International schools are multiplying in the Hanoi and HCMC area, but only incidentally to serve expat kids.  Mostly they are meeting huge demand by Vietnam’s yuppies for schools that will encourage their children to think for themselves.   This is the second part of a two-part series from Saigon Tiep Thi newspaper.

Students are not required to follow others

Dang Mach Thuy, a manager at a primary school in HCMC that follows the California state curriculum, said that the emphasis is on teaching students how to learn by themselves.

“Teachers of the school never force students to just repeat back what’s in their textbooks,” Thuy said. The students have the right to be creative. They can seek knowledge from outside sources, too.”

Thuy added that students have the right to think for themselves and express their opinions. The ‘read-and-write down’ teaching method (the students write down what the teacher reads to them) is not applied at the international schools.

Unlike Vietnamese schools, the students of Thuy’s school are free to stand up, move about, sit in a circle or even lie on the floor of the classrooms. There are a lot of pictures, teaching aids, bookcases and even ‘relaxation corners.’ The student’s essays or pictures were fastened to the walls of the classrooms.

Thai Thi Linh teaches Vietnamese culture at the ACG International School, which was established in HCM City three years ago by a New Zealand company.  Linh said that though the curriculums of international schools are ‘lighter’ than of Vietnamese schools, this does not mean that the students get less knowledge  than students of Vietnamese schools.

Linh cited a lesson about the mid-autumn festival in Vietnam as an example. Students were asked to collect stories relating to mid-autumn festival and read them. During the lessons, the teacher raised questions for students to answer. After the lesson, students went out for a mid-autumn festival party.

Or, when learning about ‘careers,’ students were asked to do research about the careers they like and make a presentation to the class. “In this exercise it’s not so important that the students’ information is precisely correct,” Linh said.  “The most important thing here is that the students learn how to present an issue.”

Respecting the ‘self’ of the students

Professor Pham Toan is an expert on international education systems.  He’s taught at them and researched them for years.  In his view, an outstanding characteristic of international schools is the student-centred teaching method.

“They (international schools) teach students to educate themselves, discover things themselves and become independent,” Toan explains.  “For each subject, theory and practice are integrated.  Everything is a possible ‘learning opportunity.’  They never force students learn by rote.”

Students of international schools can stick their pictures or the pictures of their friends or their idols on their school report books, if they wish.  They do not hesitate to express personal confidences to teachers. It is because they are given the right to take initiative in expressing their viewpoint and show their ‘self’ to others.

Dr. Huynh Cong Minh, Director of the HCM City Education and Training Department, regards the international schools as welcome pioneers.  “They are bringing the world’s modern teaching methods to Vietnam, thus helping us develop Vietnam’s education.”

Minh rates highly the emphasis on a low number of students per class (just 20 students) and ‘light’ curriculums (only six subjects on average). The schools not only provide knowledge, but also pay attention to physical development, he points out.  Therefore, they have become the choice of many parents who have the means to pay high to get good education for their children.

However, Minh drew an important distinction.  Many schools call themselves ‘international’ schools just because foreign languages are used in teaching.  That’s not a true international school, he said.  International schools should be understood as schools which use foreign curriculums recognized by many countries in the world in place of the Vietnamese national curriculum.

It is estimated that 50 schools now operating now in HCM City call themselves ‘international schools.’

(Source: VietNamNet)