VIETTESOL INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION 2025

In the context of early childhood education placing increasing emphasis on introducing English to young children, it is vital to prepare pre-service teachers with the necessary skills and knowledge to organize suitable language activities as well as future teaching work. Nevertheless, students are not majoring in English and come from remote mountainous areas so there are some challenges which make it harder for them. Hence, this study aimed at finding out the problems these students encountered when organizing activities to get acquainted with English. Moreover, this study focused on investigating the current competence of Early Childhood Education students at a college in organizing English familiarization activities for preschool children. Data were collected from a questionnaire answered by 60 students, semi-structured interviews, and classroom observations. Quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics, whereas qualitative data were analyzed through content analysis. The findings revealed that students faced several difficulties, including limited language knowledge, a lack of teaching methods, and insufficient practical experience. Based on these outcomes, the study proposed several solutions: improving the training program by adding specialized courses on teaching English to young children, increasing opportunities for practical teaching at kindergartens, organizing extracurricular activities such as English clubs, and providing suitable teaching materials. This research offered useful suggestions for improving preschool teacher training programs to meet the current needs of educational reform and support language integration in early childhood education, particularly in mountainous areas.
Keywords: Early Childhood Education students; competence; English language familiarization; mountainous areas