If we know about the years of overcoming adversity and poverty to become an adult of teacher Thuy, then surely everyone will understand and agree that her life story is a "fire" burning from effort, perseverance and determination.
Teacher Phan Thi Thuy (born in 1993), from Thanh Xuan commune, Thanh Chuong district, in a farming family with 4 siblings. Her childhood memories are of a 3-room earthen house, with bamboo poles soaked in mud ponds to prevent termites, and a thatched roof. When she was a little older, her parents saved up to rebuild a level 4 house with a tiled roof, which she still lives in today. Those not-so-distant years are the imprints of the hardships on her mother's shoulders, the sweat of her father in the fields, painstakingly raising her 4 children to study and grow up. "There were only 2 main workers, my parents, who supported the whole family for many years, and farming is very hard. Just thinking about the scene of my father plowing and my mother hoeing through the sun and rain makes my heart ache..." - Ms. Thuy said.
For Thuy and her siblings, poverty is not an obstacle, but on the contrary, it is a motivation that helps them to persevere with the goal of studying well to escape poverty. They are lucky to have parents who support them and create favorable conditions for their studies. Although the family is in financial difficulty, they never advise their children to quit school and go to work early to help with the economy, but always encourage them to study as much as possible. Repaying their parents' gratitude is the sweet fruit of their studies. When they were in high school, Thuy and her siblings were often on the list of excellent students of the school and were excellent students of the province for many years in a row. “At that time, there were no motorbikes, so my father often took us to the exam by bicycle. The house was about ten kilometers away from the exam site. My father hunched over while pedaling, the wind blowing his shirt full, the smell of salty sweat and his advice to “study hard to escape poverty” were the deepest impressions of my childhood. When leaving the exam school gate, my father was always waiting outside, asking: “Did you do the test?” – Ms. Thuy recalled.
Countless times like that, then came the stage when all 4 children went to university one by one with joy and anxiety mixed together. Thuy's eldest brother studied at Ho Chi Minh City University of Economics, the second brother studied at Hanoi University of Pharmacy, Thuy studied at Hanoi Pedagogical University 1, then went to Vinh University and the youngest brother studied general medicine at the Military Medical Academy. The economic pressure of raising 4 students away from home was very great, there was a time when the parents had to find tens of millions of dong at a time to pay the children's tuition. Thuy's family in the countryside was a permanently poor household, only in recent years did they "escape", always on the list of student loans, only more than a year ago did they pay off. Loving their parents and understanding the family situation, all 4 of Thuy's siblings started working part-time very early. Thuy went through all kinds of jobs during her student years, but the longest-lasting job and also the career she pursued for life was teaching.
“I started teaching in 2011, when I was a freshman. At first, I was a tutor. I was lost in the city, unfamiliar with the roads, so I had to buy a map and find a bus or ride a bicycle to find the students’ homes. The students were in middle and high school, most of them had a lack of basic knowledge, and also had to review for gifted students and university entrance exams for 12th graders, so teaching was quite difficult. However, looking back, that time helped me accumulate a lot of valuable experience in teaching and communicating with students,” Ms. Thuy shared.
From getting a job through a tutoring center, until she got used to the profession and gradually became famous, Ms. Thuy was directly contacted by many parents to invite her to teach. And the nickname "Ms. Thuy Chemistry" was formed and entered the hearts of students and parents without them knowing. In addition to teaching extra classes to earn income, she is also very enthusiastic in community activities such as tutoring at SOS Children's Village, teaching free of charge to children in fishing villages... From a very early age, Ms. Thuy realized her great love and passion for the teaching profession, and her desire to impart knowledge so that many children have more motivation to go a long way on their learning journey.
Teacher Phan Thi Thuy graduated with a Master's degree in Organic Chemistry from Vinh University in 2018. At that time, Ms. Thuy had 6 years of experience teaching, from small tutoring classes to classes of 10, 15, and 20 students. Students kept telling each other to come and study with Ms. Thuy because she taught in an easy-to-understand way, had a positive teaching method, and was always enthusiastic and devoted to her students. The small rented room near Vinh University gradually became insufficient for the needs of the students, so Ms. Thuy made the first bold decision in her career: renting a place to open a Chemistry class in Vinh City.
