teachers. At the same time, we must continue to invest in facilities such as interactive boards, projectors... because the new program requires a lot of information technology application."

Teacher Pham Thi Tu Oanh - Muong Long 2 Primary School (Ky Son):

Photo: My Ha

“I am teaching the new textbook program for first graders who are ethnic minority children and up to this point, the teaching and learning has been quite good, the students have learned to read and write quite fluently. However, compared to previous years, it is more difficult because of objective reasons, such as last school year, many preschool children were absent from school due to the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic, so they were not familiar with letters much. Besides, in the teaching process, we also encountered obstacles because the students' supplies were lacking and the school's equipment was not enough. The practice workbooks for Math and Vietnamese were also difficult for the students in the highlands, because not only writing but also speaking Vietnamese is their second language.

From these difficulties, we hope that the new textbooks for grade 2 will continue to be reduced. Should we split them into smaller lessons to make it easier for students to learn? My point of view is that students need to learn less, write less, but they will definitely gain knowledge, and know what they learn.

The results of the grassroots voting will also be one of the bases for the Provincial Textbook Selection Council to select textbooks for Nghe An in the 2021-2022 school year. Photo: Duc Anh