Teachers in the mountainous region of Nghe An volunteer to teach final year students for free

Since mid-March, the classrooms for 12th graders at Que Phong High School have been open almost all day. Even at night, the classrooms do not close. The entire 2-story building is lit up, occasionally there is only the sound of exchanging lessons, the whispering of a group of students or the lecture of teachers. In each classroom, the number of students attending is also uneven, some classes have dozens of students, some classes have only 10-15 students, but some classes have only a small group.

Classrooms are lit up during exam season at Que Phong High School. Photo: Chien Thang

This difference is completely normal, because learning here is divided into different groups. In which, small groups can be students with average or weak academic performance. Or sometimes they are good students of the school who are being tutored by teachers so that they can have more knowledge to review for university entrance exams.

Que Phong High School is one of the first schools to organize evening classes for senior students completely free of charge. The movement was initiated and launched by members of the school's Education Union, and teachers and union members were the pioneers.

Through many years of organization, this annual activity has become familiar, from its implementation as a campaign, to now, many teachers see that this is a necessary activity to support students before exam season.

Teachers at Que Phong High School volunteer to provide free tutoring to final year students. Photo: Chien Thang.

This year is the 23rd year I have worked at Que Phong High School and I have seen very clearly the difficulties of students in the highlands, compared to many other favorable areas. This also affects the quality of their studies, especially in English. Although the exam is approaching, their foreign language ability is still limited, to keep up with the general level of the province is a really difficult process.

Teacher Ho Thi Thuy - English teacher, homeroom teacher of class 12A12, Que Phong High School

With a low starting point, the subject aloneEnglishis a subject that Que Phong High School pays special attention to. However, in reality, due to the conditions of students in the mountainous district, since their primary and secondary school days, they have not been able to study foreign languages ​​regularly, many of them have gaps in their knowledge. To enhance the students' review, Ms. Thuy and other teachers, in addition to teaching in the morning and afternoon classes, also take the time to go to class in the evening to tutor the students.

This effort cannot be measured by sessions or hours, but requires patience and perseverance. Even now, although the exam is near, there are sessions where "we have to go to each dormitory to encourage students to come to school" - teacher Thuy shared more. The current wish of her and her students is that students achieve average scores, those who study well can have good scores to raise the general English level of the whole school.

English is one of the difficult subjects for students in mountainous areas. Therefore, private tutoring will help students gain more confidence to take the final exam. Photo: Chien Thang

My latest English test only got 3 points and I am very worried. I hope that after the tutoring sessions with teachers at school, my score will improve and I will have more motivation to practice foreign languages ​​to go to work abroad.

Student Vy Thi Tuyet Ngan - class 12A5, Que Phong High School

Not only Que Phong High School, at this time many free classes for final year students have been organized by many schools in mountainous districts such as Quy Chau High School and Ky Son High School.

Evening classes at Ky Son High School. Photo: NTCC

Teacher Truong Thi Lan - President of the Ky Son High School Union and also an English teacher for grade 12 this year said: In previous years, organizing night classes was more difficult because many students stayed outside and we had to encourage them to go to school. However, this year because of the dormitory, many students were able to stay at school, so night self-study classes were organized regularly and considered an annual activity for boarding students. Particularly during the exam season, all grade 12 teachers volunteered to stay on duty and support students in reviewing for the exam, including many teachers who lived far from school.

This school year, Ky Son High School has 388 12th grade students. Compared to previous years, the number of students dropping out of school is much lower and only a few students are leaving school to follow their parents to work far away after Tet.

All 12th grade teachers at Ky Son High School voluntarily registered to teach students for free. Photo: NTCC

At our school, only about 30% of students apply for university admission. The remaining students, although not under much pressure regarding admission, we always encourage and motivate them to finish grade 12 successfully, get a diploma to have more options after entering life. During that process, teachers are always with the students, 100% of grade 12 teachers volunteered to teach students for free in the evening just 1 hour after the school launched the program.

Teacher Tran Thanh Van - Vice Principal of Ky Son High School

According to the plan of Ky Son High School, the evening review classes will last until the end of June, before the students take the official exam. This is also a way to "keep" the students at school and fully participate in the graduation exam.

In addition to teacher support, studying at night helps students develop self-learning awareness. Photo: My Ha

With this form, students' exam preparation has initially brought positive results. Especially, since the Ministry of Education and Training announced the sample exam questions, teachers accelerated their practice, and student assessment has become more specific.

Currently, every week through Azota software, 12th grade students will participate in a test to test their abilities. Based on the results of the students' tests, the school will know the strengths and weaknesses of each student and on that basis, have a suitable review and training plan.

Most students in the highlands, although living far from their families, are accompanied by their teachers during their review process. Photo: Chien Thang

This year, to improve the quality of the high school graduation exam, the Department of Education and Training has also assigned responsibility to each principal and homeroom teacher through the quality assessment of each school. Particularly for schools in mountainous areas, although the task is more difficult, with efforts and hard work, we believe that the exam season will achieve the set goals./.