Surprised by the way a farmer mother teaches her child to "shoot" English like the wind

From the optimism of a mother…

When her child started school, Ms. Thu Huong thought it was very simple! She asked for her child to take extra classes at the teacher's house in the hope that her child would get used to listening. But after a few months, her child did not make any progress because the class focused too much on grammar. She decided to take a leave of absence to find another learning method.

Mai’s family’s income depends entirely on the small grocery store. But according to her grandmother, sales are not very good. “Nowadays, every family in the village has a grocery store. Sometimes people around come over to buy fish sauce and sugar. But the fish sauce takes a whole month to run out.” Therefore, with an income of less than 2 million VND, it is impossible for Mai to study at expensive centers or courses.

Thinking so, Ms. Huong used all her savings from the time of "go to receive sewing work for others" to buy a laptop for 10 million VND. She searched for information online with the hope of finding an effective learning method.

Since then, she has devoted all her time to conquering the new language with her child. Their small classroom is the bed, and the blackboard is the wooden panels separating the bed from the kitchen. In a space of about 27m², everywhere is full of new words and grammar. She excitedly boasted: "If there is anything you don't know, just ask "Mr. Computer" and you will get it right away."

Many people wonder: “If you can't even make enough money, where do you find time to teach your children?"Ms. Huong has heard that question so many times that it becomes familiar. At that time, she just smiled and said, "It is better to eat a little less, clothes can be worn all year round, but knowledge needs to be cultivated every day.".

Towards a solid direction

It's easy to say, but for someone like me who doesn't know a word of English, teaching my child requires asking and learning everything. Every morning, when my child goes to class, I stay home and turn on the computer to practice pronunciation. At noon, when my child comes home, we practice speaking together.

“When my child learned faster than me, I had to record clips and ask my Facebook friends to edit them for me."Just like that, from the time she could only mumble a few basic English sentences, Mai can now communicate fluently and has a good vocabulary.

Ms. Huong believes that material things can be lacking but knowledge is never enough. As soon as her child started learning a new language, she spent 1 million VND to buy English books. That amount of money was more than half a month's living expenses for all 3 people in the family.

During the learning process, she always set a rule for her child: he must read at least 30 minutes a day.When you are the one who doesn't know and your child is the one who is starting, the most difficult thing is still finding an effective direction." - Ms. Huong shared.

Just like a child starting to learn Vietnamese needs to practice speaking and reading a lot, I also let my child read every day with topics in the program on English learning software.The more my child reads, the higher his vocabulary becomes. I don't require him to know the Vietnamese meaning of the word. Thanks to that, he can think very well in English.".

To help her child “get used to it”, before waking up, when she comes home from school or when she eats…, Ms. Huong often plays English listening lessons or songs. She said: “I want my child to always live in the language he is learning. So I let him "bathe" in English right from when he started learning simple words like "Hi", "Hello"....”.

And Mai's grandmother said, "Mother and son kept listening to English day after day, month after month. After listening for so long, she got used to it. Every weekend, mother and son went to Bai Dinh, and the house felt like something was missing.".

Mai’s classroom is no longer limited to an 8m2 bed next to the kitchen, but spreads out across Bai Dinh, Hang But… Her companion is still her mother with a backpack containing instant noodles, dry food, raincoat, and water bottle. The two of them wander to all the scenic spots so that Mai has the opportunity to talk to foreigners.

Many people also offered to tip, but Ms. Huong refused. She said, “Seeing my child communicate naturally and use vocabulary flexibly, I know I am on the right track.”