VietNamNet Bridge - Many parents said they fear their children would be overloaded if they have to learn both English and Korean.

 

The Ministry of Education and Training and the South Korean Embassy in Vietnam have signed an agreement on teaching Korean at secondary schools in Hanoi and HCM City, as a second foreign language in a pilot program from 2016. 

The two sides will also cooperate to teach Korean at high schools throughout the country.

Korean will be taught at two secondary schools in Hanoi and the other two in HCM City this year. After the pilot period, Korean may be taught as first second language. 

It is expected that students would have three periods per week with each period lasting 45 minutes.

However, the Hanoi and HCM City education departments said they have not received any information about the implementation of the plan on Korean teaching.

Pham Huu Hoan, head of the Secondary Education Division of the Hanoi Education and Training Department, on February 16 affirmed he has not received any instruction from MOET on the issue.

A deputy director of the Hanoi Education & Training Department also said he had just read about the teaching of Korean at secondary schools in mass media.

Pham Ngoc Tien from the HCM City Education and Training Department said the agency has not made a decision about which schools would teach Korean.

The Ministry of Education and Training and the South Korean Embassy in Vietnam have signed an agreement on teaching Korean at secondary schools in Hanoi and HCM City, as a second foreign language in a pilot program from 2016.

Meanwhile, students fear they would be overloaded if they have one more learning subject.

Thuy Linh, a student of Nguyen Tat Thanh Secondary School, said she was learning English at school and would not be able to arrange time to learn Korean.

“I am afraid I won’t be able to learn Korean. English alone costs me a lot of time,” she said.

A parent, asked if she wants her daughter, an eighth grader, to learn Korean at school, said  ‘no’.

“My daughter needs to focus on certain learning subjects to prepare for the high school finals and university entrance exams. She has only four more years to prepare for the exams,” she explained.

Quach Thi Hieu, whose daughter is a fourth grader of the Nghia Tan Primary School, said students would do very badly studying Korean if they have to learn both English and Korean.

“I think students won’t be able to learn Korean well if they only begin learning the subject when entering secondary school. I don’t think it is a good idea to continue studying Korean at high school, because it is the time for students to gather strength to prepare for the university entrance exams,” she said.

MOET’s Nguyen Vinh Hien said it was necessary to teach Korean language in Vietnam to prepare the workforce for global integration.


Thanh Mai