Burst into tears over the Literature exam of a teacher in Saigon

ArticleWho has mail today?? by Ms. Tran Thi Quynh Anh (Literature teacher at Trung Vuong High School, Ho Chi Minh City) shared on her personal page received sympathy from hundreds of friends and colleagues. She opened her heart after completing a small "project" of Literature for her homeroom class - 10A3.

Ms. Quynh Anh said that in the Literature class on September 11, the teacher suddenly gave the class a test. Unlike the traditional way, she played instrumental music, then read the question: "Imagine you are going to write a letter to your parents, saying what you want to say. Say whatever you want, I will grade your most genuine feelings and will not show them to your parents."

Right after reading the teacher's question, "pink goat" (the teacher's affectionate way of calling a student born in the year of the Goat 2003) complained: "How can I write this, teacher? It's so cheesy." The teacher was silent, not sure if the students would cooperate, worried that the students would write in a forced, clichéd way.

Halfway through the test, the 26-year-old teacher heard sobbing somewhere. She continued to stay silent so the children could open their hearts, and the test was extended by 10 minutes beyond the scheduled time.

At the beginning of the school year, I read the student records and saw that there were several cases where the father or mother's name was missing. My initial intention was to learn more about those students, but when I received the papers, I saw many other situations of the students," the teacher said, adding that she sobbed not just once but many times, because of the touching essays.

An orphan student wrote:

"Somewhere, Mom must be happy to see me happy and grown up. It's been a long time since I've come here to burn incense for Mom, I'm really sorry. Living here, Dad has taken care of me very well, but sometimes I want to feel like Mom took care of me when I was little, I wish I could turn back time so I can be immersed in that moment.

I still haven't been able to say 'I love you' and this is the biggest regret of my life. But I know you will understand my heart because I rarely express my love with words but only through the achievements I have made. Everything is fate so don't be sad, the whole family always loves you. If there is a next life, I want to be your child again. Love you, Mom! Wish you happiness far away."

In beautiful handwriting, many words were erased due to hesitation and change of words in the article, a female student tells of her feelings of loss at the age of 14 when her parents divorced.

"Every night I cry because I think quite simply, I think that whoever I love will be the same to them, why not you? I read in a book that if someone's home is the opposite of the word peaceful, then the word unhappy is not enough to describe their life. I'm not sure if that's true, but since then I've found myself very unhappy.

From then on, high school was no longer as beautiful as I had always dreamed of. Because I felt lost, because every time I was tired, I knew my mother would be many times more tired. So I was alone, I was sad, cried, and laughed by myself. I got used to it...

Another male student is filled with happiness with his family, promising his parents that he will grow up.

"I feel more secure and try harder to fulfill my responsibilities, so that Mom knows that her child is on the way to adulthood and is the pillar of the family while Dad is away working. Even though I am still quite negligent and spoiled, I will try harder, just like how Mom and Dad take care of the family in difficult times."

"I feel lucky to be able to read sincere and emotional essays. I promised the kids not to show them to their parents, but I had to break that promise because they would see that the kids are very thoughtful people, really growing up, loving their parents very much but never daring to say it," Ms. Quynh Anh shared.

She said she loved the letters she wrote to her mother in heaven, the letters blurred by tears or sadness because of the children's missing happiness.

During the parent-teacher conference, the teacher used tape to cover up the private thoughts of the child in each letter and sent it to the parents. In the letter, she inserted a picture of the student in uniform and a small piece of paper.

Many parents were pensive, some fathers smiled, some mothers cried. They wrote their thoughts on pieces of paper, the letters from the parents were pinned to the board at the back of the classroom.

"I just hope you know that your parents will always be behind you, trying hard with you. Behind you are your parents' trust and expectations. Those things are always with you when you sit in class," the teacher shared with her students.

"At first, I planned to give a minute score for this test, but after reading the students' letters, I felt there was no need to give a score anymore. The emotions they put into it were priceless," the teacher said, sharing that she had to apologize to the students for "breaking her promise" with the assignment.

Ms. Tran Thi Quynh Anh is a former student of Trung Vuong High School. After graduating from Ho Chi Minh City University of Education, she passed the teacher recruitment exam and was assigned to work at her old school.

In 2016, the projectI love my mother tongueHer work won first prize at the "Creative teachers on information technology platform" contest organized by the Ministry of Education and Training in Hanoi.