The Ministry of Education and Training has announced that 156 elementary schools in HCM City will begin intensive English classes for first grade students in the 2009-10 school year.

The Ministry also said they will test children’s English ability to start first grade to join intensive English classes in 2009-2010 school year.

English has been an optional subject since 1996 in a number of elementary schools in major cities, but only for pupils from the third grade onwards.

The city had 72 primary schools offering extra-curricular English lessons in the first grade in 2005.

Brief tests will be held from the beginning of August to test memory, pronunciation, and logic to admit children to the intensive classes. Those who do not qualify can join normal classes where the language is optional.

If all the schools organize the test on the same day, the Ministry is likely to set the test.

In 2003 the Ministry prescribed the first three volumes of “Let’s Learn English,” a six-level course in English, as model textbooks for elementary schools.

They are now being edited to make them more appropriate for Vietnamese conditions.

VietNamNet/SGGP