Pedagogical universities and colleges should offer specialised trainingcourses for teaching English in primary schools to meet targets set by aproject that the Prime Minister approved in 2008, experts say.
They said at a workshop held last week at the University of Pedagogythat the pilot project, which began implementation in the ongoingacademic year, would require at least 15,000 qualified English teachersat the beginning.
The number will rise very year, they said, adding it would reach 30,000-40,000 eventually.
According to the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences, there areabout 60,000 English teachers at all levels nationwide, but most of themare teachers for the sixth grade and above. And of these, only 4,000 orso teach English as an optional subject at primary schools.
Meanwhile, the foreign language faculty at pedagogical universitiesand colleges only provides 300-500 new teachers each year.
Many primary school teachers working now are not adequately qualified.A recent study found just 28 of 147 surveyed teachers able to get the550 TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) score required by theministry. Eighty-eight teachers scored 400, and the remainder, evenlower.
Ngo Thi Nga, deputy head of the Bac NinhPedagogy College's Foreign Language Faculty, said that many Englishteachers at primary schools were not trained at pedagogicalinstitutions.
They passed out of foreign languageuniversities and colleges and only attended short-term training courseson teaching skills, Nga said.
Thus, they lackedsufficient knowledge of teaching techniques, and were not trained tounderstand the psychology and character of primary students, making itdifficult for them to fashion suitable study materials as well asteaching methods for this age group, she added.
Dr.Nguyen Thi Ly Kha, head of the city's University of Pedagogy's primaryeducation faculty, added that pedagogy universities and colleges shouldhave programmes that train their students not only in teaching basicsubjects like math but also the English language.
These institutions also lacked faculties that specialize in training English teachers for primary education, she added.
Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Vu, head of the English Language faculty at the sameuniversity, said they had been offering short-term training courses onteaching English at the primary school level.
Healso presented a double-degree option that students can take underwhich, after five years, they can, at the same time, obtain a degree inprimary school teaching and another in English teaching.
Many other experts speaking at the seminar suggested ways to improvequalifications of English teachers at the primary level and increasetheir number at the same time.
Hoang Truong Giang,Kha's deputy, said that the English language faculty and primaryeducation faculty at pedagogy universities and colleges should closelycooperate with each other to open more short-term training courses andimprove their training programme.
The pilotprogramme on teaching English in primary schools envisages that by theyear 2020, all students passing out of primary schools will have basicEnglish skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing./.
They said at a workshop held last week at the University of Pedagogythat the pilot project, which began implementation in the ongoingacademic year, would require at least 15,000 qualified English teachersat the beginning.
The number will rise very year, they said, adding it would reach 30,000-40,000 eventually.
According to the Vietnam Institute of Educational Sciences, there areabout 60,000 English teachers at all levels nationwide, but most of themare teachers for the sixth grade and above. And of these, only 4,000 orso teach English as an optional subject at primary schools.
Meanwhile, the foreign language faculty at pedagogical universitiesand colleges only provides 300-500 new teachers each year.
Many primary school teachers working now are not adequately qualified.A recent study found just 28 of 147 surveyed teachers able to get the550 TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) score required by theministry. Eighty-eight teachers scored 400, and the remainder, evenlower.
Ngo Thi Nga, deputy head of the Bac NinhPedagogy College's Foreign Language Faculty, said that many Englishteachers at primary schools were not trained at pedagogicalinstitutions.
They passed out of foreign languageuniversities and colleges and only attended short-term training courseson teaching skills, Nga said.
Thus, they lackedsufficient knowledge of teaching techniques, and were not trained tounderstand the psychology and character of primary students, making itdifficult for them to fashion suitable study materials as well asteaching methods for this age group, she added.
Dr.Nguyen Thi Ly Kha, head of the city's University of Pedagogy's primaryeducation faculty, added that pedagogy universities and colleges shouldhave programmes that train their students not only in teaching basicsubjects like math but also the English language.
These institutions also lacked faculties that specialize in training English teachers for primary education, she added.
Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Vu, head of the English Language faculty at the sameuniversity, said they had been offering short-term training courses onteaching English at the primary school level.
Healso presented a double-degree option that students can take underwhich, after five years, they can, at the same time, obtain a degree inprimary school teaching and another in English teaching.
Many other experts speaking at the seminar suggested ways to improvequalifications of English teachers at the primary level and increasetheir number at the same time.
Hoang Truong Giang,Kha's deputy, said that the English language faculty and primaryeducation faculty at pedagogy universities and colleges should closelycooperate with each other to open more short-term training courses andimprove their training programme.
The pilotprogramme on teaching English in primary schools envisages that by theyear 2020, all students passing out of primary schools will have basicEnglish skills in speaking, listening, reading and writing./.
