Minh Duc Secondary School in southern Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City will assign Vietnamese teachers to officially teach several subjects in English from the second semester of the 2024-25 academic year, according to the school principal.
After successfully conducting the trial program in the first semester, the school board has decided to officially start teaching mathematics, natural science, history and geography in English from the second half of the school year, headmistress Tran Thuy An said.
Teachers who have met all the requirements set by the board during the trial period will be eligible to continue their English teaching in the second semester, An stated.
These classes will be attended by other teachers or school board members who can provide opinions and comments about the teaching quality, she added.
With a view to promote English as a second language at schools, the school will encourage teachers to improve their English skills with a maximum financial support of VND10 million (US$393) per teacher per course.
The school wants to give students more opportunities to improve their English skills without having to pay extra fees, she shared.
Truong Quoc An, a math teacher at Minh Duc, said preparation for a lesson in English is a bit more difficult than in Vietnamese. However, he felt no pressure as he has learned English since elementary education.
“In addition, I was trained in math teaching in English during my university years,” he said.
An was one of the school’s teachers who offered math classes to Japanese students during a working visit by a Japanese school to Minh Duc in October.
Tran Minh Thanh, vice principal in charge of academic affairs at Minh Duc, said that many school teachers have improved their skills of teaching various subjects in English through their professional exchange sessions at many schools in Singapore, Japan and China over the past years.
Currently, the schools has a line-up of teachers qualified for teaching math, natural science, history and geography in English, Thanh affirmed.
