Say 'no' to homework during Lunar New Year so students can have a proper holiday

Sharing with VietNamNet , Ms. Tran Thi Kim Ngan (teacher at Kim Lien High School, Hanoi ) said that homework is a task that students must complete after learning knowledge in class every day, helping to consolidate knowledge and skills of that day's lesson. Therefore, homework is short-term, ending after each session.

With such a main purpose, during holidays like Tet - which is the time when everyone is off, Ms. Ngan usually does not give extra homework to students.

“I always hope that students will have a Tet holiday “without homework”, so that they can spend 100% of their time and mind “learning” more knowledge and traditional cultural values of the nation during Tet,” Ms. Ngan said.

Ms. Ngan said that we should not worry too much about not giving homework during Tet because students will lose knowledge after the holiday.

“When students have studied seriously, the series of homework assignments after each day has helped transform short-term memory into long-term memory. With the knowledge already put into long-term memory, students can remember everything by just repeating it,” Ms. Ngan shared.

Therefore, according to Ms. Ngan, giving homework to students during Tet is unnecessary, to avoid creating unnecessary stress and pressure.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Tung, Principal of MV Lomonosov Secondary and High School (Hanoi), also said that even in the case of students forgetting part of their knowledge, it is normal for this age group. If they forget, teachers can completely support them again after Tet. Most of the time, teachers spend a small amount of time to restart students' learning according to the established learning schedule.

“From an adult perspective, during the holidays, none of us want our offices to assign us any additional work, so that we can have a complete holiday. The same goes for students, they should have a proper holiday,” said Mr. Tung.

Therefore, Mr. Tung thinks it is not necessary to give a series of heavy, rigid homework assignments in many subjects to students during Tet.

“As long as during the prescribed study time, students study hard and complete the tasks assigned by teachers with concentration, that is enough to develop the necessary abilities and qualities,” said Mr. Tung.

"Let students have a proper Tet holiday!"

Mr. Nguyen Cao Cuong, Principal of Thai Thinh Secondary School (Hanoi), said that instead of giving homework, teachers should give tasks to students.

“Tet is an opportunity for students to rest and reunite with their families. During the whole school year, students have basically carried out learning and educational activities and really need time to rest and relax with their families during Tet. This is also an opportunity for students to experience traditional Tet activities. Therefore, we should not assign too much homework so that students have to do homework every day or have to do a lot of homework before and after Tet.

This is also not suitable for the psychology of students. Therefore, instead of giving a lot of homework, teachers should give them tasks. For example, assigning tasks to learn about Tet customs and practices, what students do with their families to celebrate Tet... Besides, teachers can also assign tasks related to studying, but at a light level, such as cleaning the study corner, lightly reviewing knowledge of the subjects of the first week.

According to Mr. Cuong, teachers also need to pay more attention to students through discussions before Tet holiday. Through that, teachers can educate, advise, and remind students about ensuring traffic safety, food hygiene, etc. "Teachers can also educate students so that during Tet holiday, they can practice greetings, New Year wishes, or good deeds at the beginning of the year... From there, students can preserve good traditions," said Mr. Cuong.

Teacher Nguyen Quang Tung believes that if we assign tasks to students during the Tet holiday, we should only make sure that they learn about the customs and practices of Tet in a gentle way. “We can assign tasks for students to help their parents with housework during Tet because that is both educational and helps to connect family members,” said Mr. Tung.

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