At the end of 2008, when the first Thai Lai Pao script class organized by the Department of Culture and Information of Tuong Duong district ended, we had the opportunity to learn some characteristics of this script and wrote an article: "Thai Lai Pao script in Tuong Duong: A chance to be revived?" (Nghe An Weekend Newspaper, published on December 28)/2008). After a year of returning, we were really surprised by the initial results in implementing the project.
 |
Lai Pao Thai writing class in Nga My commune (Tuong Duong) |
Up to now, Tuong Duong district has organized 05 Lai Pao Thai classes with a total of more than 200 students in the communes of Tam Thai, Yen Na, Yen Hoa, Nga My. The first class, taught by Mr. Lo Van Thoai, aimed to train "nuclei" to disseminate throughout the district. The class was only held for 05 days, but the students diligently learned pronunciation, word combination and writing practice. Remember, the textbooks at that time were quite fragile, the vocabulary was not rich, but now they have become thick with over 50 A4 pages. The students at that time are promoting their "nucleus" role, many of them voluntarily teach their children and grandchildren and the villagers. In particular, there are two excellent "students" of Mr. Lo Van Thoai, Mr. Vi Kham Mun and Lo Kham Phi, who can participate in compiling textbooks and teaching for the following courses. More specifically, the second generation of students like Mr. Mong Van Hoan also taught classes to popularize Thai Lai Pao. Recently, we had the opportunity to go to Nga My commune (Tuong Duong) to attend the opening ceremony of the Thai Lai Pao class taught by Mr. Vi Khan Mun and Mr. Mong Van Hoan. According to the regulations of the Department of Culture and Information, each class has a maximum of 40 students, but in reality, each session has about 80 people attending the class. Although they were more tired, Mr. Mun and Mr. Hoan were still happy because the Thai people always have the awareness to preserve the cultural identity of their ethnic group. They also added that currently, Ky Son and Con Cuong districts are discussing opening a number of classes to popularize Thai Lai Pao in the area. Students participating in the class are of all ages. The course lasts for a month, so although the year-end work is quite busy, everyone still tries to arrange time to attend class regularly. Kieu Thi Chom (Na Ca village, Nga My commune) confided: "I heard that the Thai ethnic group still has a written language and the class is organized in the commune, so I registered to join to teach the children, contributing a small part to preserving and promoting the ethnic cultural identity."Talking with Mr. Luong Ba Vin, Head of the Department of Culture and Information of Tuong Duong district, he said that in the coming time, the district will continue to open classes to popularize Thai Lai Pao script in the communes. But the biggest difficulty is still the funding for training lecturers and printing documents for students... Therefore, the district hopes to receive financial support from relevant levels and sectors.
Cong Kien
