Foreign language studies become a must in Vietnam

[Harold F. Schiffman]

Forwarded from edling at ccat.sas.upenn.edu
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Foreign language studies become a must

VietNamNet

By 2015 foreign language education programmes will include students of all
levels and by 2020 most Vietnamese students will be fluent in one foreign
language.

Such are the goals of a foreign language teaching scheme to be included in
the national education system. The Ministry of Education and Training
(MoET) compiled the scheme in cooperation with the Government Office.

The compilation group has set four specific goals and identified six groups of basic
solutions.

Under the scheme, MoET will implement the ten-year foreign language-teaching
programme and compile equivalent textbooks. The programme is to be implemented in
three phases: 2008-2009, 2010-2011 and 2015-2020.

The programme will run from 3rd to 12th grade. Students will be evaluated based on a
Foreign Language Level testing system that allocates six grades.

Primary students must obtain the first grade, the second for intermediate
students and third for high school students. Students at universities that
do not specialize in foreign languages will reach the fourth grade, while
tertiary level foreign language studies will obtain the fifth level. In
2007, all schools nationwide must define one of the following foreign
languages: English, Russian, French, or Chinese for teaching as the key
foreign language at their schools.

The estimated expenditure for this scheme is up to VND16tril (US$1bil).

The Prime Minister has assigned the MoET to combine with the Government to complete
this scheme to submit to the Secretariat of the Central Party Committee and the
National Assembly's Standing Committee for consideration before approval.

Ha Anh