The recent teacher surveys have shown a severe drop-off in teacher satisfaction.With the hope that there will be an improvement in teaching English in Vietnam, some of the Training and Education services have organized the exams for Teacher Survey lately, which causes many problems and difficulties for teachers and their jobs in schools because of unexpected results .This can be explained as follow:

-First, the language syllabus both in Universities and high schools in Vietnam focuses too much on teaching methods and English analysis instead of English skills (especially listening skill)

-Second, Most of the teachers'skills tend to be left behind because they have to teach students in different ways so that their students can do the tests well. ( Most of them, especially those who are in charge of class 12,  ignored English skills .)

-Next, the knowledge and experience that teachers have got from their work at school don't help them a lot in the Teacher Survey Exams (Based on the European standard) because the exams require different tips and speed in doing the test.

-Most of the English teachers aren't ready for taking the test because they don't have time to prepare for it.

-Teachers don't get themselves familiar with the kind of test (They weren't trained the kind of test in Universities).

-I think this type of test has many things in common with a game (Taking this type of test is similar to playing a game). The more you play, the higher you get.In other word, if you have a chance to get to know it, you'll do it better. A teacher doesn't need a good knowledge of English or experience in teaching, but skill practice and tips for test taking are what they need.

In my opinion,the result of the test can't be used as a good indicator of evaluating teachers' ability of English.In fact,I felt very surprised to know that a teacher making many mistakes in her lessons could get high marks in the TOEFL ITP test while other experienced teachers don't. It can be said that the exam brought a lot of disadvantages for teachers in schools.I hope that the superiors should take it into consideration when making a decision in coming time."Don't make a mess in schools-Let's do something practical and meaningful".

 

By T N T

(Extract from tuoitrenews)