The bilingual teaching model

At the High School for the Gifted majoring in natural sciences under the Hanoi National University, some subjects have been taught in English for the last several years. Nguyen Vu Luong, Headmaster of the high school, said that students still study mathematics, physics, chemistry and biology as usual, but they have extra learning hours, when lessons are taught in English. At first, his students had to work harder, but they are now familiar with the lessons in English later and now they like them very much.

Luong said that in the first phase of the program on teaching in English (about four years), his students will keep normal hours of instruction in Vietnamese and then have extra hours when schools subjects are taught in English. In the second phase (the next two years), 50 percent of the time of the normal teaching hours will be carried out in English, while syllabuses will be in English. Meanwhile, in the extra hours subjects will be taught in English. In the third phase (2 years), 100 percent of natural science subjects will be taught in English.

“In order to implement the program, we need qualified teachers and advanced teaching methods. Besides, we need advanced syllabuses, because syllabuses in English are needed to teach in English,” Luong said.