Let Nung Din folk songs resonate forever

Every Thursday afternoon, the clear singing voices of students from 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 is sometimes not clear, smooth, and round, the children’s faces are always radiant and excited.

Teacher Luc Thi Hien, Principal of Nam Lu Kindergarten, said: Since November 2023, the school has been teaching folk songs to students regularly under Project 6 "Preserving and promoting the fine traditional cultural values of ethnic minorities associated with tourism development". Once a week, students from 3 to 5 years old learn knowledge while integrating learning to sing Nung Din folk songs. During class, students are also equipped with basic knowledge about the culture and traditional customs of their ethnic group.

To be effective, the school determined that teachers must be able to read poetry and sing folk songs. Therefore, twice a month, the school invites Nung Din artists to teach folk songs to teachers and students. In addition, teachers also actively study on their own, improve their knowledge, and collect more folk songs. After more than 5 months of both teaching and studying, the school's teachers have basically memorized 3 to 4 songs and poems of the Nung Din ethnic group.

For preschool children, teaching knowledge is difficult, and adding folk songs is not easy, especially folk songs with ancient lyrics. Therefore, teachers have coordinated with artists to be flexible and creative in teaching methods. After many discussions and researches, the "formula" has finally been found. That is, students start learning from short, easy-to-remember poems and songs, then move on to longer songs. The folk songs only retain the rhythm and singing style, but change the content to suit the young age. The passion and enthusiasm of teachers and artists and the students' love for their own folk songs have created fun and meaningful lessons.

People's Artist Hoang Xin Hoa was very excited to directly teach Nung Din folk songs to preschool children, because for him, it was a special class. He had been rekindling the "flame" of Nung Din folk songs for many years, but he had never taught such a young age group. People's Artist Hoang Xin Hoa confided: When I was invited by Nam Lu Kindergarten to teach folk songs to students, I was very happy and excited.

Teaching and learning folk songs in schools has been effective, contributing significantly to the preservation, conservation and promotion of Nung Din folk culture. Up to now, students from 3 to 5 years old have memorized and read at least 2 short folk songs fluently. Teacher Luc Thi Hien said: In the 2023-2024 school year, the school has 259 students, of which about 90% are Nung Din people. The school's Board of Directors realized that it is very necessary for students to access folk songs right from preschool, so they invited artisans to come directly to the school to teach the culture, folk songs, and folk knowledge of the Nung Din ethnic group.

In the coming time, the school will continue to maintain folk singing lessons every week, and at the same time organize more models in the school space so that children can experience, understand more about their roots, and gradually form pride in the traditional culture of their nation.
Teacher Luc Thi Hien, Principal of Nam Lu Kindergarten

Hearing the clear singing voices of the Nung Din ethnic children, we were so happy. Those voices will continue to be multiplied, from generation to generation, forever echoing in this highland...