Two excellent Thai 9th grade female students won First Prize in the Provincial Science and Technology Competition

Preserving traditional cultural values

“Raising awareness of conservation and promotion of valuesperforming arts"The project of Thai and Yen Tinh ethnic minority people at Yen Tinh Secondary School for Ethnic Minorities, Tuong Duong" is the name of the project participating in the provincial Science and Technology competition for high school students by two students, Luong Thuy Kieu and Luong May Duy.

This is a project in the field of social and behavioral sciences. The project content is not too new but has its own special features because throughout the process of coming up with ideas, implementing and deploying the topic, the students all took "living materials" from the land, from the village where they live.

Sharing about this, student Luong May Duy said: During the process of studying Music and History, we realized that the Kinh ethnic group has a very rich and unique treasure of folk performing arts, containing many important meanings both in the history and life of the Vietnamese people in general and the Kinh ethnic group in particular.

However, with the Thai people, I and many other students in the school cannot know, remember and fully perform any form of performance of our people. Therefore, I hope to find the roots of our people through folk performing arts.

Although it is called folk performing art, before coming to this project, May Duy and Thuy Kieu's knowledge was limited to the Club for the preservation and maintenance of gong and carving art in Vang Cuom village (Yen Tinh commune) - where they live. The little knowledge they have left is through flute playing, nhuon and hat dau songs that their mothers and grandmothers occasionally sing during Tet and village festivals.

Accompanying the students in this project is teacher Ngan Thi Thanh Thuy - their Literature teacher and also a daughter of the Thai ethnic group. However, when implementing the project with the students, Ms. Thuy also shared: I am originally Thai but grew up in Tuong Duong town, so many of my ethnic cultural features have been lost. In fact, I can only speak Thai, but all the customs, traditions, and unique arts of my ethnic group are very limited. I have to learn a lot of knowledge from the beginning.

As a newcomer in the journey to rediscover the cultural values ​​of the nation, teacher Ngan Thi Thanh Thuy and her students encountered many difficulties in nearly 8 months of implementing this project. In addition, there were other difficulties in implementing scientific research methods from building theoretical foundations, analyzing problems, investigating and surveying, explaining causes and proposing solutions to raise awareness and preserve and promote the value of Thai ethnic folk performing arts.

Sharing more about this, student Luong Thuy Kieu said: Since implementing the topic, my teacher and I have gone to local clubs, met with artisans to conduct investigations and collect information. After screening, we focused on the main art forms such as storytelling, learning about nhuon songs, carving art, gongs, bamboo dancing, etc.

To make the project highly feasible, from the knowledge gathered in practice, the group of authors has proposed many solutions to spread the values ​​of performing arts into schools. For example, to help more students understand this type of art, the group has organized many propaganda sessions, organized experiential and creative activities to raise awareness for students of the school.

In addition, the students approached their parents to seek their agreement and arouse their interest in preserving and promoting the value of folk performing arts of the Thai Yen Tinh people.

In particular, the group also has many experimental solutions such as collecting and learning about performing arts, establishing a propaganda club to raise awareness among students about preserving and promoting traditional values. The school has also organized a contest to learn about folk performing arts in the form of transforming the songs of Suoi, Lam, Nhuon into stories or paintings, and competing in bamboo dancing and Lam Vong dancing.

Be confident to be yourself

Nearly a week after the closing ceremony and award ceremony, the group of authors and the instructor from Yen Tinh Secondary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities still could not believe that their project had won first prize. This was also one of the few projects at the secondary level to achieve this highest result and the only project from a mountainous district.

Speaking about her students, teacher Ngan Thi Thanh Thuy added: From the district round to the provincial round, I always believed in my students. However, we never thought about the first prize because this is a highly competitive competition with many projects carefully selected from the grassroots. I also think that, in addition to the research results, the judges gave this award to the students because they bravely stood in the crowd to introduce and defend their own achievements.

Luong Thuy Kieu and Luong May Duy are both children of farmers, their parents earn a living by farming. Living far from the center, with difficult circumstances, the first time they participated in the Science and Technology Competition was also the first time they came to Vinh city. Overcoming the initial confusion, Kieu and Duy brought many surprises to this competition. Especially amidst many questions and requests from the judges, Kieu confidently and boldly answered coherently.

Meanwhile, May Duy did not hesitate to perform a song of her people. Telling more about this, May Duy added: When the judges asked us to perform a song of the Thai people in Yen Tinh, I was not surprised because before coming to this competition I had prepared carefully. Moreover, at school I joined clubs and often performed for friends and teachers so I was not shy.

With First PrizeProvincial Science and Technology CompetitionStudents Luong Thuy Kieu, Luong May Duy and teacher Thanh Thuy also said that it was a reward for their efforts.

However, the greatest reward is the valuable experiences that teachers and students receive during the project. Thanks to that, students are more confident, bolder, and spread their love for Thai culture to many students in the whole school.