The Heart of a Teacher: Something Machines Cannot Replace

In an online English class, dozens of small squares appear on the screen, each student from a different land: Ha Giang, Quang Tri, Tay Ninh, to Ca Mau. Teacher Le Hoang Phong's voice rings out softly but clearly, "AI can help you learn faster - but only your heart can help you learn deeper."

The above quote means "AI tools can help you learn faster, but only your heart can help you learn deeper." The online classroom was silent for a few seconds. In an era where artificial intelligence (AI) can write essays, grade grades, and measure emotions, many teachers still quietly retain what machines cannot replace: the heart of the person teaching the class.

The teacher patiently teaches each student at the night class at Hong Duc Primary School, Phu Dinh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City.

PHOTO: THUY HANG

Light sources in night classes

In Phu Dinh Ward, Ho Chi Minh City (formerly District 8), every evening of the week, at primary schools such as Nguyen Cong Tru and Hong Duc, the lights of literacy classes and general education classes are lit up. There are no computers, smartphones, no ChatGPT or AI for students to ask, teachers to consult, only the patience of teachers, silently holding each student's hand to teach them to write the letters a, ă, â, b, c...

In night classes, students are often over 20 years old before they can go to school to write the first strokes of first grade. There are students who are 16, 17 years old, who sell lottery tickets, serve noodles, and clean for hire during the day, and at night they can go to general education classes to learn math and Vietnamese for second and third grades. Many students are slow learners, they learn first and forget later.

AI can teach us how to learn, but only humanity can teach us how to live.

Teacher Le Hoang Phong, Director of YOUREORG organization

Many children come to class with their minds still in turmoil as life outside is difficult and struggling. Teachers also ask for rice, fish sauce, salt, sugar, milk, etc. from benefactors to give to the children. Without enough patience, tolerance, and kindness, many teachers would not be able to overcome the difficulties to bring letters to children, helping to change their lives.

"AI helps me love more"

Teacher Le Hoang Phong (33 years old) was an orphan, growing up in the SOS Children's Village in Ho Chi Minh City, and was very weak and slow in learning English. But it was that slowness that made him deeply understand that "there are no "stupid" children, only children who have not been taught in a way they understand". From that belief, he founded YOUREORG, an educational organization for disadvantaged students, orphans, and youth in difficult areas.

Over the past 5 years, he and his colleagues have brought the program "Breakthrough IELTS: From Adversity to Achievement" to thousands of students who do not have enough money for extra classes but have the will to succeed. In these classes, teachers not only teach students IELTS test-taking skills but also focus on teaching thinking skills, which will accompany students throughout their lives.

Mr. Phong (red shirt) with the Community of Practice of School Leaders of the Teach For All network in Chile, August 2025

PHOTO: NVCC

After the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr. Phong's classes began to experiment with the flipped classroom model and later applied AI in the classroom: automatic pronunciation marking, voice analysis, vocabulary suggestions, conversation simulation... But the young teacher did not let technology lead, but let people lead the technology. He shared: "I do not wonder or worry about whether AI will replace teachers, what I care about is how AI can help us listen more deeply to students. Because I understand that AI can evaluate which student's scores are increasing, which student's are decreasing. But only a teacher's heart is sensitive and caring enough to find out why a student is silent for a long time or suddenly neglects studying, what difficulties he is having."

"Once, our online learning system reported that a student in Phu Tho had not interacted for 3 consecutive lessons. I texted him, "Are you okay?" The student replied, "My computer's camera is broken, but I can still hear the teacher's lecture." So it's not that AI is helping me teach better, but it's helping me love more," Mr. Phong shared.

Last September, Mr. Phong was invited by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCDO) to attend the launch of the Global Charter on Children's Care Reform, during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 80) week in New York, attended by British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy and many other international leaders. When he heard Mr. Lammy say, "Every child deserves a family, not an institution," he felt his nose sting, because he was once a child in an SOS children's village. The disadvantages made him strive even harder on his journey of education because he understood that education, if truly meant, is the journey of giving each child the right to belong.

True education, even in the midst of hardship, in a night class, in remote villages where the internet is still unstable, children are unfamiliar with smartphones and new iPads, with just a pen, notebooks and a dedicated teacher, children can step out into the world.

Therefore, teacher Phong shared: "I don't think that to be successful in the AI ​​era, every teacher or every education company needs the most complex applications and software. But there is one thing that is always needed, in every era, which is the heart of the teacher who is constantly worried and moved. In a world where machines can do many things, from writing, composing poems, grading, what always makes many teachers proud is each message from a student saying "teacher, I passed the university entrance exam", "teacher, I have the job of my dreams"... AI can teach us how to learn, but only human love can teach us how to live".

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/trai-tim-nguoi-thay-dieu-ma-may-moc-khong-the-thay-the-185251113160732945.htm