The first place that marked Ms. Thuy's teaching career was 2 rented rooms about 25 square meters wide.2on Nguyen Van Giao street; next is a larger room on Tra Lan street, about 40m2, equipped with air conditioning, comfortable for about 15-20 students to study together; to Phuong Duy IQ Center at 32 Le Van Huu and now at 21 Nguyen Kiem Street with 2 spacious classroom floors. The center currently has nearly 500 students, more than 10 teachers and is a specialized center for Chemistry, teaching Chemistry to students from grades 6 to 12, especially the university entrance exam review location for Chemistry is rated by students as the top quality in Vinh City. Each location is different in scale, area, and staff, but they all share the same spirit of all for students, with people who "ignite" enthusiasm and passion.
In fact, Chemistry is a very interesting and useful subject, close to daily life. Most students are afraid of Chemistry because they do not understand the key learning methods and the teachers have not stimulated their interest. Teacher Thuy has worked hard to confide in students of all ages to find out the source of their fear: fear because there are too many things to memorize and learn by heart: the long periodic table, difficult reaction equations, difficult-to-remember formulas...; fear because the way to learn and do Chemistry exercises is different from mathematical thinking; fear because Chemistry is the easiest subject to forget, you learn first and forget later if you do not review regularly... Once she understood the root of that fear, with patience and love for this subject, teacher Thuy constantly innovated her teaching methods, trying to convey to students the spirit of optimistic learning, learning for fun, not forced learning to pass the subject.
Ms. Thuy teaches strictly but not harshly. When participating in Ms. Thuy's class, students always feel comfortable and absorb knowledge with a gentle and positive attitude. Witnessing a class taught by Ms. Thuy, we can understand why this female teacher attracts students so much. The class does not have a podium, but emphasizes the spirit of teacher-student interaction, in which she is the one who guides, leads, and opens up problems, and students are encouraged to ask questions, express concerns, and question to the end to decode difficult exercises. During the teaching process, Ms. Thuy often reviews old knowledge in parallel with new knowledge, to always maintain a transition in students' thinking. Vivid practical examples are applied to help students understand and remember easily.
Ms. Thuy's classes rarely end on time, she teaches with such enthusiasm and passion that she sometimes has to "take off her sandals and shoes to teach, because standing for hours on end makes her feet tired". Many students who have lost their foundation in Chemistry are helped by her to "rebuild the foundation", it is not uncommon for students who used to be uninterested and afraid of Chemistry to gradually find Chemistry more interesting every day... On the sidelines of class, her friends jokingly call her "older sister", young people are easy to get along with, easy to understand and share joys and sorrows, so many students who have graduated from previous courses still keep in touch, whispering about their personal stories... Ms. Thuy said that is the greatest joy of a teacher: seeing students progress every day and being trusted and loved by students.
At Phuong Duy IQ Center, regardless of the size of the class, each student is closely supervised by Ms. Thuy and a team of more than 10 excellent teachers, carefully selected by Ms. Thuy herself and trained according to the Center's exclusive curriculum. The teachers graduated from Hanoi Pedagogical University and Vinh University with many outstanding achievements.
Students are monitored for their learning progress; encouraged and motivated to do well with a bonus point mechanism; are commented and evaluated after each lesson and after a chapter, there is always a test to screen the study group that is suitable for their ability... Because of this close attention, many students at Phuong Duy IQ Center have achieved very high results in excellent student exams at all levels, with graduation and university entrance exam scores in the top... In recent years, after the university entrance exam preparation process at the Center, many students have achieved valedictorian status in Chemistry. "I am so lucky that I knew Ms. Thuy early" - valedictorian Le Viet Hoang - a former student of Huynh Thuc Khang High School (Vinh City) who achieved 9.75 points in Chemistry shared. Similarly, Tran Ngoc Dat - valedictorian of Chemistry at Nghi Loc 3 High School is also Ms. Thuy's student.
Teacher Phan Thi Thuy's biggest concern is that in the near future, there will be enough potential to open more Phuong Duy IQ Centers in and around the city and in the districts and towns on the outskirts. Currently, many students in Vinh City, Nghi Loc, Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan, Nghi Xuan (Ha Tinh)... still work hard to brave the sun and rain to come to Ms. Thuy's class, because they love and trust her. Teacher Thuy is also cherishing plans for the near future, in parallel with teaching directly, there will be online classes to help students across the country conquer Chemistry. Operating Phuong Duy IQ Center with the wish to light the flame of love for learning in generations of students, teacher Thuy believes that if we are constantly patient and persistent step by step like the Center's motto: "Studying is good", "Today is better than yesterday", then success will blossom and bear fruit after all the hardships and difficulties.
