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While Vietnamese students feel excited with the new teaching method applied by foreign teachers, their parents, who have generation differences with their children, have expressed their worry that the new method may do more harm than good.

Western is better than Vietnamese

Educators say the biggest advantage of the western teaching method is that it allows to establish friendly and open relations between teachers and students. In general, foreign teachers are always very enthusiastic, who always come to class earlier and stay late at school to clear up students’ queries.

Being open minded, dynamic, European teachers are always creative, generating the games so as to attract students to join. Especially, in the classes, students do not play a passive role, sitting and listening to the teachers. With the student-centered teaching method, students can be the subjects of the lessons, which allows them better understand the lessons.

Thu Anh, a 10th grader, now going to ILA English Center at No. 49 Hai Ba Trung Street in Hanoi, said she enjoys the English lesson with a US teacher very much.

“The teacher is so enthusiastic. If we cannot be present at the class, the teacher would correct our school works and then email us back,” he said.

David, the teacher, understands that the biggest problem of Vietnamese students when learning foreign languages is the hesitance to communicate. This leads to the bad speaking skill and the bad pronunciation. Therefore, he organizes a free pronunciation lesson a well opened to all students.

An officer of Sao Viet English Center at No. 155 on Xuan Thuy Road in Hanoi, said the center has employed six foreign teachers to satisfy the increasingly high demand for learning English with native speakers.

She said that a lot of children said they really enjoy learning with a teacher named Sam from the UK. They said they don’t feel tired during the lessons, but they feel as if they play very attractive games.

Thu Thao, a parent whose daughter is a student of the teacher, also said she found the teaching method of Sam very interesting.

“He always suggests games during the lessons for students to join. My daughter really enjoys the games which help her remember words very quickly,” Thao said.

When asked about the western teaching style, the students of an English center on Lang Road in Hanoi, said that they “like the western teachers more than Vietnamese ones” and that they also like the English lessons provided by the western teachers more, because they can freely speak, smile and play during the lessons.

More harm than good?

While a lot of parents, who have been influenced by the western lifestyle, applaud the western teaching method, conservative traditional Vietnamese parents feel worried that the western style may badly affect their children’s characteristics.

A parent said that she once attended an English lesson with a foreign teacher, where she felt inconvenient in a noisy classroom. Students laughed and talked, answered the teacher’s questions and ate popcorn. The teacher did not stand on the lecture hall dais, but sat on students’ table.

The foreign teachers not only teach English, but also bring western lifestyle. In many cases, the teachers expressed their satisfaction with students’ answers by embracing students, thus making female students feel insecure.

Thu Minh, a parent in Tay Ho district, said she has prohibited her daughter to go to the English class on Lang Road, after finding out that the girl really likes the US teacher. The girl gave up official lessons at school, but she attended all the picnic parties organized by the US teacher. As a result, she got a lot of bad marks from the teachers at school.