The story of a teacher who teaches English and tree planting for free

(Baonghean) - The house of old teacher Thai Ba Am often has visitors, not only generations of students from Nghe An College of Education, students who used to study English at home, but also farmers who come to learn the profession of... planting trees. Nearly 80 years old, at that age he should have retired, but he still struggles with "problems" that bring benefits to the community...

Free English Teacher

The house of Mr. Thai Ba Am is hidden among the trees in Hamlet 4, Nghi Trung Commune (Nghi Loc). Mr. Am is from Do Luong, a lecturer in the Mathematics Department of Nghe An College of Education. He retired nearly 20 years ago and chose his wife's hometown as his resting place.

Teacher Thai Ba Am and the textbook "Tireless English".

Teacher Thai Ba Am retired at the right time when the country began to accelerate the integration process. English was extremely necessary at that time. But in this poor rural area, there were very few people who were fluent in English, and there was a shortage of teachers for this subject, so students, especially children of farmers, would be at a disadvantage.

Teaching English to students at this time will be an important asset for them to move forward in the future, competing with friends from all over the world. With that in mind, Mr. Am dreamed of opening a class for poor students. But at that time, he himself did not know a word of English, so how could he do it?

Using his pension to buy English textbooks and materials, Mr. Am locked himself in his room and studied by himself for several months. When he had a considerable amount of capital, he compiled his own textbook consisting of 2 volumes and named it “Tireless English”, which was considered a unique textbook by those in the profession. He also spent money to expand the porch, asked for some old tables and chairs, and opened a free English class for poor students.

Many students in the area came to study, and all of them were excited about the teacher's teaching method, which was not too much about conveying information to cause fatigue, but mainly about guiding students to discover principles and rules for themselves and comparing them with Vietnamese.

The good news spread far and wide, students from all over the region, even from Thanh Chuong and Do Luong districts came to study. The number of lessons kept increasing, the teacher was more tired but also happier, many parents came to give him a sum of money as a reward but he refused to accept it, because he had decided to teach for free from the moment he had the intention of opening the class.

Just like that, after more than ten years of teaching at home, Mr. Thai Ba Am has trained hundreds of students in poor rural areas in English, helping them become more confident when entering competitions. Among them, many have grown up, become university students, and become young officials...

“Agriculturist” offers free vocational training

In recent years, schools have had enough English teachers. Moreover, Mr. Am found himself old and in poor health, no longer suitable for teaching, so he stopped tutoring. Every day, interacting and talking with farmers, he realized that people in his hometown are simple, hard-working and patient, but most of them are content with their lot. So how can we help farmers change their thinking to boldly strive to become rich?

Teacher Thai Ba Am in the middle of the Xa Doai orange garden that he has just successfully crossbred.

He confided: “Our country is in the tropics, Nghe An has harsh nature, barren and rocky soil, but still has many valuable fruit trees. If we can promote that advantage, meaning crossbreeding trees with delicious, high-quality fruit for export, farmers will have the opportunity to get rich.”

That is the equation that the teacher has established to help farmers rise up in the integration period, contributing to affirming the agricultural product brand of Nghe An. This time, he is again working hard to research the characteristics and features of fruit trees to intervene in the growth process to increase product quality. From a Math teacher, then an English teacher, the old teacher switched to the field of Agronomy - not an easy path, but Mr. Am determined that the key issue is method.

Thanks to that, he has achieved initial success in improving the productivity and quality of custard apple varieties. With his professional techniques, Mr. Am has made an impact to increase the fruit set rate, actively controlled flowering and proposed ways to transport custard apples over long distances without damage. Many households in the barren land of Nghi Loc district are grateful to Mr. Am for having fresh, fruit-laden custard apples that bring in high income.

After the success with custard apple trees, Mr. Thai Ba Am is currently researching to restore typical fruit trees of Nghe An such as Xa Doai oranges, Phuc Trach grapefruits, sweet star fruit... This work has no other purpose than to help farmers stay attached to their fields and gardens and be able to get rich on their homeland. Every time he successfully tests a variety of tree, he takes it to his neighbors, instructs them on the technique, and then spreads it throughout the region.

Teacher Am took us to visit the Xa Doai orange garden, full of ripe and fruity fruits. We tasted the oranges, which had a rich sweet taste, not easily confused with oranges from other regions. “The flavor of Xa Doai oranges is the secret to the problem of orange trees. In the near future, I will propagate them throughout the region,” he shared.

On the way back, we noticed a large sign with the words: “Free fruit tree growing training” along with a phone number and an arrow pointing to the house. Suddenly, we remembered the words of teacher Thai Ba Am: “For intellectuals, each situation is a problem that needs to be solved and answered. There are countless problems that life poses, we must choose the problems that are useful to the community and society to solve.”

Cong Kien