Vietnamese children who cannot write their names

VietNamNet Bridge – The word “westernized” is now popularly used to describe the phenomenon of young people who get used to western lifestyles and forget their Vietnamese origins, even to the point that they are unable to write their names in Vietnamese.

Vietnam lacks mechanism to develop international schools

Schools international, curricula not international

Parents prefer international schools

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P. received a certificate for his high English level, but he cannot write his Vietnamese name on the exam paper.

Nguyen Tien Dat, Deputy Director of the HCM City Education and Training, related this story, adding that many Vietnamese children do not learn the Vietnamese language at international kindergartens. When P. needs to write down his name, adults must help him.

The westernization of Vietnamese children has become so serious that it surprises many people.

Very few of the 36 international kindergartens in HCM City set up curricula to teach Vietnamese to Vietnamese children.

At Anglophone International School, 50 percent of students are Vietnamese, but 100 percent of the teaching is completely in English.

At Fosco International School, according to Headmaster La Anh Mai, foreign curricula has been applied. Vietnamese students only learn about Vietnam’s culture and traditions on special occasions, such as Tet.

Topics like “behavioral culture” (relations with parents and grandparents) and other traditions of Vietnamese people, are taught as special topics.   

“However, all the subjects are discussed in English,” Mai admitted

Dat maintained that, in other countries, children learn native languages together with other languages. He argued that, in Vietnam, children should be taught Vietnamese together with foreign languages at the same time.

International schools claim that they are not sure if they can teach Vietnamese or not.

Nguyen Thi Kim Nhung, Headmaster of Banh & Bi School, was embarrassed when parents wanted their children to learn Vietnamese. Banh & Bi teaches classes only in French.

“We must bring students to a Vietnamese school once a week, so that they can learn the Vietnamese language,” Nhung revealed.

For the last half a year, some primary international schools have been teaching Vietnamese, but there are no clear regulations about teaching Vietnamese at kindergartens.

Le Thi Lien Hoan, Deputy Head of the Pre-school Education Division under the HCM City Education and Training Department, stated that international schools are encouraged to teach Vietnamese.

“It would be better to teach children both Vietnamese and foreign languages at the same time. This will help them have better language skills when they work,” Hoan advanced. “Remember that no one would recruit a person who cannot speak their own mother tongue.”

Minh Quyen

Tags: International Schools, Vietnamese Children, Physics games

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