Teach English in Qingmu Zhen - Bazhong Shi

This documentation is a brief description of the current issues of teaching English in Vietnam, specifically with regard to teaching grammar and vocabulary. At the beginning, the reason why teaching grammar and vocabulary are causes for concern shall be discussed before explaining the core of the problem. Some viable suggestions for the improvement of students’ learning experience will be provided at the end. In Vietnam, the Grammar Translation Method (GTM) is arguably the most common method for teaching English among schools. GTM places emphasis on learning vocabulary, sentence structure, grammar and direct translation of Vietnamese to English. The outcome of this method is that the student will be able to produce written English with high accuracy while being able to comprehend a fair range of English literature. However, the fact is that, even with a grammar heavy method, Vietnamese students do not seem to excel at English grammar. On the contrary, according to the article “Tại sao dậy Tiếng Anh ở Việt Nam không hiệu quả? (Why teaching English in Vietnam is ineffective?)” (Chon, 2018), the average mark for the English subject in the 2018 National High School Graduation Examination is only 3.91 (out of 10). Listening and speaking skills aside, this result raises the question of whether Vietnamese teachers have been using the right method to teach English grammar or not. To start with, the rural population of Vietnam accounts for approximately 65.8% of total population in 2016 (index mundi, n.d.). It can be safely assumed that more than half of students in Vietnam are studying in rural areas in which schools are under classroom constraints. Classrooms in these areas are often overcrowded, with an average of over 50 students in a classroom. Additionally, computer labs and libraries for extensive reading of authentic material is almost non-existent. Teachers usually have to make the most out of the blackboard and the English textbooks. As a ramification, what they can offer in a class with high number of students are usually very limited making the lesson less interesting. To make it worse, when examining both the course book and the test, there exists a considerable mismatch between the tests and the course books. Taking the English test in the National High School Graduation Examination last year as an example (link google drive below), it is evident that the question is directed to measure students’ lexicogrammatical knowledge. Conversely, the textbook is constructed around developing all 4 skills: reading, speaking, listening and writing, which does not seem to align with the aim of the test. This in fact, reduce the practice time of students in class. Therefore, unless students work really hard at home or take supplementary lessons outside the school, it is unlikely for them to do well in the test, based on the knowledge taught in class alone. Judging from the strengths of GTM, the structure of the graduation test, as well as the lack of equipment and teaching aids, it feels Vietnamese teachers do not have much choice but to keep using the conventional teaching method in class, while holding supplementary classes to provide students with extra time to practice and giving feedback. However, if teachers are willing to go the extra mile, there are still some measures that they can employ to make better use of the in class time while making the lesson more interesting in order to improve students’ learning experience. First of all, with regard to the low-resource issues, teachers could use a little creativity to furnish students with learning materials. Teachers may use household wastes such as newspaper, cardboard or plastic to craft colorful visual aids such as flashcards, mind map, etc. to make English lessons more appealing. While flashcards can be used in learning and reviewing vocabulary, mind map could be used to visually sum up the content of the lesson. Additionally, they can look for mini games from the Internet for side activities. It can be simple games such as crossword puzzles, hangman, memory games, pass the ball or even board games. Small games such as hangman can be used for warm up activities in the beginning, whereas board games may be used at the end of the lesson for reviewing purpose. Games are always fun, especially for young learners. Fun games would not only aid students to commit the lessons to their memory, but also facilitate good rapport between teachers and students. In the end, it is obvious that if the teacher is willing to think creatively outside the box, a class can never be low resourced. Once teachers have developed interest as well as trust among students, they can deploy much more strategies. One of which is the “think, pair, share” strategy (Anderson, 2016). The idea of this strategy is to put students in pairs, preferably pairs of a strong and a weaker student, to let them discuss the question before getting the answer. This method allows teachers to check the understanding of new vocabulary or grammatical concepts more effectively while maximizing student involvement. To conclude, it appears that the issue of teaching English in Vietnam lies deep into the inadequacy of school infrastructure as well as the mismatch between the English textbooks and the way students are assessed. Unless the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam has measures to address these issues, Vietnamese students will remain a victim of a bad education strategy. At this point, perhaps the only thing that the teacher can do is to adjust their teaching style to make their lessons more interesting so as to motivate students to take English more seriously. References Anderson, J. (2016). What to consider when teaching English in large classes | British Council. [online] Britishcouncil.org. Available at: https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/what-consider-when-teaching-english-large-classes [Accessed 26 Jul. 2019]. Bo Giao Duc va Dao Tao (2018). Ky Thi Trung Hoc Pho Thong Quoc Gia Nam 2018 - Bai thi: Ngoai Ngu; Mon thi: Tieng Anh. [ebook] pp.1-5. Available at: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1V0NkSUs0AzQ4FCa5hlJs-Tv9yCnygcZ0/view [Accessed 26 Jul. 2019]. Chon, L. (2018). Tại sao dạy tiếng Anh ở Việt Nam không hiệu quả?. [online] Giaoduc.net.vn. Available at: https://giaoduc.net.vn/giao-duc-24h/tai-sao-day-tieng-anh-o-viet-nam-khong-hieu-qua-post193491.gd [Accessed 26 Jul. 2019]. Indexmundi.com. (2019). Vietnam - Rural population (% of total population). [online] Available at: https://www.indexmundi.com/facts/vietnam/indicator/SP.RUR.TOTL.ZS [Accessed 26 Jul. 2019].