Improve the quality of activities for preschool children to get acquainted with English

On the morning of January 12, more than 140 management staff of the Department of Education and Training and kindergartens that organize English classes for preschool children in Ho Chi Minh City participated in the Workshop "Evaluating the results of organizing English classes for preschool children according to Circular 50/2020/TT-BGDDT" organized by the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City.

More than 1,200 facilities organize English classes for children

Ms. Luong Thi Hong Diep, Head of the Preschool Education Department (Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training) said that in the 2023-2024 school year, the whole city has 1,218 preschools organizing English classes for children.

Of these, there are 449 public schools, 401 private or non-public schools and 368 private independent kindergarten classes.

Head of the Preschool Education Department (Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training) Luong Thi Hong Diep spoke at the workshop held on the morning of January 12.

According to statistics, more than 156,000 children participated in the English familiarization program, accounting for 57.37% of preschool students in the area. Of which, the age group of 5-6 years old accounted for the highest rate at 62.28%, decreasing gradually in the age group of 4-5 years old (56.77%) and 3-4 years old (51.85%).

As of January 2024, there are a total of 18 English introduction programs for preschool children that have been assessed and licensed by the Ministry of Education and Training.

In Ho Chi Minh City, there are more than 50 companies and 130 foreign language and English centers coordinating with preschools to organize English classes for children with a duration of 2 sessions/week, study time ranging from 25-40 minutes depending on the age of the child.

Activities for children to get acquainted with English at Thanh Pho Kindergarten (District 3)

Evaluating the results of the program's implementation, a representative of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City said that organizing English classes for children initially brought practical results, helping children quickly become familiar with the second language, and become more bold and confident in communication.

In addition, English familiarization activities create opportunities for children to experience, explore and discover the surrounding environment in many diverse forms with the motto "play while learning", ensuring scientific, appropriate, connecting between ages and developing communication skills.

However, currently the rate of children being introduced to English in private independent classes is still low, and near-poor children in suburban areas do not have the opportunity to participate in the program.

In some educational institutions, the number of children participating in English familiarization hours is still large, affecting the quality of teaching; there is still a situation where teachers lack professional training certificates in preschool pedagogy.

Capacity building for teachers

Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Uyen, Deputy Head of the Department of Education and Training of District 10, said that the organization of English familiarization for preschool children is implemented by schools in the spirit of natural language acquisition, without putting pressure on children through games, singing, dancing, reading comics...

To improve teaching quality, District 10 representatives recommended that colleges and universities of education increase the organization of professional training courses on preschool pedagogy for foreign teachers.

Pilot implementation of the toolkit for assessing the results of English familiarization activities for preschool children by EMG Education

From another perspective, according to Mr. Nguyen Ba Linh, an expert from the Department of Education and Training of Cu Chi district, the source of teachers qualified to organize English classes for children is currently limited.

Hiring foreign teachers or Vietnamese teachers to meet teaching requirements is done from socialized sources. However, the tuition fee for this activity is still limited, leading to difficulties for educational institutions in contracting with units providing English teachers.

School representatives all said that it is necessary to further strengthen periodic inspection and evaluation work, along with praising and rewarding units that do well, and organizing exchanges and learning experiences to improve teaching effectiveness.

Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City Le Thuy My Chau said that after 3 years of implementation, this is the first time the city's education and training sector has "discussed deeply and spoken frankly" about the reality of implementing activities for preschool children to get acquainted with English.

Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City Le Thuy My Chau spoke at the workshop.

"Statistics on the rate of children being introduced to English cannot reassure us, especially in private schools and independent private classes. To learn a second language properly, we need to strengthen the management, inspection and assessment of preschool children being introduced to English. Thus, it is necessary to replicate the high-quality assessment model according to international standards like other English standards. The survey and assessment of the Program for preschool children to be introduced to English needs to have a basis for implementation according to the standards. In the coming time, localities need to strengthen inspection and quality management, replicate quality models, and develop implementation plans with solutions suitable to the specific characteristics of the locality," said the Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City.

During the implementation process, localities need to enhance their responsibility for State management, strengthen coordination between foreign language centers, the Department of Education and Training, and schools to improve implementation efficiency.

Mr. James Moran, Academic Director of EMG Education, said that in August 2023, with the permission of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, EMG Education piloted a survey to evaluate the results of English familiarization activities for preschool children at 3 educational institutions including City Kindergarten, South Saigon Kindergarten and City 19/5 Kindergarten.

The assessment tool aims to collect information on children's English proficiency in listening, speaking, pre-reading and writing skills based on the international standard scale GSE Pre-Primary Framework developed by Pearson Education. Thereby, the assessment results help educational institutions adjust and orient their implementation plans. The toolkit is implemented on tablet devices, bringing many benefits compared to traditional paper-based assessment methods, combining interactive features and vivid visual activities to make the survey more interesting for children.

ATTENTION

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/nang-cao-chat-luong-hoat-dong-cho-tre-mau-giao-lam-quen-tieng-anh-post722359.html