Teaching students until they are exhausted on the podium
For more than 20 years standing on the podium, Ms. Hoang Thi Thiet - Music teacher and Head of the Team of Chieng Xuan Primary and Secondary School (Chieng Son commune, Son La) - still maintains the burning passion for the profession as from the first day. For her, the journey to sow words in the highlands is not only a job, but also a part of her life.
Ms. Thiet entered the profession in 2004, when she was a young teacher working at Chieng Bang Secondary School (Son La). Recalling those early days, she said that the place she worked in was an area without electricity and was in dire straits. The school is located in an area that has now become the Song Da hydroelectric reservoir. The house was then covered with wooden walls, at night there were only oil lamps climbing and peeling in the middle of the mountains and forests. The road is muddy and extremely difficult to travel.
" Suffering is not only about being far away or lacking, but also about very small things - such as the amount of dog fighting that requires hammering to beat them down" - Ms. Thiet recalled.
Not only that, every time she had a day off to visit home, she was half happy and half worried, because the road to school was covered with mud and extremely slippery. "Just a little rain can make you fall. Once, standing at the top of the slope, looking at the road in front of me, I felt both sorry and scared, and did not dare to go back to school immediately" - she said.
She recalled a memory that was both funny and loving: "That day I was teaching music reading exercises, using a small keyboard to instruct students. blowing from the first to the fourth sentences will make you lose your breath because you are out of breath".
Student eyes - the persistent motivation of a teacher in the highlands
Since 2006, Ms. Hoang Thi Thiet has been attached to many schools in Son La and is currently working at Chieng Xuan Primary and Secondary School, Chieng Son commune - a school in a particularly disadvantaged region 3, right in the border area.
Currently, she not only teaches Music and is a homeroom teacher, but also takes on the role of Team Manager, while actively participating in Party work and Trade Union activities at school.
"Here, there is still a shortage of facilities, and the roads are difficult to travel, especially during the rainy season. The students are also mainly children of ethnic minorities, many of whom still lack warm clothes and books" - Ms. Thiet expressed.
The biggest difficulty for the job, according to her, is maintaining the class size. "Due to circumstances, many students drop out of school. Many times I have to go to each student's house, 3-4 times to meet my parents, and sometimes I only meet my brothers and sisters or grandparents, and my parents work far away. But no matter how difficult it is, I still try to encourage them to go to school" - she said.
In addition, the language barrier is also a big challenge, making teaching more difficult. "Many students mainly speak ethnic languages, so I have to be patient to explain each concept in many different ways so that they can understand the lesson. No matter how hard it is, I always find a way to help them grasp knowledge and gradually improve their communication skills" - she shared.
Perhaps it is love for students that has made Ms. Thiet attached to the teaching profession for many years.
"The children in the highlands are very innocent, their eyes are clear. Outside of school, my students and I go to the fields, pick wild flowers to plant, play on the riverbank, pick rocks and shape them... Seeing the children happy, seeing their eyes brighten, I feel that the teaching profession is truly precious. That is also the motivation for me to continue to sow words and music in the highlands" - she confided.
