The simple happiness of a couple who participated in the competition for excellent homeroom teachers

With love and passion, the couple of teachers from Thanh Chuong district achieved excellent results and received a Certificate of Merit from the industry.

The turning point of the machine operator

Teacher Nguyen Ngoc Nam (born in 1974), is currently a Literature teacher at Ton Quang Phiet Secondary School - a specialized secondary school in Thanh Chuong district.

At this special school, Mr. Nam is loved by many parents, students and colleagues for his dedication, love for his job and passion for his job. Not only is he a good homeroom teacher, Mr. Nam is also a teacher who is highly appreciated for his ability, with many students winning high prizes in district and provincial competitions for excellent students.

Literature lesson of teacher Nguyen Ngoc Nam and his students, Photo: My Ha

At this time, teacher Nguyen Ngoc Nam said that teaching is his career and he is happy because he can do the job he loves. Looking at teacher Nam standing on the podium, passionately teaching students essays and poems, it is difficult to imagine that he was a student specializing in Mathematics and studied block A in high school. Before pursuing Pedagogy, this teacher also spent 7 years as a mechanic for transportation companies in Vinh and Hanoi. From a well-trained worker, he switched to Pedagogy to the surprise of many people.

Recounting his story from more than 20 years ago, teacher Nguyen Ngoc Nam said: After graduating from high school, I took the entrance exam to the College of Transport and then worked as a mechanic. The work was hard, there were times when I had to work through the night, so my back hurt and my health was not guaranteed. Later, I wondered if this job was suitable for me and I decided to give myself another chance.

As a homeroom teacher, teacher Nguyen Ngoc Nam is loved by many students. Photo: My Ha

Nearly 30 years old, returning to his hometown, the then engine driver Nguyen Ngoc Nam looked for his old school, Thanh Chuong 1 High School. However, at that time, he was afraid of meeting his old classmate who was now a teacher at the school, so he decided to go to Thanh Chuong 3 High School, more than 20 km from home, and applied to grade 12 to study with the students of the school. With such perseverance and persistence, when it came to the university entrance exam, he decided to apply to Hue University of Education, Faculty of Literature and surprisingly passed the exam.

During his university years, he was the oldest student in his class. However, he said that he was not afraid of being over the age of going to school, but only because there were so many young but very talented classmates in his class, some of whom were national excellent students, some of whom were young writers who had been regular contributors to a student newspaper since grade 7. This forced him to strive and try harder to be "on par with his friends".

The diligence, eagerness to learn and constant improvement of expertise are still maintained by teacher Nguyen Ngoc Nam until today. In the teaching process, teacher Nam has a very simple concept, which is to always be responsible, dedicated and the students and parents are the measure of the teacher's ability. That is also the reason why, after only a short time teaching at a school far from the center, he was transferred to Ton Quang Phiet Secondary School and for many years was the head teacher of the Literature class. Sharing about this, he added: "In the environment where I work, there are many capable students, and my colleagues are also people with solid expertise. Therefore, if teachers are stagnant, do not innovate, do not make efforts, students will eliminate teachers themselves."

In addition to taking care of his professional work, teacher Nguyen Ngoc Nam is also a homeroom teacher who is loved by many students. His dedication to his students is not only shown through his daily work in class, sharing with his students the joys, sorrows, and difficulties, but also accompanying his students in many extracurricular activities.

Teacher Nguyen Ngoc Nam and teacher Nguyen Thi ))Nhu Hoa are two excellent homeroom teachers at secondary school level in 2022. Photo: My Ha

Very surprising, because even though it is ahomeroom teacherNam, but from 2020 to now, most of the courses that Mr. Nam has taught have won prizes in many school competitions, such as First Prize in the Traditional Tet Tray Making Competition, First Prize in the Mid-Autumn Festival Tray Competition, First Prize in Performing Arts, First Prize in the Modern Dance Competition... The classes that he has taught have all achieved excellent class collectives.

The happiness of teaching

Teacher Nguyen Ngoc Nam and teacher Nguyen Thi Nhu Hoa met each other when they were both working at Thanh An Secondary School. At that time, although Ms. Hoa was 6 years younger than Mr. Nam, she was his “senior” because she graduated and started working 1 year earlier than him.

During their work, out of admiration, teacher Như Hoa understood her colleague better and the two got married. After nearly 18 years of living together, there were difficult times but both always reminded each other to try their best. Currently, teacher Nam has transferred to a specialized school. Teacher Như Hoa is still working at the old school but is now the Head of the Professional Group and Head of the School's Women's Union.

Teacher Nhu Hoa and students at Thanh An Secondary School (Thanh Chuong). Photo: NVCC

Although their abilities have been confirmed, up to now, apart from the competitions for excellent teachers at the school and district levels, Mr. Nam and Ms. Hoa have never participated in any provincial competition for excellent teachers. For that reason, the decision of both of them to participate in the 2022 Excellent Homeroom Teacher Competition is quite bold.

Speaking more about this, Ms. Hoa said: This year, the whole Thanh Chuong district has nearly 70 teachers participating in the district-level competition and only 19 people were selected to compete at the provincial level. When we both heard the results, we were quite worried because participating in the competition requires investment of both expertise and time. However, it was Mr. Nam who encouraged me to participate in the competition, because he believed that this was a very interesting competition, a playground for teachers to experience, meet, and exchange the difficulties, advantages and hardships of being a homeroom teacher.

Being both Literature teachers helps Mr. Ngoc Nam and Ms. Nhu Hoa in their work. Photo: My Ha

With nearly 20 years of experience in teaching and being a homeroom teacher, dealing with unexpected situations in the practical exam for teacher Nguyen Thi Nhu Hoa and teacher Nguyen Ngoc Nam did not seem to be too difficult. Instead, both spent a lot of time completing a report on measures in the work of a homeroom teacher.

In this content, teacher Nguyen Ngoc Nam chose the topic "Diversifying ways of organizing class activities to train life skills for students". Meanwhile, teacher Nhu Hoa chose the topic "Solutions to support depressed students in the work of homeroom teachers".

Teacher Ngoc Nam and teacher Nhu Hoa are two rare cases when both husband and wife participated in the Provincial Excellent Homeroom Teacher Competition. Photo: My Ha

The entire content of the report is about real experiences in daily homeroom work that both of them faced and handled, and applied in the classroom. This is also the passion of the two of them for the homeroom work, in which the most talked about issue is that teachers need to be companions with students, share with them in studying, in life and be ready to listen, share, and be friends with students...

The happiness of teacher Nguyen Ngoc Nam and teacher Nguyen Thi Nhu Hoa is sometimes just that simple and plain!

My Ha