Enhancing English in Schools: Building appropriate plans, curricula, and roadmaps without coercion

Flexibility in teaching organization

Earlier this September, ninth graders participated in a pilot programEnglish Enhancementof Ha Huy Tap Secondary School (Vinh City) has completed the curriculum, shortening the schedule by 1 year. This is in line with the wishes of parents and students as the curriculum will be completed before they enter the final year of secondary school. Therefore, students have more time during the school year to prepare for the 10th grade entrance exam.

The final stage, the intensive English teaching by the school in conjunction with Clever Learn English Center has changed. Accordingly, previously all students participating in this program wanted to study to get a certificate as initially committed. However, after a period of studying, the number of these students was only about half and the center continued to maintain the class.

The students have now completed the program and will take the exam to get the certificate. If they do not meet the commitment, the center will provide free tutoring. For the remaining students, to ensure that the teaching is close to the target, the school has organized a meeting with parents to get their opinions and agree on an adjusted curriculum. That is, the class will still maintain one session every week with a foreign teacher to practice the students' listening and speaking skills. The remaining session with a Vietnamese teacher will supplement the students' knowledge and be close to the school's teaching program.

The 2023-2024 school year is the third year that Ha Huy Tap Secondary School has organized teaching according to the enhanced English program each year with only 2-3 classes, with each class having nearly 50 students. The selection of classes is quite "tense" right from the registration round when the actual demand is always 50-60 students more than the assigned quota. For example, this year, the school recruited 2 classes, all of whom have an international English certificate and must meet the school's requirements.

In addition, the admission is also based on the Math and Vietnamese test scores. Through direct implementation, teacher Ha Le Hoa Binh - Principal of the school affirmed that, along with the quality-selective classes, the enhanced English classes are the top quality classes of the school and the achievements of the equivalent classes have quite similar competition. During the implementation process, although coordinating with the English Center, the school still requires the English teachers of the class to closely follow the enhanced English teaching program to give suggestions for supplementing the program and conduct surprise observation tests.

The school's Board of Directors is also present in each English intensive class to strengthen management and supervision. Periodically, the center organizes tests for students and publicizes the results for parents to grasp and have feedback. At the end of each school year, the school collects opinions on the teaching quality of each teacher and makes it public to parents to evaluate the results.

After 3 years of implementation, teacher Ha Le Hoa Binh also said that the organization of enhanced English teaching basically achieved the set goals. However, there were also feedbacks about the program and the teaching staff. Therefore, in addition to adjusting the program as mentioned, the school also had to request to change the enhanced English teacher, because many students said that the teachers were not teaching effectively. During the teaching process, the school also encountered some difficulties when registering for the enhanced English class, many parents and students thought that they would be able to study continuously for 4 years.

However, in reality, some children after a period of time have changes in their interests and talents, so they do not want to pursue it long term and their studies do not meet their parents' expectations. Therefore, the school needs to closely monitor and make adjustments to suit each subject.

Not suitable for all students

The enhanced English teaching program has been implemented in many schools in the province, mainly focusing on preschool and primary schools. Of which, at preschool level, the whole province has 1,947 classes, with 44,627 students, primary school has 1,476 classes, with 43,760 students. Meanwhile, secondary school has only organized 224 classes, with 5,744 students and high school has 102 classes, with 3,174 students.

According to statistics from the Department of Education and Training, although it has only been implemented for 3 years, the number of students registering for enhanced English has increased quite rapidly, from more than 39,000 to more than 97,000 students. Currently, the program is implemented in many schools in Vinh city, Cua Lo town, Dien Chau, Quynh Luu, Nghi Loc, Do Luong districts...

In many districts such as Ky Son, Tuong Duong, Con Cuong, Que Phong, Quy Chau, Quy Hop, Tan Ky, Anh Son, the organization of the Enhanced English Program still faces many difficulties and limitations such as no Center to coordinate; economic difficulties, weak technological infrastructure, and difficult transportation. Many parents do not have money to send their children to school, and foreign language centers cannot arrange teachers to teach classes because the travel costs are too high.

