Teachers, be the ones to light the fire of passion for History.

Teacher Bui Thi Hien - Dien Chau 3 High School.

Be the one who lights the fire of passion

PV:Hello, congratulations on the proud achievement that you and your students have just won at the 2019 provincial excellent student exam. Surely you and your students received the news with overwhelming joy?

Teacher Bui Thi Hien:Yes, this year's provincial excellent student exam is a special year for me, it is the first year I have a student who is the valedictorian. This is truly a joy and an honor for me and the school. According to the assessment of colleagues, this year's exam is "different" from previous years, but I still believe in my students' abilities. Therefore, I am not surprised at all when Lai Thi Luyen is the valedictorian. I am proud of her. With her passion, determination and tireless efforts, she has received a worthy reward.

In my personal opinion as well as the sharing from colleagues, this year's provincial excellent student exam was fair, objective and accurately assessed the students' abilities; it was also the first year that the time from the exam to receiving the results took less than a week. This was also the last school year that we worked with the principal, so all the teachers and students tried their best to nurture excellent students, carefully preparing all stages to get the highest results as a gift of gratitude before the principal retired.

PV:I understand that you are a student majoring in History at Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted, a national excellent student, and had many opportunities to be admitted directly to major universities. What motivated you to stick with history and choose teaching as your “career”?

Teacher Bui Thi Hien:My “fate” to become a History teacher stemmed from my passion for learning about the subject and the educational environment at Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted. At that time, most of us were “countryside” students far from our families, fresh out of our homes to study in the city. We lived, studied, and played together as a family; grew up and matured thanks to the dedicated, thoughtful, and responsible guidance of our teachers. They were not only the ones imparting knowledge but also the “idols” in our hearts. With respect and pride for my teachers, while still in school, I dreamed of trying to become a good teacher in the future, contributing my small part to the cause of educating people. And that dream has come true.

Teacher Bui Thi Hien is always the one who lights the fire of passion for History in her students.

Teacher Bui Thi Hien:It is true that there is a reality happening with the subject of History, especially in the current period because the current History program focuses more on knowledge than skills, it is a subject of memorization with a "mountain" of knowledge about events, figures, characters, causes, developments, results... with so many stages and periods. Just thinking about all that makes students confused and discouraged. So, what should be done to kindle interest, passion and help students love History?

I realize that for a lesson to be successful, the teacher needs to be dedicated and invest a lot of effort into the lesson. To do so, the teacher must train, practice and constantly improve his skills because if you want good students, you must have good teachers. I have started to change by letting students transform into characters, play the role of MCs... to promote the positivity, self-awareness, initiative, creativity and self-learning ability of the students. I think, no talent will appear, no invention will be born without passion and creativity. Therefore, teachers should be the ones to light the torch of passion for learning History for students.

PV:Over the past 10 years, the education industry is no longer an attractive choice, especially for good students. What do you think is the reason?

Teacher Bui Thi Hien:The story of the “falling value” of the Pedagogy industry is still making the public wonder and looking for an answer. In my personal opinion, there are many reasons such as unemployed graduates, low remuneration, invisible pressures of the profession or teachers who are “bad examples” that damage the image of teachers in the hearts of students… Students have seen, heard and understood some of the shortcomings of the teaching profession, so many young people, especially good students, “avoid” the Pedagogy industry.

This is a sad reality in society. Because if we want to change the country, we must change the people. If we want to change the people, we must start with changing education. But education without teachers with both virtue and talent will not meet the requirements of social development. Therefore, I hope that our Party and State will continue to have correct and practical policies to improve the quality and effectiveness of the cause of cultivating people.

Ms. Hien said: "If we want to change people, we must start with changing education..."

PV:The school world today is quite complicated with many prominent issues such as school violence, deteriorating school culture... As someone who directly teaches and has daily contact with students, what do you think about this phenomenon? Is it really alarming or is it just a small part of the population?

Teacher Bui Thi Hien:Our ancestors used to say that “first is the devil, second is the spirit, third is the student”. Students are always very active and mischievous. However, the school world today is quite complicated with many prominent issues such as school violence, school culture is deteriorating… In the past, these incidents also happened but due to limited information sources, we could not grasp them in a timely manner. Nowadays, due to the information explosion, some offensive images in the school world quickly spread.

Although the situation is getting more and more complicated, I think that it is just the thoughts and actions of a small number of students who lack a healthy lifestyle and ethics. We all believe that, with the good traditions of the nation, Vietnamese education has, is and will continue to train talented people for the homeland and country, bringing Vietnam "on par with the world powers" as beloved Uncle Ho always wished.

"...Teachers must truly be educators and pedagogues. They must understand the circumstances and personalities, accept the strengths and weaknesses of each student in order to have appropriate educational methods" - Ms. Bui Thi Hien shared.

PV:Teaching is a stressful profession, especially in the current era. As a teacher of the 8X generation, what changes have you and your young colleagues made to adapt to the new situation?

Teacher Vu Thi Hien:The teaching work of teachers today is very different from before. Teachers themselves not only impart knowledge to students but also have the duty to help students develop their qualities and abilities. Therefore, teachers must truly be educators and pedagogues. They must understand the circumstances and personalities, accept the strengths and weaknesses of each student to have appropriate educational methods, avoid imposition, must know how to sow dreams and hopes, make students love to learn, know how to learn, have the habit of learning and learn effectively. To do that, teachers must be truly dedicated, dynamic and creative.

PV:Thank you and wish you more success!

Content: My Ha, Photo: Duc Anh