About Learning English

There are many good reasons for young people in Vietnam to learn English, not least of all because it is the international language of education, business and diplomacy. If you want your child to study overseas, most likely they will have to learn English to do so. In addition, many Vietnamese universities allow students to use English tests, like the IELTS test, to help them gain admission, or to place out of foreign language requirements. And when it comes to local business in Ninh Bình specifically, foreign tourists from all over the world come here. Even if they come from non-English speaking countries, like Germany or Korea, they will likely expect to interact with local Vietnamese people in English. And perhaps most importantly, because English is the international language, learning it creates opportunities for you or your child to directly experience things like travel, music or anything that interests them from anywhere in the world. So whether your plans for the future include time abroad or staying local, English can be very useful in any context.

The best evidence available shows that children learn a second language most effectively by encountering it in ways that are similar to how they learned their first: being given clear models of the language and provided with a communicative purpose for using it before they are asked to produce it. Our experience as educators has proven to us time and again that old-fashioned methods based on memorization or repetition are not effective ways to get learners using a second language. Therefore, we are focused on engaging our students and providing them with a safe educational environment, as well as a real communicative purpose, so that they feel motivated and confident to use English in a meaningful way. That means we use games to motivate students, and we set up all of our classroom activities with the aim of getting students to use English to communicate effectively.

One of the factors that makes language learning most effective is frequency. For example, it is more important that a student of English engages with the language multiple times within a week than that they devote a large number of hours to it per week, although the number of hours they study is also important. Because we only see our students twice a week, which simply is not frequent enough for our students to progress as quickly as they can, homework is very important. It adds another time in the week when our students engage with English meaningfully. That is why we closely follow our homework requirements. You can help your children progress in their English learning most effectively by making sure they do their homework.

Having been professional English educators in Hanoi for over 10 years, we have had experience with tests created by the department of education and they are focused on a different way of measuring English capabilities than that used by authorities in English speaking countries. Our training and experience tell us that if a student learns how to effectively communicate in English, they will do better on English tests in general. However, not all tests are created equally, and some do a better job of measuring true English capabilities than others. At Tràng An English Center we are focused on teaching and testing for our students ability to communicate in English, as well as perform well on international tests of English, like those created by Cambridge Assessment English (Starters, Movers, Flyers; Key and Preliminary English Tests for Schools), the British Council and IDP Education (IELTS).

For most language learners, second language acquisition is a lifelong process. Fluency can sometimes be measured by international tests but different educators have different standards and definitions for fluency. What we believe is most important to consider is your child's reasons for learning English - and to set achievable short-term goals that build a pathway to ultimate success. The best way for us to address this question is to have a conversation with you and your child so that together we can design the most appropriate pathway for them.

CEFR stands for the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, which is a series of benchmarks set up by the European Union which allow someone's abilities in any language to be measured. The benchmarks consist of "can-do" statements which are grouped into 6 bands: A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2, with the A bands delineating what a Basic User of a language can do; the B bands delineating what an Independent User of a language can do; and the C bands delineating what a Proficient User of a language can do.

The bands themselves are very broad, and often users of a language are able to do some things from one band and some from another, so defining a user's ability using this scale can be quite difficult. Other organizations, like Cambridge Language Assessment, have established more precise scales with which to measure a language user's abilities, but many language course book publishers, as well as creators of international language tests, including Cambridge, peg their products to the CEFR, so it is an almost universally accepted measuring tool.

As a language learner, the most important thing to understand when it comes to the CEFR is that it does take roughly 200 guided learning hours to advance from one band to another, although this amount of time can vary greatly between learners. Guided learning hours are hours spent in the classroom, as well as hours spent in self-study working on assignments given by the teacher. Individual students may need to study more based on their innate language capabilities.

At Tràng An English Center, we do use the CEFR to create our learning programs, which together build a pathway towards proficiency. Please click here to see how our programs fit into the CEFR, as well as the Cambridge English Scale.

The IELTS exam was created by the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge Assessment English in 1989, in order to determine the English level of non-native English speaking students who wished to study in English speaking countries. It is a good measure of a student's English ability, but it is intended to test a specific type of English to be used in a specific context: academic English to be used at a university or other institution of higher learning. Recently, Vietnamese universities have begun accepting IELTS scores as additional qualifications when considering students for admission. They also accept IELTS scores to allow students to place out of foreign language requirements. However, if you do not intend your child to study overseas, nor for them to attend a university in Vietnam that uses the IELTS test for the purposes above, IELTS preparation might not be the best way for them to learn English. Some other factors to keep in mind are that Beginner levels of English are not high enough to begin preparing for IELTS, therefore many students will have to build up their English skills BEFORE devoting themselves to IELTS preparation, and this can take some time; also, the IELTS exam was designed to be taken by candidates 16 years of age and older. Please feel free to ask us about what English program would be best for your child.

While there is some debate among language education professionals about the importance of being a native speaker when teaching a language, there are certain things which are settled facts. Yes, native speakers do always speak their native language fluently - but this does not mean they never make mistakes in their own language. And being a native speaker of English does not automatically make someone a good teacher of English. Good language teachers have received extensive training in how to teach a language, and must continually upgrade their teaching skills and stay on top of the latest innovations in teaching methodology. Being a native English speaker is not enough.

In addition, non-native speakers of a language can be excellent teachers, and many are. In fact, they have some distinct advantages when it comes to teaching. Firstly, they had to learn the language themselves, so they understand the mechanics of the language. Many Vietnamese teachers of English understand English grammar better than native English speakers, many of whom were never taught English grammar in school. They also understand the perspective of their learners and Vietnamese teachers of English, in particular, know what Vietnamese students may find challenging about learning English and can anticipate ways of overcoming those challenges.

When you choose a teacher for your child or yourself, please keep this in mind. Native English speakers do have a few advantages when teaching English: their pronunciation is perfect, their vocabulary is already full of colloquial English and they usually make fewer mistakes in English than non-native speakers. But if they haven't received adequate training in how to teach a language, they may be very bad at teaching. Also, not all foreigners come from countries where English is the most common language. Therefore, not all foreigners have the advantages, as limited as they are, of being a native English speaker.

At Tràng An English Center, we are committed to providing you with the highest quality English education available, from both native and non-native speakers who meet our rigorous standards. All of our teachers are qualified, educated and trained in the most effective teaching methods and the quality of their teaching is constantly monitored and improved.