At Ky Son Town Primary School, a year ago, an enhanced English class was piloted for nearly 50 students of grades 1, 2 and grades 4, 5 by the school in collaboration with the Hoc Mai Center in the form of online and face-to-face learning, with the assistance of the school's English teachers. The program was expected to help improve the foreign language learning ability of children in the district and was considered suitable for the characteristics of a mountainous district far from the center. However, after 1 year, except for grades 4 and 5, which finished quite smoothly, the remaining classes were at risk of being suspended because there were no more students registered to study.

Last year’s class now has only 10 students registered. Meanwhile, in grade 1, despite the school’s promotion, only 7/138 students registered. The number of registered students is not enough to form a class, which is a pity because both the school and the center have invested a lot in facilities and this is a rare opportunity for the school’s students to learn English systematically.

The first thing that parents are hesitant about is their awareness; many people are not interested in their children learning English. Furthermore, the tuition fee of 30,000 VND/lesson (60,000 VND/session) is still high compared to the income of local people.

- Teacher Pham Ngoc Suu - Principal of Ky Son Town Primary School

At Nghi Thuy Secondary School (Cua Lo town), Principal Tran Thi Thuy Thanh also said that after nearly 1 year of piloting, the Enhanced English Program failed because of low efficiency and parents said that the tuition fee of 35,000/lesson was too high.

Follow the correct procedures in organizing teaching and learning.

Since 2020, the Enhanced English Program has been introduced to schools in Nghe An province. The implementation is based on many current documents from the ministry to the province and aims to implement the Project "Improving the quality of foreign language teaching and learning in educational institutions in Nghe An province for the period 2020-2025, with a vision to 2030" according to Decision No. 2445/QD-UBND of the province.

Nghe An has also issued Resolution No. 31/2020/NQ-HDND stipulating the fee for teaching enhanced English, of which the maximum fee is 40,000 VND/period for Vietnamese teachers; 50,000 VND/period for foreign teachers; 60,000 VND/period for native teachers.

In order to effectively implement enhanced English teaching, during the implementation process, the Department of Education and Training has followed the correct 3-step process, which is to organize the assessment of the capacity of foreign language centers, including Teacher Profile and Training Experience Profile.

The standards for Vietnamese teachers and foreign teachers ensure the standards and teacher profiles according to the regulations of Official Dispatch No. 1530/SGD&DT-GDCN-GDTX. After the assessment, the Department will publicize the results on the Department's Information Portal; send Notices to the Department of Education and Training of districts, cities, towns, and units under the Department so that educational institutions know, proactively select, and coordinate to implement joint and enhanced programs.

On the basis of the school's capacity, the needs and wishes of parents and students, and the assessed capacity of foreign language centers, educational institutions coordinate with foreign language centers to develop a plan to submit to the Department of Education and Training (for kindergartens, primary schools, and secondary schools), and to the Department for high schools for appraisal and approval. After being approved by the competent authority, educational institutions sign a contract with the foreign language center. The contract clearly stipulates the teaching content, funding, teaching staff, teaching methods, venue, commitment to output standards, and responsibilities of each party. The implementation must then be reported to the Department or the Department of Education and Training.

According to the Department of Education and Training, the implementation of the Enhanced English Program in schools has many advantages, that is, students studying at school are taught by highly qualified teachers who meet international standards, with the participation of foreign teachers according to the regulations of the Department of Education and Training, but the tuition fee is only 2/3 compared to studying at centers.

Students participating in the Enhanced English Program benefit when they study the main curriculum combined with enhanced English learning, helping students avoid having to travel far to learn more languages. During the teaching process, the centers coordinate with the school to organize English clubs and playgrounds with the participation of foreign teachers, thereby helping students to be bolder and more confident in communication, helping them improve their listening and speaking skills. This is also an opportunity for school teachers to improve their capacity and increase their ability to interact, especially with foreign teachers. Enhanced English learning at the school has full facilities, teaching equipment, learning environment, ensuring security, order and safety during the learning process.

