Inspiring reading for students in mountainous areas

Students of A Ngo Primary and Secondary School enthusiastically volunteered to participate in the program - Photo: TN

In early April 2025, an extracurricular program to inspire students to read books with the theme "From the book to the world - A journey without a passport" was held for the first time at A Ngo Primary and Secondary School, leaving an impression on many people.

Returning after talking to the students of this school, Ms. Nguyen Thi Hai Oanh - founder and operator of Amazing English Tour (AET) LLC shared: “Although studying in a small school in a remote area, the students here have a very positive energy. They are innocent, pure, eager to learn and very attentive to listen. They are green shoots that are eager to grow with knowledge. I am also very impressed by the dedication and passion of the teachers here. They are always proactive in finding opportunities for their students to access new sources of inspiration,” Hai Oanh shared.

Teacher Ngo Duy Hung, Vice Principal of A Ngo Primary and Secondary School, said that in the 2024-2025 school year, A Ngo Primary and Secondary School has 590 students, the school has 4 campuses, which are quite far apart, so this extracurricular activity can only have nearly 300 students from the main campus attending. Currently, the school library has quite a variety of story books and reference books for students from grades 1 to 9.

According to the daily reading schedule, students can go to the library during class or read books in the classroom. However, because the library is only located at the main school, at the satellite schools, the school arranges bookshelves in the classrooms or in the teachers' waiting room. "The students here are all ethnic minorities, with difficult family circumstances, and parents do not have the conditions to care for, guide or buy more books for them to read.

Therefore, reading mainly takes place in class and in the library. Understanding the disadvantages of students in remote schools, library staff often coordinate with homeroom teachers to rotate and exchange books in schools to help students have maximum access to books. The biggest difficulty is on rainy days, transporting books to remote schools is very difficult," Mr. Hung confided.

Students of A Ngo Primary and Secondary School answer questions from Ms. Hai Oanh, who inspires them to read books - Photo: TN

Over the years, to help students access and choose the right books and form reading habits, in addition to arranging reading sessions at the library, the school also organizes activities, competitions, and extracurricular programs on reading and learning about books.

In response to the Book and Reading Culture Day 2025, in addition to judging the Student Reading Handbook products (the school's annual competition), the school contacted AET to organize an extracurricular activity to bring a new breeze to students in reading books, reading culture through real stories of real people, real events, overcoming difficulties in studying to succeed like today by Ms. Nguyen Thi Hai Oanh - founder and operator of AET. At the same time, it helps students have a new approach to books.

With a natural storytelling style, Ms. Hai Oanh shared with the children the journey of efforts of a "village teacher" with an initial class of only 2-3 students to become the founder and operator of AET - a pioneering enterprise specializing in organizingeducational tours - learning English through experiences for students aged 8-17 in rural areas of Vietnam. From her own story, Ms. Hai Oanh shared about the journey of reading books to develop herself, discover her inner strength and open the door to the world through entrepreneurship and lifelong learning.

Ms. Oanh also analyzed reading habits in the digital age, arousing the awareness of “reading to not be left behind”; suggesting to students how to maintain the habit of reading every day, a small change but creating a great momentum for the future. “You should start with what you want to read, what you want to discover, even if it is a comic book associated with your childhood.

At that time, children will see reading as a way to enjoy and relax because they do what they like. Gradually, when they get used to reading regularly, they will want to read more and naturally form a habit. And to maintain the habit for a long time, children should make it a habit to read at a certain time of the day for at least 30 minutes," Ms. Oanh emphasized.

In order to create role models for students in the school to follow, teachers at A Ngo Primary and Secondary School have actively mobilized external resources to build and maintain reading habits for students. A typical example is Ho Thi Ngan, a student of class 8A, who received a monthly sponsorship of 300,000 VND from the Thien Nhan Van Scholarship Fund to buy books and support school supplies.

This support helps Ngan access many good books, which she then introduces to her classmates and schoolmates. “Each book gives me valuable lessons and different emotions. When reading, I often write down what I learn through the characters in the book and what the book mentions. This not only helps me remember longer but also accumulates more useful knowledge,” Ngan said.

Thuy Ngoc

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/truyen-cam-hung-doc-sach-cho-hoc-sinh-vung-cao-193348.htm