A 7-year old girl Khanh has just finished her Grade One English class at the British Council but she had so much fun she does not want to leave despite her mother waving at her through the glass.
When she finally follows all the other boys and girls she meets her mother and shows her the work she produced. It’s inspired by the book “The Hungry Caterpillar”. The story tells how the caterpillar munches through an apple, a pear, a strawberry, a cake and a sausage before finally turns into a beautiful butterfly.
Khanh and her classmates each produced their own version of the story book to take home. During the process and almost without realising they are learning, they have already remembered by heart the new words and phrases.
The British Council started offering the English classes for Grade One students this summer (2011) in response to the strong demand of parents. The huge interest suggested that there was a real demand from ambitious parents wanting the best for the children without subjecting them to more traditional and potentially dull lessons. At seven years old no one wants to put children off learning.
Michael Gordon deputy head of British Council Vietnam and head of teaching centre English commented: “We knew there was a market for this and we knew that if we opened these classes then we had to balance fun and learning equally. If we got the balance wrong then we would fail both the children and their parents. From the feedback we received it appears we very much got it right. The children have had a tremendous summer and return to their school English lessons with a real advantage.”
As part of that balance the lessons were based around real English skills with the aim of improving confidence in an English speaking environment. The lessons involved productive work, based on the literature, which showed development in both understanding and communication.
Children develop the four skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing by involvement in the activities in the lesson. They also learn vocabulary and grammar that supports these skills. Students are also introduced to phonics (word sounds) which will enable them to learn how to read, write, speak, listen and improve their pronunciation at a faster pace than traditional methods of learning. By learning in this way children are quicker to grasp English as a whole.
Registration for the next course starting from 28 August is now open. A school bag is on offer to all Grade One kids who register before 27 August.
For more information about the course, please click here. If you would like to send your child to this course, please contact our Customer Services staff at (04) 37281922 or send an email to bchanoi@britishcouncil.org.vn to book a placement test for your child.
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