Cooperating with the US, making English the second language in schools

Minister Nguyen Kim Son and Mr. Amit Sevak, President of the American Testing Service (ETS), at the working session - Photo: MOET

Within the framework of the program to attend the Future Summit, the high-level general discussion of the 79th United Nations General Assembly and work in the United States of General Secretary and President To Lam, on September 24, Minister of Education and Training Nguyen Kim Son worked with Mr. Amit Sevak, President of the American Testing Service (ETS).

At the meeting, the two sides reviewed the work done to implement the contents of the memorandum of understanding between the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training and the American Testing Institute signed in September 2022.

Minister Nguyen Kim Son thanked ETS for supporting training for about 3,500 Vietnamese officials and teachers on improving testing capacity in November 2023.

According to the minister, this training session is important in helping to raise awareness and capacity of those participating in the examination work, especially in 2025 when Vietnam will make some adjustments to the high school graduation exam.

Mr. Nguyen Kim Son also informed Mr. Amit Sevak about a new policy of Vietnam which is to focus on improving foreign language skills of students, gradually making English the second language in schools.

According to Mr. Son, to carry out this task, improving the quality of English teachers is extremely important. Therefore, he requested ETS to support the Ministry of Education and Training to carry out the task of making English the second language in schools.

The Minister suggested that the two sides could consider adding this task to the memorandum of cooperation signed in 2022.

Talking with Minister Nguyen Kim Son, Mr. Amit Sevak shared the losses and difficulties that Vietnam has been experiencing due to storm Yagi .

Mr. Amit Sevak highly appreciated Vietnam's policy and determination to gradually make English the second language in schools, thereby promoting international integration.

According to Mr. Amit Sevak, ETS has cooperated with more than 20 governments and has a lot of experience in English training and testing, so ETS is ready to support Vietnam to achieve this goal.

Specifically, ETS will send experts to Vietnam at the request of Mr. Amit Sevak to continue supporting Vietnam in testing activities and improving the quality of Vietnamese English teachers.

At the meeting, Minister Nguyen Kim Son invited Mr. Amit Sevak to visit and work in Vietnam so that the two sides could sign an amended and supplemented memorandum of understanding in early 2025.

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/hop-tac-voi-my-dua-tieng-anh-tro-thanh-ngon-ngu-thu-hai-trong-truong-hoc-2024092521053567.htm