Dr. Le Xuan Son: Teaching brings interesting experiences

On the occasion of Vietnamese Teachers' Day (November 20), Teacher - Doctor Le Xuan Son had an interview with Nghe An Newspaper about his work.

PV:Teaching – the noblest of all professions, a profession with countless hardships. Why did you choose teaching and what makes you love and stick with this job so much?

Teacher - Dr. Le Xuan Son:I grew up in Thanh Hoa. After graduating from high school, I, like many students at that time, registered for many universities and passed the University of Economics with a very high Math score of 9.75 points. With this result, I also thought a lot about my future but in the end I chose the Mathematics Pedagogy major at Vinh University because I loved the teaching profession.

After 4 years of university, I graduated with honors and was lucky to be retained at the school. This was beyond my expectations, because the recruitment notice from Vinh University was sent when I had just graduated for more than a month. From Thanh Hoa, I went to Vinh and accepted a job in the Mathematics department - Vinh University (now Vinh University High School for the Gifted).

Teacher - Dr. Le Xuan Son has been associated with Vinh University High School for the Gifted for nearly 30 years and has had many students achieve high results in national and international competitions for excellent students. Photo: MH

I chose teaching as a voluntary profession because I have loved sharing since I was a child. I am satisfied with this job because I have done what I love. Besides, I am happy to receive recognition from generations of students. I myself do not place much importance on results, but I believe that the more important thing is the process of achieving results.

The teaching profession has given me experiences that through the teaching process, I see my students grow up and I myself grow up. Until now, I still love and stick with the teaching profession because it brings me busyness. I really like creating playgrounds such as organizing winter and summer math models with my colleagues; encouraging students to participate in math competitions at home and abroad... Convincing the school board, colleagues and students to trust and participate in activities with me is also a very valuable experience.

Teacher Le Xuan Son and his students on a field trip. Photo: PV

PV: For nearly 30 years, you have been attached to Vinh University High School for the Gifted. In addition to management work, you also participate in teaching and directly train many excellent students and have achieved many high results with many students achieving national and international excellent student awards. However, there are many conflicting opinions surrounding the issue of training excellent students, including opinions that it is training "fighting cocks". What is your personal opinion on this issue? At Vinh University High School for the Gifted, what are the goals of teaching and training students? What have been the positive changes in the school's training work in recent years?

Teacher - Dr. Le Xuan Son:Personally, I also partly share the opinion that nurturing excellent students nowadays is like "training fighting cocks", because they may have only seen a few manifestations somewhere, such as overemphasizing the results of competitions, spending too much time on exams...

But I think that nurturing gifted students also needs to have specific goals, also needs to be quantified in each specific stage and especially needs to be exchanged and experienced. Mostly I appreciate teachers who nurture gifted students and especially those who create and organize useful playgrounds for gifted students.

Teacher Le Xuan Son and his students. Photo: My Ha

In our school alone, in line with the innovation of the education sector, in recent years our school has had significant innovations in the approach to educational goals, that is, shifting from content approach to student qualities and abilities approach; we have made changes in teaching organization, testing and student assessment.

In particular, we focus on creative experiences and preparing students for integration. In the 2020-2021 school year, Vinh University High School for the Gifted had 55 12th graders achieving IELTS 7.0 or higher, including 2 students in the math class who had just won the national excellent student award and achieved IELTS 8.0.

Teacher Le Xuan Son and his students at the National Math Olympiad for students. Photo: MH

PV: As a Mathematics teacher, how have you “renewed” yourself to make students love this subject? Over the years, you have also successfully organized Winter and Summer Math Schools for students in the North Central region. Could you share more about the idea of ​​this program and the results you have achieved?

Teacher - Dr. Le Xuan Son:Perhaps the way to “renew” myself is to actively experience and proactively connect and share with colleagues. My biggest concern is how to have more experiential activities to bring Mathematics closer to life. Therefore, in the upcoming plan, my colleagues and I will build some Math experiential topics so that students can see more of the meaning of Mathematics, so that students can develop their Mathematical abilities. I am also planning to study more about Mathematical Modeling with some experts and hope to connect with other colleagues in many provinces and lecturers of the Mathematics Department at Vinh University to organize Open Math Festivals for teachers and students in the North Central region.

The idea of ​​​​General Math Schools is not new, they have been organized abroad for a long time. In Vietnam, before 2010 in the South (led by Dr. Tran Nam Dung - Ho Chi Minh City University of Science), very good Math Meet programs were organized. Based on the existing model, in 2013 I discussed with colleagues who teach specialized Math in the North Central region to organize, everyone responded very enthusiastically. We received a lot of help from experts, such as Prof. Dr. Ha Huy Khoi, Dr. Tran Nam Dung, Dr. Le Ba Khanh Trinh. Up to now, our program has received positive feedback from teachers and students of specialized high schools in the region.

Lecturers and students participating in the Summer Math School program at Vinh University. From this activity, every year many students from the North Central provinces participate in the program and win high prizes in National and International Excellent Student competitions. Photo: MH

PV:Regarding the story of education, the new general education program has changed the perspective on human training, with many criteria to be achieved including requirements on qualities, abilities, core competencies, requirements on specific abilities of students... What do we expect from this change? And you said that you like to share, so what do you want to share with your colleagues now?

Teacher - Dr. Le Xuan Son:The first point of this question is too big for me! Maybe my answer will not satisfy the journalist!

Of course, we expect positive changes in educational products, to create a new generation of people with enough qualities and abilities to shoulder the tasks of the nation and people in the current period of deep integration. As for those of us in the education sector, we expect the prestige of the sector to gradually be enhanced through this innovation. And I know that there is a team of people working in management, education experts and teachers who are working very hard and actively to make that expectation come true.

My sharing is usually in the work, so it is related to each object, each specific task. In this conversation, I would like to share with my colleagues that: Personally, I really like teaching by companionship, by meaningful experiences from myself!

Teacher Le Xuan Son and students received the Le Van Thiem Mathematics Award from the Vietnam Mathematical Society in 2018. Photo: MH

PV:Dear Dr. Le Xuan Son, we are celebrating the 39th anniversary of Vietnamese Teachers' Day, November 20th, and this is also the day for us to show our gratitude to our teachers. During these days, the story of the teaching profession is also being talked about a lot, especially in the context of the entire education sector implementing the reform of the General Education Program in 2018. So, to fulfill the requirements of the reform, what conditions do teachers in the current period need to have?

Teacher - Dr. Le Xuan Son:In my opinion, first of all, teachers need to perceive that innovation is objective and urgent; teachers also need confidence to identify themselves as an important link in the innovation process, from which they have determination and appropriate specific actions. Next, more than ever, at the present stage, teachers need to be brave, confident in the innovation process, listen to public opinion but not let public opinion carry them away. Third, they must proactively connect and share within the teacher community, actively participate in training courses and actively communicate to parents and students to understand more about the innovation process and have faith in the innovation process.

PV:Thanks for the chat!