The dream of becoming a teacher of a poor female student who helps her mother sell rice

The small attic is where Hien and her three children live every day. Photo: Duc Anh

Hard childhood

The small, affordable restaurant on Nguyen Duc Canh Street (Vinh City) is the home and workplace of Le Thi Hien and her three children - a 12th grade Literature major student at Vinh University High School for the Gifted. The small restaurant belongs to her aunt, and Hien and her three children were hired to help out and sleep there. These days, the restaurant is always filled with laughter after Hien won the National Second Prize in Literature and achieved high scores in the National High School Exam.

To achieve that achievement, Hien had to go through an extremely difficult journey. 13 years ago, her father left her and her mother to seek new happiness. The three of them fell into poverty, and Hien's mother had to leave the family to go to Vinh City to work for a living. Hien and her younger brother depended on their grandparents. The two children grew up without the love of their parents, but that was also what made the poor girl in Quynh Vinh (Hoang Mai town) determined.

Despite all the hardships, Hien is always optimistic and studies hard. After each class, she helps her grandparents with household chores and teaches her younger siblings. Hien doesn't have much time to study, but every year she is an excellent student at school. Hien's mother, Ho Thi Van, said that she came to Vinh City 13 years ago and cooked for her sister's restaurant. Her sister's monthly salary is less than 4 million VND, so she can't send much back to her grandparents. "Having two children is hard work. But every time I go home and ask Hien's teachers, everyone praises her, which makes me feel a bit more secure," Van confided.

During the day, Hien has to wash vegetables to help her mother sell rice. Photo: Duc Anh

In grade 9, Hien won second prize in the excellent student contest of Hoang Mai town, but failed the provincial excellent student contest. With the desire to live near her mother, to share the joys and sorrows, the burdens of life that her mother had to face every day, Hien determined to take the entrance exam to the Literature class at Vinh University High School for the Gifted.

When Hien got into a specialized school, her younger brother also decided to follow her to Vinh. The three of them were happy, but for several days, Ho Thi Van (Hien's mother) couldn't sleep because she was worried about where she would get money to send her two children to school. "The boy wanted to go to Vinh, saying 'Hien is a good student, she got into a specialized school, I won't go to school anymore, I'll go to work to earn more money to help my mother raise her sister'. I tried to persuade him but he was still determined. I felt sorry for him, but the situation was too difficult, so I had to accept it," Ho Thi Van choked up.

Ms. Ho Thi Van - Hien's mother. Photo: Duc Anh

So Hien and her mother were reunited. Every day, in addition to going to school, Hien came back to help her mother and aunt sell rice. Going to the market, washing vegetables, washing dishes, delivering rice..., Hien did all of it by herself. The work was so hard, but Hien was still happy because her mother and children were together. Even though they worked hard from morning to night, Hien and her mother still had no money to rent a house, and had to live in an attic about 10m2.²at the shop. In the summer it was sweltering hot, in the winter it was freezing cold. But that attic was where the strong will of a poor but good student was nurtured.

Dream of becoming a teacher

Hien's preparation for entering the Literature class at Vinh University was also very modest. Hien only achieved an average score in Literature compared to the whole class. Therefore, the poor female student never thought that she could be selected for the school's excellent student team to compete in the national excellent student competition. Without money for extra classes, Hien was willing to study, self-study, and self-read. Therefore, Hien's essays were highly appreciated by the school's teachers.

Seeing her potential, in the 11th grade, Ms. Nguyen Khanh Ly - Literature teacher, also the homeroom teacher, persuaded Hien to join the school's Literature team to compete in the National Excellent Student Competition. Surprisingly, this was also an opportunity for female student Nguyen Thi Hien to prove herself. Hien had placed high hopes on this exam, but she was the only one out of 5 students who failed the exam.

Photo: Duc Anh

The failure of the exam made Hien depressed and discouraged. Hien said that she felt incompetent and had failed the expectations of her mother, sister and teachers. “I felt guilty for my teachers’ expectations, had no confidence in myself and decided to give up and not join the team anymore,” Hien recalled.

But once again, Hien's teacher encouraged her, hoping that Hien would overcome her inferiority complex and self-doubt to win over herself. Hien was determined to do it again, this time setting a goal of winning to give this gift to her mother, sister and the teacher who believed in her.

In the National Gifted Student Exam in grade 12, Hien and her teacher analyzed the limitations of the previous exam and learned from them for this exam. “The necessary ideas in my essay were all relatively complete. But I did not know how to select and provide valuable evidence. This made my entire essay lackluster, without any bright spots or impressions on the judges. Another reason was not knowing how to “calculate” the appropriate time for each question. This led to an unbalanced essay,” Hien said.

Entering the second exam after learning from the previous experience, Hien renewed her way of thinking, her way of looking at problems and expressed herself brilliantly in her writing. Hien shared: “The test time is 180 minutes with 2 questions on social argumentation and literary argumentation. When I read the question, I thought and formed an outline for the essay. Then, I wrote it all at once with sublimation of emotions.”

“When the teacher called to inform me, I even forgot my registration number. I told her to wait until I found my exam card, checked it again, and then believed it was true,” Hien said after being surprised by her teacher’s news that she won second prize in the National Excellent Student Competition for Literature. This result was the highest in the school’s competition team.

With this result, Hien was admitted directly to Hanoi National University of Education. Hien's dream of becoming a teacher has gradually become a reality. When asked why Hien did not choose another school but chose to become a teacher, Hien said: "I always admire the feelings that my teacher has given me. She has helped me a lot on my learning path. I find being a teacher is very noble and I hope to become a teacher so that in the future I can help students like my teacher has helped me."

Although she was sure to get into her dream school, Le Thi Hien still wanted to conquer the national high school exam. "Literature is my favorite subject, so I don't have to review much for this subject, but focus on reviewing Math and English," Hien said. There wasn't much time to review for these two subjects, because during the day Hien had to help her mother in the kitchen, and at night she only had 2 hours to review for the exam. Hien's review method was also very scientific. "Every day, after 8:30 p.m. I could sit down at my desk to study. But I only went to bed at 10:30 p.m. because I was too tired from working all day. I tried to concentrate during that time and not get distracted. Every day I studied one subject, tried to practice questions to improve my test-taking skills, especially multiple-choice subjects," Hien recalled.

Hien's National High School Exam results also achieved high results with 3 subjects in group D reaching 27.2 points (Literature 9.5 points; Math 8.2 points and English 9.4 points). Hien said she registered her wish and majored in Primary Education - English (Hanoi National University of Education).

Hien helps her mother at the restaurant. Photo: Duc Anh