BẮC GIANG — Students at some high schools and junior high schools in the northern province of Bắc Giang will study mathematics this year in both Vietnamese and English.

The bilingual pilot programme is being operated by the province’s education department.

The programme seeks to build a high-quality English studying environment in schools, while helping teachers and students apply their knowledge of English, taking it from their lessons and using it in practice.

Participants of the programme are the province’s major and high-quality schools in Bắc Giang City and the districts of Lạng Giang, Việt Yên, and Yên Dũng. The provincial Department of Education also encouraged other schools, though not designated by the department, to teach mathematics in English.

Schools participating in the programme will use bilingual mathematics textbooks published by the Việt Nam Education Publishing House. Suggested teaching methods include using both Vietnamese and English during lessons, or only using English.

Trần Tuấn Nam, deputy director of the Department of Education, said the department had carried out training sessions for mathematics teachers and would continue to do so. Selected teachers are those who possess high level English certificates and able to communicate in English. Additionally, the department has asked English teachers and mathematics teachers to co-operate, in order to improve the English capabilities of mathematics teachers.

Schools were also asked to set up English speaking clubs for both teachers and students, he said.

The department is to evaluate the results from the pilot programme and volunteer registration of schools to consider whether to expand the programme’s scale in the 2018-19 school year. –  VNS