HCM City (VNA) - Ho Chi Minh City plans to have all students learn Englishsince the first grade starting in the 2018-2019 academic year, according toNguyen Quang Vinh, head of the primary education division at the city’sDepartment of Education and Training.

Based on a Government project entitled Teachingand Learning Foreign Languages in the National Education System in the2008-2020 period, the city’s People’s Committee made a programme to implement acomplusory education of English for students at all levels from elementary,secondary and high education (grades 1-12) from 2011 to 2020.

The programme began in the 2012-2013 academicyear. It aims to teach English to all students from the first to12th grades with high quality, meeting the real demand of usage.

In the programme, students are taught Englishwith native teachers. Their capacity of using English is assessed byinternational standards.

Nguyen Van Troi Primary School in District 4 isone of the schools to carry out this programme for its first graders and above.

The primary school has five grades. Each gradehas students in one to two classrooms learning English under the programme.

In the first, second and third grades, studentshave lessons to help practise the skills of listening and speaking. Students infourth and fifth grades learn sentence patterns.

Tran Nguyen Nhu Quynh, an English teacher atNguyen Van Troi Primary School, told Giao Duc Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh (HCM CityEducation) newspaper that most of the students learning English communicateconfidently and freely.

Many primary schools in the city have carriedout other programmes to teach intensive English or integrate English into othercontent subjects besides the programme on complusory education of English forstudents at schools from 2011 to 2020, which is provided free.

As of the 2017-2018 academic year, 91 percent ofstudents in the city have learnt English since the first grade. They have learnedprogrammes of Phonics, DynEd, E-Study, i-Learn, ICLC and iSmar.

The quality of English teaching at primaryschools was not the same, Vinh said, adding that the department would recheckforeign language centres that co-operate with schools to teach English in thecoming time to ensure more effectivenes.

Moreoever, the department would ensure there isno monopoly of any foreign language centre or company in the cooperation withprimary schools.

However, Vinh said that many primary schools inthe city faced difficulties in facilities for teaching English and recruitmentof English teachers because of low salaries.

In the 2016-2017 academic year, the city onlyrecruited 1,797 English teachers, meeting 70 percent of its total demand, thedepartment said.

Nearly 40 percent of these teachers met theMinistry of Education and Training’s new standards. - VNA