Pa Ko teacher and love of ethnic culture

Along with imparting knowledge, over the years, teacher To Thi Nhat, a Pa Ko ethnic, a Literature teacher at Dakrong Secondary and High School (Ta Rut commune) has had many good and creative ways of teaching. In particular, she has proactively integrated local cultural elements into her lessons to create excitement for students, contributing to fostering a love of national culture so that students can preserve and promote the quintessence left by their ancestors.

Ms. Nhat always knows how to "inspire" students to love learning about Pa Ko ethnic culture - Photo: KS

Consider national culture as "part of flesh and blood"

Graduated from Hue University of Education, majoring in Literature, in 2009, teacher To Thi Nhat returned to her hometown and was assigned to teach at Dakrong High School No. 2 (now Dakrong Secondary and High School), a particularly difficult area of the province. Born and raised in an ethnic minority area, Ms. Nhat understands the disadvantages of students here, from economic conditions, transportation to learning environment. Therefore, she has actively researched and sought to innovate appropriate teaching methods to build a friendly, positive learning environment, encouraging students to always feel loved, thereby overcoming difficulties to excel in their studies and life.

From the first years of teaching, Ms. Nhat has been very interested in preserving and promoting the unique cultural values of her people. “I always consider the culture of the Pa Ko people as a part of my flesh and blood and the “soul” of my homeland. Therefore, I always tell myself how to both complete the assigned tasks well and do useful things for my homeland,” Ms. Nhat confided.

With the advantage of being fluent in the Pa Ko ethnic language, having a deep understanding of customs and practices and having a close relationship with the community, outside of class time, she also spends time going to villages, meeting and talking with village elders, village chiefs, artisans and local elders to learn about customs, practices, cultural life, spirit, and the beauty of folk festivals of her ethnic group... After that, she carefully takes notes, takes photos, and videos to supplement the source of materials, serving the teaching work.

In addition, she also proactively learns more about the cultural characteristics of other ethnic groups across all regions through books, newspapers, and the internet to gain a deeper understanding and a more comprehensive view, from which she selects and incorporates them into lectures and experiential activities and career guidance in schools, helping students see the cultural depth and beauty in the aesthetic thinking of the Pa Ko people, thereby bringing them excitement and passion in scientific research on the social field, behavior, and behavior of the Pa Ko people towards nature and the unique cultural features of the nation.

Preserving culture in the digital age

With the desire to innovate teaching methods, bringing Pa Ko ethnic culture into schools in a close and lively way, teacher To Thi Nhat also guides students to tell Pa Ko fairy tales in both the native language and the common language, then record videos to post on YouTube, Facebook or create flipbooks (a type of interactive digital publication, simulating the page-turning effect of traditional printed books) of short stories for students to easily read and spread the unique cultural features of the Pa Ko people to the community.

This is a creative way to help students feel proud of being the ones who directly contribute to spreading, promoting and preserving traditional cultural values, while also connecting the community and the younger generation with the cultural heritage of their nation. Ho Thi My, a 12D student at Dakrong Secondary and High School, excitedly shared: “I am very happy and proud to be able to transform into a character in Pa Ko fairy tales guided by the Japanese teacher. Through each story telling, I understand more and love more the unique culture of my nation, especially the valuable lessons that our ancestors wanted to convey and passed down.”

In the process of collecting, researching, translating and teaching ethnic culture to students, Ms. Nhat could not help but worry when she realized that many cultural values of the Pa Ko people were gradually fading away, and there were not many people who knew how to teach them. “Currently, we are facing some difficulties in preserving ethnic culture in schools such as: Lack of systematic teaching materials, especially bilingual translations; limited facilities for communication and archiving documents...

Therefore, I hope that in the coming time, I will receive attention and support from the school and local authorities in guiding the establishment of ethnic minority cultural clubs in schools, including the Pa Ko ethnic group; connecting with village elders and artisans to establish folk classes; building teaching materials integrating local culture in the curriculum...", Ms. Nhat expressed.

Principal of Ta Rut Secondary and High School Tran Dang An commented: “Teacher To Thi Nhat is very passionate about researching, preserving and promoting the fine traditional cultural values of the Pa Ko people. In addition, she actively guides and inspires students to understand, love and appreciate the unique cultural values of their people, contributing with the school to encourage and promote the scientific research emulation movement among teachers and students.”

Ko Kan Suong

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/co-giao-nguoi-pa-ko-va-tinh-yeu-van-hoa-dan-toc-196060.htm