Controversy in Vietnam
The teaching of core subjects such as Maths and Science in English in Vietnam’s primary schools is causing some concern for education experts and members of the public, according to this article.
The concern is the effect it will have on the Vietnamese language. One primary school teacher is quoted as saying “Currently, many young people cannot write a grammatically-correct sentence in Vietnamese… there should be careful consideration when deciding on what language to teach subjects at schools”.
Nguyen Gia Phong, an expert with the Education Science Institute is also concerned that teaching core subjects in English may spread to higher education, which could accelerate the Vietnamese language’s deterioration.
The importance of teaching foreign languages in Vietnam is not underestimated, but, as another primary school teacher points out, “the teaching of foreign languages, and using foreign languages to teach other subjects in the official curriculum, are two entirely different things.”
What do you think about this issue? Post your comments below…
March 27th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
Good article
March 30th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
Having lived and taught in Vietnam for past 11 years, I understand the concern of teachers there and think they are quite justified in expressing their fears.
Having said that, I still feel that there are tremendous benefits in having a bilingual (even a multilingual) learning environment. I’d like to add that I think the reasons for switching to an English curriculum are twofold: one (and a very obvious reason) is to enhance their global competitiveness, and two, to put an end to the sort of fly-by-night English schools that abound in many major cities.
R Mandia
Philippines
July 31st, 2007 at 5:24 pm
The same controversy broke out in Malaysia, when they decided that mathematics and science were to be taught in English. Mostly misinformed, nationalist and other sectional groups, complained that it would be the end of Bahasa Malayu.
It certainly will help develop an international outlook for many students. As Malaysia, Vietnam and other countries can well see, English is the language of international trade and the most common 2nd or 3rd language used between nationals. Learning English does not mean loosing their own culture, it helps to expose the world to what is the best of their own.
On many occasions I have conversed with people from Africa, Asia, South America and the Middle East, not one of them spoke the language of the other. All communicated in English, albeit sometimes broken and imperfect.