The girl from Nghe An brings "Chinese language to the village".

From factory worker back to the lecture hall

During the summer break, instead of resting, Huyen returned to her hometown and initiated the "Chinese Language for the Village" project, opening free classes for local residents. The classes are held at Thanh Dong Primary School and run three days a week. The students include middle school students, those entering 12th grade, and those awaiting university entrance exam results; some are recent employees who have been laid off and are striving to learn a foreign language to find new jobs.

Nguyen Thi Huyen is the fourth child in a farming family whose life was already difficult, and they faced a series of misfortunes. When Huyen was in sixth grade, her father was digging a well and suffered a work accident, severely deteriorating his health and rendering him unable to work. Then, when Huyen was in eleventh grade, her mother suffered a stroke, further disrupting the family's life.

Losing two main breadwinners, the family's income became precarious. Therefore, Huyền's older siblings had to drop out of school early to work. The money earned from manual labor was used to support their youngest sister's education. Her three years at Thanh Chương 1 High School were extremely difficult. At one point, she even considered dropping out to work abroad. "That day, my older brother talked to me all evening, encouraging me to reconsider. He said he would try his best to earn money to support my education," Huyền recounted.

Huyen tried her best to finish high school and passed the entrance exam for the foreign language major at Da Nang University. However, for her family at that time, university education also meant a large financial burden. About 10 days after enrollment, Huyen received a phone call from her mother. Over the phone, her mother was crying and worried that her daughter would have to borrow money to study, and that she wouldn't be able to find a job afterward. At that time, her mother didn't directly tell Huyen to drop out, but understanding the family's circumstances, Huyen decided to stop her studies.

After leaving university, the young woman went to Bac Ninh to find work and became a factory worker. Three months of experience gave Huyen a clearer understanding of her choice. At the company, she met people only a few years older than her who had been working on the production line year after year. The repetitive daily tasks made Huyen ponder more about her future path and realize that she still wanted to continue her education.

After a year of studying for the entrance exam, Nguyen Thi Huyen chose to major in Chinese Language at Hanoi Pedagogical University 2 for the second time. Before leaving home, Huyen determined that if she wanted to continue her studies, she would have to cover most of the costs herself, so she took on any job she could find to earn money. Huyen washed dishes, served in restaurants, and worked night shifts at temporary companies. “There were nights I couldn’t sleep because I didn’t have a single penny in my pocket. But I never gave up. At that time, I only thought about trying my best to study, because I had already chosen this path,” Huyen shared.

Over the first two years, by the third year, Huyen's knowledge of Chinese began to provide her with additional income. She tutored students and translated Chinese short films. This was also the time when Huyen gradually transitioned from manual labor to earning money using her expertise. Before graduating, she had already paid off all her student loans.

Huyen's early experience tutoring Chinese helped her realize she really enjoyed teaching. Therefore, after graduating, Huyen chose to work at a study abroad company with the goal of securing scholarships to specialize in Chinese. Nearly two years later, Huyen won a full Chinese Government Scholarship (CSC) to pursue a Master's degree in International Chinese Language Education at Yunnan University. This is one of the most prestigious scholarships for international students, covering tuition fees, dormitory accommodation, insurance, and a living allowance of approximately 3,000 RMB per month.

Bringing the Chinese language back to the village.

The idea of ​​opening a free Chinese language class came to Huyen during her summer break, after completing her first year of a Master's program at Yunnan University. Huyen shared that she wanted to use her knowledge to guide students in her hometown to learn Chinese.

Initially, Huyen only planned to gather a small group of students; however, just a few hours after the project began...ChineseThe "Back to the Village" campaign, shared on Facebook, attracted about 40 registrants. Because the class was quite large, she asked the local authorities to help her borrow a classroom at Thanh Dong Primary School. Classes are held three times a week, starting at 7:30 AM and sometimes lasting nearly three hours. Due to limited summer time, Huyen focuses on helping students build a solid foundation in pronunciation during the initial lessons. Students are introduced to tones, new vocabulary, and basic conversational sentence patterns. Huyen is delighted to know that learning Chinese can open up many new opportunities for each individual.

Nguyen Vi Anh, a student preparing to enter 7th grade at Dong Tuong Secondary School, learned about the class through Facebook. Due to her family's limited financial resources, she couldn't afford extra tutoring. Being eager to learn and being the class president, Vi Anh asked her mother to register her for Ms. Huyen's Chinese class so she could learn a new language. After six lessons, she had become familiar with new vocabulary, how to introduce herself, count from 1 to 10, and understand vowels and tones. Vi Anh believes that Chinese is easier to learn than English.

The class also includes students aiming to expand their career opportunities. Ms. Tran Thi Thanh, born in 1995, is married and has two children. A graduate of Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry, she spent nearly six years as the Deputy Secretary of the Youth Union in her commune. Earlier this year, she resigned from her job due to downsizing and wanted to learn Chinese to increase her chances of finding employment at businesses in Nam Dan or Vinh city. Although her home is in Xuan Lam commune, about 20 km from the class, Ms. Thanh still attends three classes a week.

Another female student, Nguyen Thi Anh Hong, a student from Dang Thuc Hua High School, has just completed her high school graduation exams. She has put Chinese Language at Hanoi University as her first choice and sees this class as an opportunity to familiarize herself with the field of study she intends to pursue.

Besides teaching Chinese, opening the class is also a way for Huyen to share some of what she has learned. Through her own story, Huyen wants the students to understand that family circumstances can affect their studies, but nothing can stop their determination and dreams of a brighter future.

Because the course only lasted about a month, Huyen believes that "Chinese for the Village" is just the beginning. After this course, she hopes to continue sharing knowledge in more suitable forms, such as online, so that students in remote areas still have the opportunity to learn Chinese. At the same time, Nguyen Thi Huyen is also planning to build scholarship programs or provide online tuition support for students from disadvantaged backgrounds who are conscientious and hardworking in their studies.