Memories of the old Russian teacher who once helped the Vietnamese "red seeds"

In 1954, 200 Vietnamese "red seed" students were sent to the Soviet Union for the first time for training. This group of boys and girls aged 15-19 included 100 people studying at the Lomonosov School, 100 people studying in the Russian language class at the Institute for Training of Leaders of the People's Education Sector, where a 92-year-old female teacher taught them Russian.

Officials from the Vietnamese Embassy in the Russian Federation presented a letter of thanks to Ms. Sofia Lenidovna Korchikova. Photo: Vietnam+

Apartment number 125, 5th floor, building 75, Union Street in Moscow is old but has many books, many paintings on both walls, and a lovely corner of Vietnam.

However, the owner of the new apartment is very special. She is Sofia Lenidovna Korchikova, associate professor and doctor of linguistics, the first teacher of 100 "red seeds" sent to the Soviet Union for training.

During her teaching career, Sofia taught Russian to students from more than 50 countries around the world, as well as literature to Russian students, and only stopped teaching last year (2013).

However, for her, the period of teaching Vietnamese students from 1954-1956 and the period after that teaching Russian to Vietnamese students are the most memorable memories.

She recalled: "Teaching Russian words at that time had to be specific, for example this is a picture, I sit, I stand, then I walk, he walks, at first we had to point out everything to them. However, not everything could be pointed out, for example, how to explain the words revolution and war, and we had to use Chinese or French, because some students knew Chinese and others knew French."

Evaluating the first 100 "red seeds", Sofia said: "We really admire their discipline, studiousness, and responsibility for their studies. They worked very hard to study and complete all assigned exercises. Both teachers and students still retain bright and beautiful memories of their studies. And many years later, when we continued to teach Russian, and regularly taught other generations of Vietnamese students, we realized that Vietnamese students were very serious about their studies, very disciplined, and enthusiastic about learning."

These sentiments prompted Ms. Sofia to compile and use her own money to publish 200 Russian language teaching books specifically for Vietnamese learners with accompanying tapes. Of these, 100 books were given to her by the Vietnamese Embassy in the Russian Federation to be sent back to Vietnam to give to Russian language teaching facilities.

Talking about this idea, Ms. Sofia said: "I have taught for 50 years at Moscow Mining University. We often receive Vietnamese students. And I came up with the idea of ​​compiling a textbook for Vietnamese students. The book was first published in 2011 and is now taught at Moscow Mining University. However, the reason I focus on Vietnamese is because first, I am quite close to and teach many Vietnamese students; second, in my opinion, people who know Vietnamese will encounter the most difficulties when learning Russian, such as stress and grammar."

We arrived at Mrs. Sofia's house at the same time that officials from the Vietnamese Embassy in the Russian Federation came to deliver to her a thank-you letter from the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Vietnam to the Russian Federation, Nguyen Thanh Son, with detailed information about the transfer of 100 books she sent to Vietnam.

Along with that is a letter from Ms. Dinh Thi Thu Hien, Head of the Russian Language Department, University of Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, thanking her after receiving 30 textbooks. Ms. Dinh Thi Thu Hien's letter reads: "I believe that your book, compiled based on many years of experience teaching Russian and profound knowledge of the characteristics of Vietnamese, will be a precious gift for all Vietnamese people who research and teach Russian."

Ms. Sofia's course "Getting to Know" is truly valuable as this year also marks the 60th anniversary of the day she first taught Russian to Vietnamese students, many of whom are now famous, such as former Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan, former Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ho The Lan, translators Hoang Thuy Toan, Nguyen Tuyet Minh...

It is even more valuable on the eve of Teachers' Charter Day, November 20. Hopefully, more and more Vietnamese students studying Russian will have access to Ms. Sofia's book "Getting to Know You".

According to Vietnam+