Analyzing The Problems And The Characteristics Of Teaching Chinese At Two International Schools In HoChiMinh City

In recent years, the amount of international school in HoChiMinh city is rising rapidly. There are many kinds of international school in HoChiMinh city:American International School, British International School, Canadian International School, Australian International School, Korea International School, Japanese International School, Taiwan International School, and Singapore International School..Students of international school are from many countries in over the world:Japan, Korea, Taiwan, India, Philippine... Teachers also come from many countries:Canada, France, England, America, Taiwan, China, Philippine, Malaysia, Singapore, Germany...To students, English is their first language or their mother-tongue. So English is used to teach all kinds of subjects. Teachers and students use English in comunicating, in teaching and in learning.Most of international schools in HoChiMinh city belong to two main international education systems:British and American. In these international education systems, Chinese is the second foreign language. According to the regulation of the school, Chinese is maybe an optional subject or a compulsory subject.The difference between the optional subject and the compulsory subject is the requirement and the length of time. There are many international schools teaching Chinese as the second foreign language. But because of many reasons, at present teaching Chinese as the second foreign language still does not achieve its aim.Considering the characteristics of teaching Chinese in two international schools in HoChiMinh city, with my own experience in teaching Chinese at these schools, I would like to discuss and to give some solutions to the existing problems (including:the quality of teachers, learning motivation, teaching content, teaching methods) in teaching Chinese as the second foreign language at these schools.