Rural students excited to learn English with foreign teachers

An English class with a foreigner at Tu Ky Township Primary School

At Tu Ky Township Primary School, a foreign teacher began her class with an English song combined with funny dancing to lead her students to the lesson in a close and joyful way.

There is a specific theme integrated with games for each teaching period. The teacher divides the class into teams to play the games. All lessons are delivered in English, only when the students do not understand them will an assistant teacher provide help.

The foreign teacher's lessons are flexible, enabling all students in the class to be asked and answer questions in turn, making them think continuously but very excited and interact actively.

"I realize that my child has become more confident since studying with a foreign teacher. Everyday, he learns English by himself through animals and objects," said Nguyen Thi Lien, mother of a 3rd grader at Tu Ky Township Primary School.

There are nearly 970 students in 28 classes at Tu Ky Township Primary School, including 350 students in 13 classes, from grades 1 to 5, currently learning English with foreigners once a week with a monthly tuition fee of 160,000 VND/ student.

The school's principal Nguyen Van Nhung said learning English with foreigners is just a supplement to improve listening and speaking skills but markedly effective. The students pronounce more correctly and confidently. The quality of English teaching and learning at the school is always in the leading group of the district, which is proven through high prizes grabbed by the school's students in English contests at all levels.

The atmosphere of an English class taught by a foreigner at Gia Loc Township Primary School was also very lively. The teacher gave the lesson with a game to recognize the national flags of various countries and assigned pairs of students to have a dialogue with each other. Then, each pair threw a dice to get points for each team. The team having the most points was the winner and received a gift from the teacher.

Foreign teachers always change their teaching methods to make students interested. In the photo: An English class with a foreigner at Gia Loc Township Primary School

"In the past, I was not confident when studying English. Since learning with a foreign teacher with a novel way of teaching, I have been more interested. We are very comfortable and happy, think better, and can develop our listening and speaking skills," excitedly said Pham Khanh An, a 4th grader at Gia Loc Township Primary School.

According to Vu Thi Thu Uyen, an English teacher of Gia Loc Township Primary School, foreign teachers' teaching methods are very open and attractive to students. "Being assistant teachers of foreign ones, we have learnt a lot to apply to our lessons," said Uyen.

Gia Loc Township Primary School has 46 classes, 14 of which, from grades 2 to 5, learn English with foreign teachers.

Since the teaching model was applied to the school, the quality of English teaching and learning has improved remarkably and always been in the leading group of the district. The school has had students winning high prizes in English competitions at all levels for many consecutive years.

The Hai Duong Department of Education and Training has given specific instructions for Divisions of Education and Training to direct schools to use foreigners to teach English in accordance with regulations.

Divisions of Education and Training are responsible for checking and monitoring the implementation at schools. Schools must periodically report the execution to management units at all levels as prescribed.

At present, 47 foreigners are teaching English to students in Hai Duong, mostly at primary schools.

THE ANH