I would like to share a news I just read from VnExpress, a Vietnamese online magazine. Last week, 7,000 second grade kids from Hochiminh City attended an exam in order to get Cambridge English Certificate, a "visa" for them to attend the so called "English intensive classes", where they have a better chance to learn English at the beginning of the 3rd grade and attend the boarding school. It is expected that there will be exams like this weekly from March till June in order to accommodate all 2nd graders who would like approach English at a very young age. Depending on the school capacity (English teachers, infrastructure, etc.) the Department of Education will allow to set up two to three "English intensive classes" for 3rd graders.
The exam is so important that it seems the whole family takes the exam. In the picture, although the parents are told to be back in 2 hours to pick up their children, they gather at the school gate waiting for their children with a nervous face. If we do not see the kid who is searching for his name on the notice board, we could think that it is a national university entrance exam, which is an admission exam for high school students. While educators assure the parents that this is just a simple test, parents consider it so important for their children 's life. In order to prepare for the exam, the kids have to prepare for it a long time before the exam starts. One parent says that besides the regular schedule from 7AM to 4PM, their children have to attend the English class from 6PM to 8PM, three times a week. So most days of the week, they leave home early in the morning and go home when it is dark!
 |
| Parents gather outside the school gate waiting for their 8-year-old kids taking the English exam |
Right after the news is published, hundred of comments are posted, mostly from parents. Some of them say it is a good preparation for the small kids who have a chance to learn English at a young age, which would help them a lot in the future, provide them with more opportunities to study abroad when they finish high school. Others express a big concern about the reality that young kids have too much to learn at their age. One believes that it is not a good idea to cram their children for a test like this. Another warns that parents are destroying their kids' childhood. Others feel disappointed about the education system in Vietnam which puts too much pressure on parents and students. One accused that this is the inevitable result of internationalization. One Vietnamese American says that he has a child at the same age and tells how much the kid is enjoying his school life in a primary school in Virginia.
 |
| The kids are gathering outside the exam room waiting for their name called |
One mentions how hard the kids have to prepare for the exam. In order to take the test, besides the regular learning program the kids have to take per the regulation of the Ministry of Education, the kids have to learn and review 2 English textbooks and 2 activity books for starters. In addition, they have to practice and review a set of 7 books called "materials for Cambridge English exam practice"!!!! Many express the concern that by the time the kids enter high school or university, they would have no more interest in their study.
.jpg) |
| All family is taking the exam...... |
How about you? What do you think about this? Should Vietnamese kids take English
classes at an early stage of their life? Does it truly benefit the kids or just satisfy the purposes of adults, that is, parents, educators, educational policy makers? What do you think about the future of these kids? Will they have a brighter life because their parents "invest" a lot for them since they were a child? I am not sure... There have been no research on this...
I think the earlier you learn a language (as in before age 7), the easier it is for the individual to learn more, understand grammatical structure, and speak with fluency. However, most children at that age are not aware of how an exam like this will impact their lives. Thus, it is mainly the parents' decision to have their child intensively study a foreign language.
ReplyDeleteThe "brighter life" is debatable. Maybe the child will enjoy learning English and studying in America. Maybe they will be miserable because they do not take tests very well. We will not know until they get older and reflect on their experiences.
I think it is common for the elder generation to want a "brighter life" for their children. This includes giving their children opportunities that they themselves did not have. In my family, my parents had to go to Japanese school after their regular classes. Now, through lack of use over the years, they can barely understand Japanese. As a result, they told my siblings and I to take whatever language classes we wanted in high school (I think the options were Japanese, Spanish, and French) and we never had to go to an after school language class.
I keep thinking about the Schooling the World documentary when it comes to this topic. I think it is highly valuable for students to learn English but I can't help but look at all of those students and see that most of them will probably not be in a position to have to utilize English to a large extent. Obviously, not all of those students are going to go away to study abroad. If that were the case, the impact on the Vietnamese economy would be detrimental.
ReplyDeleteI understand the desire of the parents to see their children succeed but it's based on a value-system that is mostly at odds with many Asian cultures. I struggle with the understanding that you have to adapt to the dominant culture and norms but I don't want it to be at the expense of culture, language, and family.