Improve the quality of English teaching and learning

In fact, although it has just been implemented, the implementation of the Enhanced English Program in schools has brought a "new wind" to improve the capacity and ability to use English of Nghe An students. In recent years, the movement to learn English has developed more vigorously when the province and the ministry have many policies to encourage students with international certificates such as direct admission to specialized schools, priority admission to grades 6 and 10 or direct admission to universities.

Statistics show that in recent years, the number of Nghe An students exempted from graduation exams thanks to foreign language certificates has increased rapidly.

If in 2020, the whole province had only 175 students, then just 1 year later the number of students had nearly tripled, with 526 students. By 2022, this number increased to 789 students and in 2023 it was 1,012 students.

Entrance scores at schools in the province according toIELTS Certificatealso increased, in which, Dang Thai Mai Secondary School, if in the 2021-2022 school year, students admitted directly only had Flyer 15 shields, B2 score - 168 points, then in the last 2 years the entrance score was equivalent to IELTS 4.5 and 5.0. Among them, there are students in grade 5 who have achieved IELTS 6.5.

At Huynh Thuc Khang High School, 2 years ago the entrance score required only IELTS 4.5, but this school year it is 6.0. At Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted, the admission score increased from 6.0 2 years ago to 6.5 this year. Most of the admitted students have abilities from 7.0 to 8.0.

In particular, the quality of English in the whole province has changed positively, in which the average score of the 10th grade entrance exam increased from 3.68 (in 2021) to 4.83 (in 2023), the average score of the high school graduation exam increased from 4.98 (in 2021) to 5.01 (in 2023) and is one of the subjects with remarkable progress even though foreign languages ​​are not an advantage of Nghe An students.

No "rush", no "force" in implementation

The results achieved show that the implementation of "Improving the quality of teaching and learning foreign languages ​​in educational institutions in Nghe An province in the period of 2020-2025, with a vision to 2030", including the implementation of the Enhanced English Program, has had many positive changes, changing the awareness of parents and students about learning and using English. However, because the program has just been implemented, it has also revealed certain shortcomings in some schools, when the propaganda work is not really good, so that parents can better understand the core purpose of the Enhanced English program, or some parents think that the effectiveness of teaching enhanced English is not high, and some schools still "force" parents to register for the program.

Talking to Nghe An Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Van Khoa - Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training also frankly admitted the shortcomings and inadequacies. That is, the organization and coordination between foreign language centers and educational institutions is not really tight (unreasonable arrangement of class hours, arrangement of school teachers to participate in teaching assistants, classroom management, especially foreign teachers' hours). Meanwhile, the industry has not arranged an independent testing center to assess the output standards for intensive English classes. In some localities, teaching conditions and tuition fees are not suitable for the population level...

Based on the above reality, in the coming time, the Department will continue to direct and strictly implement the guiding documents of the Department of Education and Training on organizing enhanced teaching.Englishin educational institutions; strengthen inspection and supervision of centers and educational institutions implementing the Enhanced English Program; listen to opinions from parents, students, and teachers to have appropriate instructions and adjustments.

The Department also requires educational institutions implementing the enhanced program to do a good job of democracy and transparency 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.

On the part of the coordinating centers, it is necessary to properly implement the guidance documents, use the correct teachers, textbooks, and documents that have been assessed and approved. At the same time, it is necessary to properly fulfill the commitments to parents and schools that have been negotiated through the signed contract. In addition, it is necessary to develop and agree on appropriate tuition fees for each subject, region, and area, deducting management fees, depreciation of facilities, electricity and water, etc. In particular, the collection level must be in accordance with the regulations in Resolution No. 31/2020/NQ-HDND.