LookAtVietnam – There is a boom in schools that teach in English and take a more relaxed, child-centered approach to learning.

In Vietnam, ‘international school’ is used to mean any school where foreign languages are used in teaching and learning. The schools can be 100 percent foreign-owned, joint ventures between Vietnamese and foreign investors, or 100 percent Vietnamese owned. The student body may be 100 percent Vietnamese, and often is.

Not working too hard, and speaking English well

Le Thi Bich Lan’s son has been studying for six years at an international school. Tuition is seven million dong (nearly $400) a month. It follows the Ministry of Education-prescribed curriculum and adds intensive English.

Asked why she wants her son to study there, Lan said that with a maximum of 20 students per class, the school environment is more pleasant, the teachers pay more attention to each children, and, especially, there’s little homework at the elementary level.

Nguyen Thi Hai Anh, who has two children studying at ‘Vietnam-Australia Primary School’ in HCM City, says school fees cost her some 200 million dong a year, a really big sum of money in a country where per capita income averages 18 million dong a year. “It’s an investment,” she adds, “to prepare for the next stage when my kids enter high school.”

Similarly, Phan Viet, who pays up to $10,000 for his grandchild to study at an ‘American international school,’ said he’s attracted by the emphasis given to self-motivated learning and English fluency, including regular contact with foreign teachers.

“Vietnamese schools only focus on giving academic and scientific knowledge, while they do not pay attention to giving common knowledge. With such schools, students never have the opportunities for creation,” he said.

Spending to ‘purchase respect’

A lot of parents believe that the state-run education system puts too heavy a burden on the children – “study, always study!”

Duong Van Tien’s son is now a 3^rd grade student at an international school in HCM City’s District 1. He said the boy went to first grade at a state-run school and then he had to attend extra classes every day. “Frankly, when we moved him to his present school, there has been a lot less worry and pressure on us.”

Le Hang, a District 3 businesswoman, enrolled her child in an ‘Asian model’ junior high school. She also said that she does not want to see her child study too hard. “He’s not quite as quick as the kids in the [state-run] gifted and talented school,” Hang said, “but he finished the elementary curriculum with 19.5 points out of 20. What’s most important to me is knowing my boy is respected and cared for.”

“At my daughter’s school,” commented one parent, “it’s not the teachers who put pressure on the children, but rather it’s the teachers who feel pressure from the parents.’

Le Thi My Dung, who taught for years at an international elementary school said the majority of parents want their children to have a good learning environment, not to be stuffed full of facts so they are perfect in every skill. Following this philosophy, many private schools are letting young students develop their aptitudes, whether it is music, art, sports, computer or foreign languages, alongside the standard Vietnamese curriculum. This ‘international mark’ attracts the attention of the parents.

A former teacher the Vietnam-Australia school said that beating and scolding students is banned at that school. “Teachers don’t even dare to criticize students who make mistakes,” T said. She added that some students have been sent to school with recorders inside their school bags, so that their their parents would know how their teachers behave.

“At international schools, teachers are not allowed to put pressure on students, the thing that we sometimes see at state-run schools. Teachers themselves are under hard pressure, because they have to work well,” she said.

VietNamNet/SGTT