Young teacher "sowing letters" in remote areas

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Nga guides students through exciting activities before learning letters. Photo: Nga Son

Ms. Nguyen Thi Thu Nga guides students through exciting warm-up activities before learning letters. Photo: Nga Son

Through many rainy and sunny seasons, young teacher Nguyen Thi Thu Nga is still diligently and devotedly "ferrying the boat", spreading love, bringing knowledge and skills to children in remote and disadvantaged areas.

Continuing Mother's Dream

Born and raised in a family with a mother who is a kindergarten teacher, Nga's mother's appearance when going to school has been deeply imprinted in her mind since she was little. This is also the reason why she chose to study preschool education (college level) at Dong Nai University after completing high school.

Ms. Nga shared: “When I was in my final year of college, my mother became terminally ill and passed away. Although I had prepared myself mentally beforehand, it took a while for the pain of loss to subside after my mother passed away.”

At that time, she decided to return to Ma Da to continue her mother's dream of becoming a kindergarten teacher after completing her studies. When her relatives and friends knew that she intended to return to Ma Da, which still had many difficulties, they advised her to reconsider. But as a young person with passion, Ms. Nga did not allow herself to choose a safe area, but instead embarked on new and difficult tasks.

After completing the preschool teacher training college, Ms. Nga continued her university studies at Dong Nai University. During this time, she applied to Ma Da Kindergarten and was officially admitted in 2014. Ma Da Kindergarten has 6 campuses, of which 2 campuses are located deep in the forest (Cay Sung campus in Hamlet 3 and C3 Suoi Tuong campus in Hamlet 4) with difficult access, so every year, teachers will take turns teaching at these 2 campuses.

At the 2025 Youth Living Beautifully Gala recently organized by the Central Committee of the Vietnam Youth Union in Hanoi , teacher Nguyen Thi Thu Nga was honored to be one of 20 outstanding young people to receive the Youth Living Beautifully award - these are individuals who have had beautiful actions, humane gestures and made positive contributions to society, strongly spreading the spirit of living beautifully and usefully in the youth community.

When she first took on the assignment, Ms. Nga was assigned to teach at the main location (Hamlet 1, Tri An Commune) and in the 2020-2021 school year, she started working at Cay Sung School. The time when she took on the assignment to teach at Cay Sung School was quite difficult.

According to Ms. Nga, her husband works far away, her 3 children are still young (one in 5th grade, one in kindergarten and one is only 2.5 years old) and especially at the age where they need their mother to be by their side, but with the support of her family, she decided to come to Cay Sung school with the desire to bring the light of knowledge to children in remote and disadvantaged areas. In the 2024-2025 school year, seeing that her colleague assigned to teach at Cay Sung school was stuck with family problems and could not go to the school, Ms. Nga once again volunteered to teach at the school in place of her colleague.

During 2 years working at Cay Sung school, every day Ms. Nga wakes up early to go to school.

Ms. Nga said: The school picks up the children at 7am, so the teachers have to be there at 6:30am to arrange and clean the classroom. Last school year, Ms. Nga also had the additional task of transporting food, so early in the morning before entering the school, she always stopped by the main school to get food to bring to the school.

The only road leading to Cay Sung school is more than 20km long, including nearly 8km of red dirt road through the forest. Besides the desertedness, in the dry season, the trees on both sides of the road are covered with a red layer of dust. Even though she covers her motorbike carefully, when she gets to the school, her face is always dirty. In the rainy season, the road is muddy, slippery, with many potholes. Sometimes when it rains heavily, the road surface is full of water, she cannot distinguish between flat and flat roads, so falling is a common occurrence...

“Although it is difficult, for me, every day at school is a happy day. My happiness is every morning when I go to class, when I see the children waiting, when I hear them call me Ms. Nga... The fatigue on the journey to school disappears, I feel like I have more motivation to be active, to bring the children interesting experiences” - Ms. Nga confided.

Spread love to students in remote areas

After 11 years of working as a ferryman in the difficult Ma Da region, Ms. Nga understands the circumstances of each student in her class. According to Ms. Nga, most of the students' parents are farmers, hired workers, fishermen, and have unstable incomes. To make a living, many parents have to send their children to their elderly grandparents to work far away. Not wanting her students to continue to endure a difficult life, Ms. Nga always actively innovates teaching methods to arouse students' passion for learning, helping them gradually realize the value of learning so that they can have a brighter future.

She also proposed good initiatives and solutions in teaching. In the past school year, Ms. Nga's solution to improve the effectiveness of letter familiarization activities for children aged 5-6 was applied at school and brought about clear results. Children were more interested and confident when learning letters, and 100% of kindergarten children memorized the alphabet.

Sharing about this initiative, Ms. Nga said: Getting acquainted with letters is an important and necessary activity, contributing to the formation of children's ability to operate and develop their thinking. In the 2024-2025 school year, from the reality of 5-6 year old children who have not yet remembered the alphabet, have unclear pronunciation, limited writing skills, and how to hold a pen..., she has changed the form of organizing activities to get acquainted with letters by applying information technology, organizing group activities; using some available items to form letters; molding letters from clay; letter symbols on children's towels and cups... to help children easily visualize and remember letters...

Not only does she do a good job of teaching children to read and write, Ms. Nga also proactively seeks and connects with donors to support the provision of additional facilities for schools with the hope that the children will receive better care.

Pointing to the bamboo blinds covering the classroom doors at Cay Sung school, Ms. Nga said: The area in front of the classroom door is where children often play and sit to eat lunch. Before, when there was no such blind, in the hot season, students sat to eat and sweated. Feeling sorry for her students, Ms. Nga mobilized 6 bamboo blinds to reduce the heat. Not only mobilizing for Cay Sung school, Ms. Nga also mobilized bamboo blinds to shade students at C3 Suoi Tuong school, the main school. In addition, she also mobilized to build corridors, canopies, fans, corner shelves, lockers, towel racks, toys... for students. For students in difficult circumstances, she also built funds to support tuition fees; mobilized donors to donate backpacks, books, notebooks, school supplies...

Ms. Phan Thanh Thuy, Principal of Ma Da Kindergarten, commented: Ms. Nga is a party member, a young teacher who loves her job, always works with a high sense of responsibility, is not afraid of difficulties, and is ready to take on teaching tasks at difficult schools. In addition to her professional duties, Ms. Nga also connects with donors to support schools and students in especially difficult circumstances, helping them have more motivation to go to school.

"We always consider Ms. Nga a shining example to learn from and follow, contributing to improving the quality of teaching and learning at the school, providing more support for students in difficult circumstances, helping them have more motivation to go to school" - Ms. Thuy said.

Nga Son

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/dong-nai-cuoi-tuan/202510/co-giao-tre-gioi-chu-o-vung-xa-53e3fdb/