The joy of Vietnamese Teachers' Day through unique gifts

Giant dried squid

I still remember, in the 2007-2008 school year, as usual, Vietnamese Teachers' Day was held in the school yard. After the ceremony, there was a female student lurking behind the school cafeteria door. She looked at me and called softly "teacher, teacher".

Seeing that, I immediately went to her. When I got there, she gave me a package and said: "I wish you a happy November 20th". Before I could thank her, she ran away.

- Ảnh 1. — The author is Mr. Nguyen Hoang Trung, teacher at Nguyen Trung Truc Primary and Secondary School (Phu Quoc special zone, An Giang ).

I took the package back to my colleague's place, gently opened it and was surprised. It was a dried squid weighing nearly 1 kg, inside was a small piece of paper with the words "This is a gift from Trinh to the teacher on November 20th".

Holding the gift, I couldn’t help but be moved. Her family’s circumstances were not very good. Perhaps this was the squid that she asked her father for after a long trip to the sea, then wrapped it up as a gift for me, the teacher, on Teachers’ Day…

Give the teacher a bag of sweet potatoes

About 3 years later, I was assigned to be the homeroom teacher of class 8/10. That day was Friday, and Monday was November 20. In the afternoon, after school, I rode my bike home, and before I could put the bike stand down, my mother said: "Someone brought you a bag of sweet potatoes." While I was staring in surprise, not knowing who sent this unique gift, the phone rang.

I picked up the call, after the greeting was a voice on the other end of the line: "Hello teacher, I'm Phung's mother. November 20th is coming up and I don't know what to give you, so my family has a few rows of sweet potatoes, Phung's father dug them up this afternoon and found them delicious, so I'm giving you some to eat for fun, I hope you'll accept them." I only had time to say thank you because the other side quickly hung up.

Phung is the best student in class. She is the only child of a poor family. Her father is unable to work and only grows small crops in a small garden. The whole family lives on the agricultural products (sometimes potatoes, sometimes corn...) her father grows.

I poured the bag of sweet potatoes on the floor, asked my mother to divide them into small bags, each bag about 1 kg, and gave one bag to each neighbor. So that afternoon, every house in my neighborhood ate sweet potatoes...

Soy sauce bottle and satay jar...

I received these gifts in 2016. November 20th that year was a Sunday and the school also chose November 20th to hold the school reunion.

So on Friday, during the class meeting, the class monitor came down to the office and whispered to me that the teacher would be 5 minutes late for the meeting. I didn't pay much attention to what the class monitor said, I just nodded because I had to be busy with a meeting with the principal to hear about some content. After the meeting, I was about 7 minutes late for class.

As soon as I entered my homeroom class, I was completely surprised by the way the students decorated the classroom; flowers, balloons... and they also decorated the board. Reading quickly on the board, I began to know that the students organized an activity to celebrate November 20th for me.

After the students sent their best wishes to their homeroom teacher, it was time to play a game. The class monitor signaled for the students to bring out a large cardboard box with a hole on the top big enough to put a hand in.

The class monitor announced: "Today we will give you the most unique gifts in the world. Please put your hand in the box, touch the item, say the name of it first, then take it out."

I was a little nervous because I didn't know what these kids were up to. But anyway, I tried. I reached into the box, guessed the name of each item, and took them out. Oh my, there were bottles of soy sauce, jars of satay, cartons of fresh milk, bottles of dishwashing liquid, mosquito repellent... and hundreds of candies.

Although the gifts from the students were simple, it was rare for any teacher to have them organize like that. The way they gave gifts was very creative, it made the homeroom teacher happy and the impression was that the students recorded it into a commemorative video . It was even funnier when, as I was about to leave, a male student came up to me and said, "Teacher! I'm so hungry! Please give me back my milk!"

10 kg ocean tuna

In the 2023-2024 school year, I was assigned to be the homeroom teacher of class 9/5, Nguyen Trung Truc Primary and Secondary School. Located in the coastal area of Phu Quoc, the students' parents mainly live by fishing.

- Ảnh 2. — A 10 kg tuna was given by a student on Vietnamese Teachers' Day.

About 3 days before November 20, a woman called me to say that her husband had just come back from the sea and caught a tuna, and wanted to give it to the teacher. She also asked if the teacher would be at school tomorrow so she could bring it to him.

The next day, around 11 o'clock, she called me and said she was at the school gate. I went out the gate and saw her leaving the fish on the saddle. When she saw me, she smiled, gave me the fish and quickly left, only had time to say "give it to the teacher to eat".

I held the fish in my arms as if I were holding my 3-year-old child 5 years ago. Many of my colleagues looked curious at this scene. Seeing that, I told them the story. The whole group burst out laughing.

The fish was too big, so I asked the security guard to use a knife to cut it up and divide it among a few people, one piece for each person. I took the rest (more than half of the fish) home, not forgetting to invite a few colleagues to come over in the afternoon to enjoy sour tuna dish.

Teaching is a very hard job, having to stay up all night with piles of documents, lesson plans, grading papers, entering scores... and many other unnamed tasks. However, many parents and students bring me indescribable joy. The gifts are simple, but meaningful and especially they leave a deep impression on my mind.

It is the beautiful memories of Vietnamese Teachers' Day that have given me strength and confidence to firmly stick with the profession that has long been considered the noblest of all noble professions.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/niem-vui-ngay-nha-giao-viet-nam-qua-nhung-mon-qua-khong-dung-hang-185251119140131897.htm