Hanoi wants to train more English teachers

Hanoi wants to train more English teachers.

There is a limited number of high school teachers in Hà Nội capable of teaching their subjects in English. The demand for English-speaking teachers for different subjects is particularly high at international schools and private schools where foreign students attend.
According to Principal of the Olympia High School, they have to hire all native English - speaking teachers because Vietnamese teachers who can teach in English are so rare.
The Hanoi Academy International Bilingual School has the same issue. “Vietnam lacks teachers with international degrees in teaching, and teaching is not a field that students who are able to study abroad often choose”, according to Nguyễn Thế Đại, chairman of the school's board of education.
However, the majority of lecturers don't feel confident enough to teach in English by the end of the programme, according to reports from the department.
According to reports, the same results were shown for a pilot project of teaching scientific subjects in English at a number of high schools in Hanoi, which has been implemented for two years. Despite having received 7-9 months of English training, teachers at these high schools couldn't get familiar with technical terms and weren't able to plan lessons in English.
In addition, according to Mr. Chu Xuan Dung, deputy director of Hanoi's education department, this is a call for teaching faculties to heighten their focus on teaching in English so that students will be confident teaching in the language when they graduate.
Having foreseen the demand, in the 2013 - 2014 school year, the Hanoi National University of Education (HNUE) started a new programme, which uses English to teach their maths students. The programme's first batch of students graduated last year after receiving positive feedback from the high schools where they interned.
Three graduates of the programme have been recruited by the Olympia High School for the 2016 - 2017 school year after a two-month internship.
Future plans Dr. Nguyen Van Trao, HNUE's vice principal, said that the school will continue to train teachers of physics, chemistry, biology, natural sciences and information technology to teach in English in the coming years, aiming to “quench the thirst” of international schools of English - speaking teachers. In addition, the Hanoi's education department will continue to integrate English teaching into the high school curriculum at more schools in the future.
According to Mr. Chu Xuan Dung, the department will provide technical English training for teachers at five lower secondary and upper secondary schools (high schools) in Hanoi that teach maths, physics, chemistry and biology in English.