First grade teacher teaches with... rap

The teaching journey for teacher Pham Minh Trang, class 1/1 teacher at Dong Da Primary School, Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City, is one of constant innovation.

A lesson by Ms. Pham Minh Trang, teacher of class 1/1 at Dong Da Primary School, Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City - Photo: NHU HUNG

To be able to innovate in teaching, Ms. Pham Minh Trang always looks for every opportunity to learn. In addition to attending training courses according to the program of the industry and the school, she also spends her own money to take additional online training courses.

"There is another way to learn, very good and very fast, which is to learn from colleagues. So I take advantage of learning anytime, anywhere. Once I learn, I immediately apply it in practice" - Ms. Trang shared.

The class passed quickly.

One day in mid-November 2024, we had the opportunity to attend a math class of class 1/1. The class started with a very cheerful warm-up. Both the teacher and the students danced to the music with the excited "hi hi" laughter of the 6-year-old students.

As soon as the music stopped, Ms. Minh Trang held the microphone and shouted: "My seat", the whole class responded in unison: "Let's sit" and quickly sat down.

At this time, the interactive whiteboard screen on the podium showed an image of a beautiful hen: "Class 1/1, today the hen will lay a lot of eggs for us. Let's count how many eggs there are."

Immediately the hen "clucked" and stirred. The students eagerly waited for each egg to fall. When the students counted to egg number 10, the teacher introduced the lesson: "Today, we will review the number 10!"

"Class 1/1, do you like playing games?" - "Yes, I do." "Today I will let you rescue the princess, everyone look at the screen."

Next is a short clip cut from the cartoon, the end of the clip is the witch's ghostly voice: "Rescue the princess? Get over my thorny fence"...

Next, each student was given a piece of paper with a picture of a barbed wire fence printed on it. On the fence were instructions for students to add and subtract within 10. While the students were doing the exercises, the teacher did not stand on the podium but went down and gave direct instructions to some students...

The math lesson passed quickly. The students had to work continuously according to the teacher's request with many different activities.

"Please rap"

When asking the students of class 1/1 about Ms. Trang, they competed to say: "Ms. Trang is both beautiful and funny" - Phuc Anh commented. According to Ngoc Di: "Ms. Trang teaches well, easy to understand, she has a beautiful smile. Every day she lets the class play games."

Minh Nguyen said: "I like Ms. Trang's rapping better, it sounds great. I don't think first grade is difficult, it's much more fun than preschool"...

Ms. Pham Minh Trang said: "Sometimes I rap, but only in some suitable songs. At those times, my students enjoy it, enthusiastically dance and chant along, especially the male students. Every now and then, a child even asks: Teacher, please rap, it's been so long since you rapped."

At Dong Da Primary School, 100% of Ms. Trang's lessons apply information technology.

"In fact, information technology is just a tool to support more engaging lessons. The main thing is still the teacher's idea. First graders are just in kindergarten, they like eye-catching images, cute sounds, and games...

But students also get bored easily. So in each lesson, I take the "compass" as the goal and the requirements to be achieved. From there, I will prepare the lesson so that students can experience as much as possible" - Ms. Trang "revealed".

Being a perfectionist, the young teacher dubs her own videos . "For some characters, I have to ask my former students, who are now in 4th or 5th grade, to dub. For some characters, I dub myself. And in urgent situations, I use AI..." - Ms. Trang said.

Multi-talented teacher

Ms. Pham Minh Trang is a young, dynamic, creative, exemplary and active teacher in all school activities.

Not only enthusiastic and dedicated in her work, with solid professional qualifications and a spirit of continuous learning, Ms. Trang is an active and pioneering factor in the process of innovating teaching methods as well as emulation movements of the school and the industry.

She won second prize in the city-level "Excellent Teacher" contest in the 2020-2021 school year, and first prize in the district-level "Excellent Teacher" contest in the 2017-2018 and 2022-2023 school years.

In addition, Ms. Trang is also talented in dancing and singing, and often acts as MC at school ceremonies. Therefore, not only is she loved by many students, Ms. Trang is also trusted by many parents, who wish to send their children to study here.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Dung

(Principal of Dong Da Primary School, Tan Binh District, Ho Chi Minh City)

Special parent-teacher conference

My older child has studied with Ms. Trang for two years. Now my younger child continues to study with her in class 1/1.

There is no need to argue about her expertise. Not only is she a good teacher, not only does she teach with love, but she also invests her time, effort and passion in parent-teacher conferences.

At the parent-teacher conference at the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, she showed us a video about Thomas Edison - the genius who owned more than 1,500 inventions and creations of mankind.

The film tells the story of Edison bringing a letter from his teacher to his mother. She read the letter aloud to her son: "Your son is a genius! But this school is too small, our teachers are not qualified to teach him. Therefore, please take care of your son yourself." From then on, Edison did not go to school but stayed home to study under the guidance and teaching of his mother.

Many years later, when Edison's mother had passed away, and her son had become one of the greatest inventors of the 20th century, Edison happened to see a small folded piece of paper kept in his desk drawer. The letter read: "Your son is a troubled child. We cannot accept him in school anymore"...

At the end of the video, Ms. Trang said: "Each child has their own strengths and weaknesses, parents should not compare their children with other people's children. Ms. Trang or other teachers only accompany children for 9 months of a school year. As for parents, they need to accompany their children for their whole lives. Therefore, I really need parents to cooperate with me in educating students"...

The parent-teacher conference made me realize many things. I really admire her spirit of dedication to the education career.

Ms. Do Ngoc Yen Vy

(parent of class 1/1, Dong Da Primary School)

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/co-giao-lop-1-day-hoc-bang-rap-20241120231214041.htm