Public school teaches IELTS

Foreign languages ​​will no longer be a compulsory subject in high school exams from 2025, and more universities will use international certificates, such as IELTS, as admission criteria, making the exam preparation market increasingly vibrant. Not only limited to English centers or private schools, many public schools in Ho Chi Minh City have now joined the "race" to teach IELTS at affordable costs, but only applicable to students in the new general education program.

T ATTRACT MANY STUDENTS

At Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School (District 3, Ho Chi Minh City), 10th and 11th graders currently have 8 English lessons. Of these, 5 are according to the new general education program. Of the remaining 3, 1 session is for IELTS test preparation with teachers in the school and 2 sessions with foreigners. "Teachers in the school mainly teach grammar and vocabulary, while native teachers focus on speaking and writing skills," Nguyen Thi Thanh My, class 11A12, shared.

Most schools organize English lessons with foreigners.

A special point, according to My, is that the IELTS lesson uses a separate book called Complete IELTS Bands 5-6.5 and also tests and calculates scores, at the level of passing or failing like the physical education subject. The structure of the test and the duration of the test are similar to the real test, including 4 skills of listening, speaking, reading, writing and taking place in many consecutive lessons. As with the writing skill, students do the test in two days. Or when taking the speaking test, each person is interviewed directly by a native teacher.

Currently studying for the IELTS exam at the center, My assessed that what she learned in class was not new, but useful for those who have never been exposed to this exam. "Studying is mandatory, even those who scored 7.5 or 8.0 on the IELTS exam are not exempted. However, the school does not charge extra fees for IELTS teaching, only charges tuition for English enrichment classes with native teachers of 210,000 VND/month according to the agreement at the beginning of the year with parents," the female student said.

"Most of us support teaching IELTS in school, because we get to know the test without spending as much money as studying at a center, and it is suitable for the university admission context when more and more schools open admission methods combined with foreign language certificates. IELTS classes in class are also serious, with continuous interaction, not just for show," My added.

Ha Duc Cuong, class 11A5, Tran Khai Nguyen High School (District 5), said that the school does not teach IELTS during regular classes, but does open after-hours classes for students to voluntarily register for, with tuition fees depending on the desired score, ranging from a few million VND. "This activity attracts a lot of students and helps them improve their test-taking skills a lot," said the male student studying at the exam preparation center.

According to Cuong, there are currently many centers that only know how to advertise with tricks but cannot help students achieve the results as promised. Studying IELTS at school, therefore, has many advantages. "First is transparent and reputable information. Second, families can coordinate with the school to monitor and discuss their children's learning results. Finally, studying in a familiar environment helps students adapt more easily," Cuong commented.

LIMITATIONS

Surveying students from several schools in the city, many students said that teachers in their schools do not teach IELTS, but this job belongs to foreign teachers or affiliated centers.

HAP, grade 10 at Nguyen Huu Tho High School (District 4), said he is learning speaking skills according to the IELTS structure in native language classes, twice a week. "The teacher corrects pronunciation and teaches how to develop ideas to speak at length without stumbling," said P.

However, P. said that only a few students actually studied, making up a small portion of the class of nearly 50 people. For the rest, the foreign teacher said bluntly, "You can do whatever you want, as long as you don't make any noise." "I'm among those who want to study, so I often interact with the teacher. This helps me communicate better and more systematically. This is also the first time I've come into contact with IELTS because I don't intend to take this certificate," the male student said.

At Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted (District 1), students of a specialized class said that teachers in the school will teach 4 English lessons according to the general curriculum for specialized classes (except English). At the same time, Vietnamese teachers from outside units will come to teach IELTS for about 3 lessons, using the book Mindset for IELTS .

DH added that IELTS classes are part of the timetable from Monday to Friday, considered a compulsory class and cannot be exempted even if one has a high IELTS score. The school also does not charge additional tuition for IELTS teaching.

Having trained for the IELTS exam, DH assessed that the school's classes still had many limitations, not only in terms of teachers. For example, the school did not classify classes according to level, causing those who had studied IELTS to have to listen to old knowledge, leading to a waste of time. The duration of the classes was short, and they covered many skills. Or the program was quite basic, unclear, and did not have many difficult exercises like in the official exam...

"I was quite surprised when I first had the opportunity to practice IELTS at school, and it also showed the necessity of studying for the certificate exam at present. However, because all students have to study, I hope the school will have many measures to overcome the limitations," DH hopes.

Many public schools in Ho Chi Minh City organize IELTS teaching in the curriculum.

WHY TEACH IELTS IN SCHOOLS?

Mr. Nguyen Van Ba, Vice Principal of Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School, said that the school has been teaching IELTS for 2 years, applying to the grades studying the new program. The purpose is to improve English communication skills, preparing students in the best way to compete in universities at home and abroad, especially in the context of more and more international schools directly recruiting Vietnamese students.

"Many teachers have experience in IELTS test preparation and often take the test to grasp the orientation of the questions in recent years. The school also invites native teachers to teach to improve students' listening and speaking skills. We also regularly make appropriate adjustments to the content, teaching methods and teachers after listening to comments from students to further improve the program," Mr. Ba shared.

A high school teacher said that the reason for not teaching IELTS to grade 12 students in the old program is because the class time is not enough. Because students now have to study all subjects, instead of just a few subjects in the combination like grade 10 and 11 students in the new program. "Another reason is that the new program aims to develop students' communication skills through the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. This is also the assessment goal of the IELTS test and other international certificates," said this teacher.

School of international certificates, school of communication only

A leader of the Gifted High School (Ho Chi Minh City National University) said that at the beginning of the school year, the school organizes a survey of English proficiency for all students of the school. From there, appropriate policies are implemented to support each specific group of students.

According to the school's leaders, since May 2023, the Gifted High School has been approved by Ho Chi Minh City National University to pilot the organization of the international AP (Advanced Placement Test) certification exam in collaboration with the College Board. In addition, the school also coordinates with educational institutions to organize classes to improve SAT (Scholastic Assessment Test) test-taking skills, review classes to participate in foreign language certification exams such as IELTS, Japanese, German, etc.

According to school leaders, additional skills activities are provided to meet students' needs, helping them have convenient learning conditions with subsidized tuition fees.

Meanwhile, Ms. Pham Thi Be Hien, Principal of Le Hong Phong High School for the Gifted (HCMC), said that students in English major and non-major classes study according to the program of the Ministry of Education and Training. The school implements an English communication program for classes specializing in Chinese, French, Japanese, etc. with a daily schedule that is most convenient for students.

Bich Thanh

What does the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City say?

Faced with the fact that some high schools are implementing teaching international foreign language certificates in the program, a leader of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training said that the school provides educational services with the goal of following the 2018 General Education Program. In addition, the characteristic of the city's education is to train high-quality, highly competitive human resources for the city and the southern region, so the school's programs have a level of proximity and orientation towards international standards. At the same time, the city has foreign language and information technology projects with specific output standards, so schools strive to implement them. Therefore, if the school's programs are implemented effectively, with the consensus of parents and students' active learning, they will achieve the "dual goal".

Bich Thanh

Vietnam's average IELTS Academic score in 2022 is 6.2, lower than the world average of 6.3.

99% of Vietnamese people scored 4.0 or higher, only a few got the perfect score of 9.0, the rest were mostly at 6.0 (22%).

IELTS learners are getting younger and younger, mainly students aged 16-22.

According to a survey by the British Council,

IDP Education and Cambridge Assessment English

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/truong-cong-day-them-ielts-185240110235629769.htm