Ngoc Thi in district 10, HCM City, has been arguing with her husband for a couple of weeks about an English class for their daughter.

When the daughter was three years old and still could not speak Vietnamese fluently, Thi sent the girl to an English class. The girl had three lessons of English a week, for which Thi paid VND60 million per course. In addition, Thi also registered an English class for the girl at her preschool, and paid tuition of VND700,000 a month.

At home, the girl only watches animated films and music programs in English.

However, Thang, Thi’s husband, is disappointed because the girl’s English skills have not improved after two courses and that the girl speaks Vietnamese with a lisp. The girl cannot express her ideas in Vietnamese fluently. Thang believes that it would be better for the girl to practice Vietnamese first before sending her to English classes.

But the couple could not agree on whether to continue to send their daughter to English classes, since the wife believes that people should learn foreign languages as soon as possible.

She said that people succeeding in their lives have good foreign language skills. Universities in Vietnam, when enrolling students, also set requirements on international tests for English.

“If you cannot speak English, you will be considered illiterate,” she said.

Meanwhile, other parents are of two minds about whether to send very young children to classes of English.

Le Huyen in district 3, HCM City, has enrolled her 10 year old in three English classes.

“My son studies English at school as part of the national English teaching program. He also goes to an English center and, in addition, has a class with a private tutor who is a native speaker,” Huyen said, adding that the English classes alone cost VND8 million a month.

“The lessons at school help him master English grammar because the curriculium is designed in a way to focus on grammar lessons. The lessons with native English speaker allows him to speak better,” she explained.

However, Huyen said that she was not sure if the English classes were necessary. As the boy has many English lessons, he has to attend classes on weekends as well.

“My son always tells us that he feels tired and he just wants to sleep all day on weekend rather than go to class,” Huyen said.

Ngan Anh