May the Nùng Dín folk songs resonate forever.

Việt Nam•21/04/2024

Every Thursday afternoon, the clear, melodious voices of the students at Nam Lu Kindergarten resound. In each classroom, teachers and students wear traditional costumes and sing familiar folk songs of the Nung Din people. Although their singing may sometimes be imperfect, unclear, or not perfectly smooth, the children's faces are always radiant and enthusiastic.

Ms. Luc Thi Hien, Principal of Nam Lu Kindergarten, said: "Regularly since November 2023, the school has been teaching folk songs to students as part of Project 6, 'Preserving and promoting the valuable traditional culture of ethnic minorities in conjunction with tourism development.' Once a week, students aged 3 to 5 years old learn both academic knowledge and Nung Din folk songs. During classroom lessons, students are also equipped with basic knowledge about the culture and traditional customs of their ethnic group."

To achieve effectiveness, the school determined that teachers must be able to recite poetry and sing folk songs. Therefore, twice a month, the school invites Nung Din artisans to teach folk songs to teachers and students. In addition, teachers actively engage in self-study, improving their knowledge and collecting more folk songs. After more than 5 months of teaching and learning, the school's teachers have basically memorized 3 to 4 songs and poems of the Nung Din ethnic group.

Teaching knowledge to preschool children is already difficult, and introducing them to folk songs is even more challenging, especially those with ancient lyrics. Therefore, teachers collaborated with artisans in a flexible and creative way. After much discussion and research, they finally found a "formula." Students began with short, easy-to-remember poems and songs, then moved on to longer ones. The folk songs retained only the rhythm and singing style, while the content was modified to suit the younger age group. The passion and enthusiasm of the teachers and artisans, combined with the students' love for their ethnic folk songs, created joyful and meaningful lessons.

Participating directly in teaching Nùng Dín folk songs to preschool children, People's Artist Hoàng Xín Hòa was very excited, because for him, it was a special class. He had been trying to revive the "flame" of Nùng Dín folk songs for many years, but he had never taught them to such young children before. People's Artist Hoàng Xín Hòa shared: "When Nấm Lư Preschool invited me to teach folk songs to their students, I was very happy and enthusiastic."

Teaching and learning folk songs in schools has been effective, contributing significantly to the preservation, conservation, and promotion of Nùng Dín folk culture. To date, students in the 3- to 5 age groups have memorized and can fluently recite at least two short folk songs. Teacher Lục Thị Hiền stated: In the 2023-2024 school year, the school had 259 students, approximately 90% of whom were Nùng Dín. The school's management recognized the importance of exposing students to folk songs from an early age, so they invited artisans to directly teach the culture, melodies, and folk knowledge of the Nùng Dín ethnic group.

In the future, the school will continue to maintain regular weekly folk song singing sessions, and at the same time organize more activities within the school grounds so that children can experience and gain a better understanding of their roots, gradually fostering pride in their national traditional culture.
Ms. Luc Thi Hien, Principal of Nam Lu Kindergarten

Hearing the clear, melodious voices of the Nung Din ethnic children, we felt truly joyful. Those songs will continue to be passed down from generation to generation, echoing endlessly in this highland region...