Spending $11,000 a year on international school but still struggling with English

When people hear the term "international school", they often imagine a modern learning environment, a world-class curriculum, foreign teachers, and, most notably, superior English skills among the students, especially compared to those attending public or private schools in Vietnam.

However, the reality isn't quite as expected. My cousin child, who has attended an international school for many years, often struggles with communication, reading, and especially writing essays. He often loses points on English essays due to basic grammar and expression errors.

My cousin is puzzled by this. She pointed out that she spends nearly VND300 million (US$11,365) annually on tuition, but her child still struggles with language skills.

On the other hand, my child and other children of my cousin's friends who study the Vietnamese program with enhanced English and take fewer subjects in English seem to write more fluently and clearly. They are using English quite flexibly, and performing much better on exams.

A boy working on school work with laptop and headphones. Illustration photo by Unsplash

The first thing to understand is that international schools do not teach English; instead, all subjects are taught in English. This is the biggest difference between international schools and Vietnamese schools that focus on intensive English teaching. In international schools, English is not treated as a separate subject. Students do not learn grammar systematically, such as tenses, sentence structure, or essay writing skills. Instead, they learn Math, Science, History, and other subjects in English, with the expectation that they understand the content and develop critical thinking and academic skills.

This demands that students not only know English but also be proficient in English as an academic language, which can be a challenge. Meanwhile, Vietnamese students follow a more structured approach to learning English: they focus on grammar, topic-based vocabulary, practicing essay writing, and preparing for exams like IELTS.

Children in these programs learn English as a second language, with the goal of mastering the skills needed to achieve high scores on international certification exams. If learning English is like building a house, international school students start by living in that house, even though they may not fully understand its structure.

People often say that sending children to international schools is like "immersing" them in an English environment. This is true, but only if they have a solid foundation in the language to begin with.

In reality, many Vietnamese students go to international schools from a young age, but they still speak Vietnamese at home, watch YouTube in Vietnamese, and play games in Vietnamese. As a result, despite listening to teachers speaking English every day in class, they do not have the kind of "immersion" in the language that native children experience.

As a result, after years of studying in international schools, many students still struggle with writing academic essays that require clear structure, precise vocabulary, or reading long articles with complex sentences.

Many parents, like my cousin, believe that by sending their children to international schools and paying high tuition fees, their children will excel in English. But this only happens if parents understand the goals of the curriculum and provide the appropriate support. My cousin's child is struggling with English simply because the curriculum in international schools is not focused on teaching the language as the primary goal.

If your child does not have a strong foundation in English from the beginning, and doesn't receive additional support at home or through extra classes, learning subjects in English can become overwhelming, leading to gaps in both language skills and subject knowledge.

There are a few key points to keep in mind:

First, studying at an international school means following an international curriculum, not specifically learning English. If the goal is for your child to excel in English and achieve a high IELTS or TOEFL score, the traditional learning path combined with exam preparation will be much more effective and economical.

Second, if you send your child to an international school, you must still be involved, especially in primary and early secondary school. Your child may still need to learn more grammar, writing skills, and reading comprehension, areas that international schools won't focus on teaching.

Third, don't assume that studying at an international school will automatically make your child better at English. This is only true when your child has a quality language environment, a solid foundation, and proper support.

I believe many parents share the same concerns, feeling confused or even disappointed when they see their children struggling with English despite studying at international schools. It's time for us to realistically assess this situation and choose the most appropriate learning environment for our children's abilities and family goals.