Over the years, I still have the same respect and love for Ms. Tran Thi Thuy - a former literature teacher at Van Phu Secondary School (Thuong Tin District, Hanoi ). Ms. Thuy replaced my class when the official literature teacher suddenly fell ill and had to miss the entire school year.
Why you?
"Hello everyone"... I looked up and saw the teacher with silver hair entering the classroom with a serious greeting. The students stood up to greet her and whispered, "Oh no, I heard this teacher will teach for the rest of the year." I had the same thoughts as my friends, although my writing style was highly appreciated by my old teacher and I often got good grades.
My class at that time was class 9B, Van Phu Secondary School. I don’t know why, but my commune has 2 villages, but class B only has students from Yen Phu village, the other 3 classes have students from both villages. We often heard adults say that students from Yen Phu village are more naughty and difficult to control, and often argue with students from Van Trai village, so they had to be put in a separate class.
However, the first sentence when Ms. Thuy introduced herself to the class was... she was from Van Trai village. That year was her last year of teaching, and she would retire the following year. Ms. Thuy informed us that Ms. Kim Anh (the former literature teacher) would be absent for the rest of the school year due to illness and long-term treatment.
I was not good at literature, but I was better at it than science subjects, so I often took literature as a "score-raising" subject. However, that spring, the person standing on our podium was a teacher who was about to retire and had never taught us a single lesson.
During recess, we kids would whisper to each other that Ms. Thuy only liked Van Trai students and hated the kids in our village. Why didn’t the school assign a young teacher or one from another place to teach? Those were the thoughts that we kids would whisper to each other.
Ms. Tran Thi Thuy is always radiant with positive energy after retirement.
Essay for life
That day, I went home and told my mother the story. My mother said that when she was young, Ms. Thuy had measles, which was why her face had pockmarks. She got married late and had a turbulent family life. Notably, more than 20 years ago, she had taught literature to my father and uncle right under the mossy roof of this village school.
Contrary to our initial impression of a strict teacher, Ms. Thuy was gentle and kind like a grandmother. However, the students in my class were notorious for being naughty, which gave her a lot of headaches.
I still remember one class, Ms. Thuy came to class before the school bell rang. At that time, Nam and Quang were about to fight, everyone stepped back not daring to stop them. As soon as she entered the classroom, she immediately realized the situation and quickly came to stop them. Then, with gentle, soft advice, she took Nam and Quang's hands and went to the office to reconcile. From then on, Nam and Quang no longer hated each other, thanks to Ms. Thuy's hugs and head pats, which somewhat reduced the two's temporary grumpiness and anger.
I still remember clearly one hot afternoon, during an extra class at school, the teacher called: "The girl in red shirt, bring the assignment I assigned here!" The reason she called me was because I was fighting over a book with Thach at the table below, while she had just assigned an essay assignment about 15 minutes before.
When I held my test paper in my hand and stood in the middle of the podium in front of hundreds of eyes that were twinkling as if laughing mockingly, she asked:
- Have you finished the assignment the teacher gave you that you are turning around and making a fuss with your friend?
- Yes, I'm done, teacher!
- Is this true, or is this your assignment? The teacher just gave the assignment, how did you finish it?
- Yes, here is my article!
- Then read it out loud and clearly for the whole class to hear.
I shyly looked at Thach who was smiling happily, because he was the one who started the trouble with me first but was not called to the board by the teacher. I took a deep breath, then started reading: "My name is Nguyen Van Cong, class 9B, topic: State your thoughts on the issue of school violence and the meaning of friendship in the classroom as well as in life in the future"...
I had never read my essay in front of the whole class before, so I was very nervous. But because this was a matter of "redeeming myself", I read it very eloquently and coherently. The example I gave in my essay was the situation where Ms. Thuy intervened to stop a fight between Nam and Quang last week.
As if sensing my talent for literature, after I finished reading my essay, she asked the whole class to give a round of applause. She took my essay and read it over again, giving me 8 points along with the comment "the handwriting is too bad". Then she let me go back to my seat.
Van Phu Secondary School Yard - where the teacher-student relationship is forever preserved
Respect students' passion and dreams
At the end of class that day, Ms. Thuy took the initiative to come to where I was sitting and said: "Cong, currently our school's literature team only has 3 girls. I want to add you to the team for the upcoming district exam. Do you agree?"
I hesitated, scratched my head and replied: "Yes, ma'am, I also love literature but I want to take the English exam. That is my dream because I really like English." Her answer surprised her because I had bluntly refused her good intentions. She continued to ask me: "So why haven't you signed up for the English team yet?"
I slowly stood up, looked up at her with concern. She put her hand on my shoulder and asked, "What's wrong?" Outside, the schoolyard suddenly became bright yellow, the cicadas began to chirp...
- Yes, ma'am, because Mr. Quan (in charge of the English team) didn't rate me very highly and eliminated me in the previous application. But I really love English. If I get to take the exam, I promise to try my best.
- I understand. But you have to promise me you will practice writing better. Handwriting reflects a person's character, so try to have the best handwriting!
A few days later, Mr. Quan informed me that my name was on the list for the district-level English exam. I was extremely happy and secretly grateful to Ms. Thuy for helping to convince Mr. Quan to believe in me.
I know Ms. Thuy did not try to force me to join the literature team even though it would give me a higher chance of passing the English exam. She respected my passion and dream, because she understood that anyone who does something without love cannot do it well.
Ironically, that year I failed the English proficiency exam, while all three female students in the literature team passed. However, Ms. Thuy did not blame me, nor did she advise me with "if only..." or "if only I had listened to her, I would have...". She only encouraged me: "I believe you have tried your best. Keep doing that in the face of future challenges."
Follow her every day
Later, I pursued my dream and worked in theeducation sector, following in Ms. Thuy's footsteps. The years passed by, the dust of time touched every brilliant youth. Ms. Thuy is now nearly 70 years old, enjoying her old age with her senior friends and former colleagues. I rarely have the opportunity to visit, but occasionally I see her appear on Facebook with a radiant face and good health. I am very happy and gently give her a heart with the most sincere feelings. I will always love and respect her!
Source: https://nld.com.vn/bai-du-thi-cuoc-thi-viet-nguoi-thay-kinh-yeu-co-da-thap-len-nhung-uoc-mo-196250406215608978.htm
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