I inherited Vietnamese education.

Associate Professor Dr. Ngo Tuyet Mai - the only Asian teaching English pedagogy at Flinders University, Australia, shares her concerns about how to make students happy when they go to school.

Portrait of Vietnamese Associate Professor who received the Excellence in Teaching Award in Australia

Sharing with Dan Viet Newspaper, Associate Professor Dr. Ngo Tuyet Mai said: "I am an associate professor researching teachereducation and training. Therefore, I hope to cooperate with many partners in Vietnam and especially the Institute for Education Research and Human Resource Development (EDI) to have specific projects to realize happiness in education for every school, classroom and learner."

Associate Professor Dr. Ngo Tuyet Mai graduated with a Master of Education from the University of Sydney in 2000 and a Doctor of Education from the School of Education, University of New South Wales in 2014. She received the Beth Southwell Award for Outstanding Doctoral Dissertation from the NSW Institute for Educational Research in October 2014. She successfully completed her postdoctoral research in 2016 at the University of New South Wales.

She is the only Asian lecturer teaching English Language Education in the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Flinders University, as well as in South Australia.

Phó giáo sư người Việt nhận giải Giảng dạy xuất sắc ở Australia: — Associate Professor Dr. Ngo Tuyet Mai received the Outstanding Teaching Award in Australia. Photo: NVCC

Inspired by her mother who was a teacher and learning English from her father, Mai’s love for languages and teaching grew from a young age. As a result, her research interests include teacher social well-being, happiness-based teaching and happiness in education. Associate Professor Dr. Mai received the Flinders University College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Teaching Excellence Award in July 2021 and the Vice-Chancellor’s Teaching Excellence Award in December 2022. She is the only lecturer at the university to receive this award for her innovations in hybrid face-to-face and online teaching methods.

Recently, in April 2024, Associate Professor Dr. Ngo Tuyet Mai was recognized as a Senior Fellow of the Advance Higher Education Organization. This is an international professional recognition for her achievements according to the UK Standards Framework for Teaching and Learning Support in Higher Education.

Associate Professor Dr. Ngo Tuyet Mai is currently a lecturer at Hanoi University, teaching TESOL and research methods at the postgraduate level; she has also successfully guided TESOL Master's students and taught interpretation and translation skills at the undergraduate level.

She is also the co-founder of Smart Learn Solutions, sharing advanced educational methods with teachers at home and abroad.

Professor with the concern of "Every day at school is a happy day"

Speaking further with Dan Viet newspaper reporters, Associate Professor Mai said that he came to Australia at the age of 40, so he affirmed: "I am a Vietnamese person who inherited Vietnamese education."

She added: "Every day at school is a happy day" is a popular slogan in most schools in Vietnam. This slogan represents the aspiration of Vietnamese schools to turn learning into a happy experience for students. However, in reality, many modern schools in Vietnam still focus on intellectual education rather than emotional education, emphasizing teachers' imparting of professional knowledge, students' acquisition of knowledge, developing intelligence (IQ) and achieving high scores, while neglecting social-emotional intelligence and basic soft skills necessary for students' pursuit of sustainable happiness."

According to Associate Professor Mai, what she wants to educate both the heart and the mind is essential to nurture students who develop a love for sustainable learning along with solid social, emotional and academic skills. For every day at school to be truly a happy day, all factors and stakeholders in the education system, including policy makers, school leaders, teachers and parents need to coordinate and cooperate to promote comprehensive development and put "happiness" as the central goal of education through".

Associate Professor Mai also affirmed: "Happiness in education is not only in Vietnam but also in many other advanced countries in the world , including Australia, that are trying to find it because each student has their own happiness. Therefore, teachers must be happy people. Every day, teachers should ask themselves what they will put into the happiness bank of their students. It can be a smile, compliment, comment, encouragement... If teachers are not happy, they cannot help anyone be happy."

Source: https://danviet.vn/pho-giao-su-nguoi-viet-nhan-giai-giang-day-xuat-sac-o-australia-toi-thua-huong-giao-duc-viet-nam-202411301708074.htm