Sow seeds of gratitude and kindness.

Phung Ngoc Liem Primary School is a school with a rich tradition in Bac Lieu province (now Ca Mau). Here, students are not only equipped with knowledge and soft skills but also participate in activities such as 'planting trees of gratitude' and 'sowing seeds of kindness'.

Báo Thanh niên•02/08/2025

Plant a tree of gratitude.

In the last days of April, Phung Ngoc Liem Primary School was ablaze with red. Red of the flag, red of the students' uniforms. Images of the students holding the national flag and singing the song "As if Uncle Ho were here on the day of great victory" during the weekly flag-raising ceremony commemorating the 50th anniversary of national reunification were posted on social media and received much love and praise.

Gieo mầm biết ơn và sự tử tế - Ảnh 1. — Phung Ngoc Liem Primary School celebrates April 30th.

Perhaps first and second graders may not fully understand the significance of the momentous day of April 30, 1975, but through activities such as cultural performances, interactions with soldiers, or schools decorated with the theme of "the great victory day," their pride in their homeland and country, and in the red flag with a yellow star, is somewhat nurtured.

Over the years, in addition to focusing on improving the quality of teaching and learning for teachers and students, Phung Ngoc Liem Primary School has also organized many activities to develop children's skills and thinking, including gratitude education . Because gratitude is the foundation for forming a person's character.

Gieo mầm biết ơn và sự tử tế - Ảnh 2. — Teachers and students of Phung Ngoc Liem Primary School on a trip to their roots.

Every year, on national holidays and events, the school organizes activities to express gratitude. On Vietnamese Teachers' Day, November 20th, in addition to launching a movement for students to compete to achieve good results in their studies and training to present to their teachers, the school administration also organizes visits to retired teachers.

The heartfelt wishes, sincere expressions of gratitude, and gifts prepared by the students truly moved the teachers – those who have dedicated their lives to the noble profession of educating others. The students, meanwhile, listened to stories from years past… and how generations of students at the school continue to be diligent and excel academically thanks to the guidance of their teachers. Through activities like these, the students will further cultivate a spirit of respect for their teachers.

Gieo mầm biết ơn và sự tử tế - Ảnh 3. — Teachers and students of Phung Ngoc Liem Primary School visited war veterans in the city on July 27th.

On July 27th and December 22nd, the school will organize visits for the children to Vietnamese Heroic Mothers and war invalids in the city. Meeting directly those who have experienced war, whose consequences leave behind pain both internally and externally, will help the children understand, to some extent, the happiness they are currently enjoying.

Just recently, before the end of the 2024-2025 school year, the school organized a field trip for over 100 students to historical sites in the province: the Dong Ngoc Nang historical site, the Provincial General Museum, the Southern Traditional Music and Cao Van Lau Memorial Area… At each place, the students learned about a typical aspect of Bac Lieu (now Ca Mau province), such as its history of tenacious struggle during the war, the formation of the world intangible cultural heritage of traditional music, the life of the talented musician Cao Van Lau, and the development of the province in the present day.

Nguyen Van Trang, a 5th-grade student, shared: "This trip was truly meaningful before I leave school and move on to a new one. Thanks to trips like this, I've come to see how beautiful my homeland is. I'm even more grateful to our ancestors who sacrificed their lives and blood so that we could live in peace and happiness."

Gieo mầm biết ơn và sự tử tế - Ảnh 4. — Students show support for their peers in the North affected by the storm.

Sow seeds of kindness

Each child is like a seed. It is the responsibility of the family, school, and society to sow these seeds of kindness so that they may grow, provide shade, and bear sweet fruit and fragrant flowers. Therefore, Phung Ngoc Liem Primary School always guides its students towards activities that share love and kindness with those around them.

Last year, Typhoon Yagi ravaged the northern provinces, and even in the far south of the country, the people of Bac Lieu were constantly worried about their fellow citizens. Phung Ngoc Lieu Primary School immediately launched a fundraising campaign, embodying the spirit of "mutual support" and "compassion." The school canceled its Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations to save funds, and combined with donations from staff, teachers, students, and parents, the total amount raised reached 106 million VND.

These students cut back on their breakfast and pocket money, some even broke open their piggy banks to support their friends in the North... The value they bring is certainly not measured solely in material terms, nor is it limited to sharing love; it is also a precious lesson about the spirit of mutual support and solidarity in times of hardship, a hallmark of the Vietnamese people.

Faced with the growing problem of school violence and indifference among young children, Phung Ngoc Liem Primary School always focuses on nurturing compassionate hearts through life stories and concrete actions. This includes sharing pens, clothes, and bicycles with classmates from disadvantaged backgrounds during school events such as the beginning of the school year, Mid-Autumn Festival, and International Children's Day, whenever the school initiates such initiatives.

Gieo mầm biết ơn và sự tử tế - Ảnh 5. — Students donate meals and water at the Provincial Social Welfare Center.

Furthermore, the school administration always creates opportunities for students to participate in extracurricular activities so that they can see that there are many difficult, challenging, and deprived situations in life. Several times a year, the students visit Bac Lieu General Hospital and the Provincial Social Welfare Center with their teachers to personally prepare meals to donate to poor patients and those in difficult circumstances.

Gieo mầm biết ơn và sự tử tế - Ảnh 6. — The joy of the students when "small children do small things"

The school not only teaches and guides students towards love and kindness towards those around them, but also teaches them to love their school and keep their classrooms clean. Within the school grounds, there is a designated area for storing soda bottles and scrap paper. After each lesson, teachers remind students to clean their seats and dispose of trash properly. Over 1,000 students demonstrate this level of awareness in maintaining the school and classrooms. Even a small piece of paper in the schoolyard is picked up and disposed of correctly. These small actions will gradually instill in them a love and respect for their environment.

In addition, each year after selling the waste from the "communal home," the school will carry out meaningful activities. In the 2023-2024 school year, they created a map of Vietnam (worth 9 million VND), and in the 2024-2025 school year, they erected a landmark commemorating the islands and seas with the theme "Proud of our Homeland" (worth 10 million VND) in the school grounds to serve extracurricular lessons and activities.

Organizing activities that guide children towards the values of truth, goodness, and beauty is no easy journey, but with the aspiration to nurture the seeds of a better future, the teachers of Phung Ngoc Liem Primary School have not shied away from difficulties or hardships.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Nguyet, the school principal, shared: "Nowadays, educating students is not just about lectures, but also about real-life stories. It's not just about teaching children knowledge, but about holistic development. The school always strives to nurture young generations who are not only knowledgeable and skilled in life, but also possess gratitude and a heart for the community."