Special handwritten letter travels over 2,000km to teachers on remote island

TPO - Traveling more than 2,000km, crossing two ferries, is the journey of a handwritten letter sent from the border region to the island commune. The writer of the letter is a teacher who has more than ten years of "sowing letters" to ethnic minority students.

TPO - Traveling more than 2,000km, crossing two ferries, is the journey of a handwritten letter sent from the border region to the island commune. The writer of the letter is a teacher who has more than ten years of "sowing letters" to ethnic minority students.

At the ceremony to honor the program "Sharing with teachers" in 2024 (evening of November 15), a border letter sent to a remote island was introduced. The letter was handwritten, traveled more than 2,000km, and then crossed 2 ferries to the only island commune in Ho Chi Minh City - Thanh An commune (Can Gio district).

The writer of that special letter is teacher Quang Thi Xuan (born in 1990, Thai ethnic group) - Vice Principal of Muong Lan Primary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities (Muong Lan commune, Sop Cop district, Son La). The recipient of that special letter is Ms. Quang Thi Thu Cuc - teacher of Thanh An Kindergarten (Can Gio district, Ho Chi Minh City).

Ms. Quang Thi Xuan interacted at the commendation program on the evening of November 15. Photo: Xuan Tung

Sharing the reason for writing this special letter, Ms. Quàng Thị Xuân said that she wanted to better understand teaching and learning on a remote island; the journey of overcoming difficulties to sow knowledge for students.

Ms. Quang Thi Thu Cuc said she was very moved when she received a letter from a colleague from a mountainous, border area. Through the letter, Ms. Cuc felt the distance between the border and the islands "getting closer".

"Through the letter, I understand better the work and difficulties of my colleagues working in the mountainous areas like Ms. Quàng Thị Xuân has experienced. Through that, the difficulties of teachers in our island commune are also lessened," said Ms. Cúc.

According to Ms. Cuc, the difficulties in her teaching journey in Thanh An island commune are much smaller than the difficulties of her colleagues who are teaching day and night on the outpost islands and border areas of the Fatherland.

Ms. Quang Thi Thu Cuc - the person who received the letter from the border. Photo: Xuan Tung

Handwritten letter to teachers on a remote island by Ms. Quàng Thị Xuân.

Sowing letters on the border

Within the framework of the program "Sharing with teachers" in 2024, in early November 2024, we had the opportunity to visit the border district of Sop Cop and visit the school where Ms. Xuan is working.

Muong Lan Primary Boarding School for Ethnic Minorities is located in a particularly difficult commune of the border district, with a high rate of poor households. The distance between the schools and the commune center is from 5 to 14km, and the roads are bumpy.

Ms. Quang Thi Xuan has worked at Muong Lan Primary School for 12 years. Ms. Xuan said that since she was a child, she loved being a teacher to teach children how to read and write, and she wanted to follow in her family's teaching career. After graduating from Son La Pedagogical College in 2012, the young Thai teacher was assigned to teach at her hometown school.

Ms. Quang Thi Xuan has spent more than ten years "sowing letters" to ethnic minority students. Photo: P. Linh

According to Ms. Xuan, during her work, she encountered many difficulties and challenges due to language barriers, many ethnic minority students could not distinguish between the common language. Every new school year, she and many colleagues had to go out to persuade parents and students to attend school regularly, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

In addition, the school’s facilities are limited and classrooms are dilapidated. As a boarding school, students stay at school and need support and guidance from teachers. “The area is large, the number of students and teachers is large, although it is very difficult, I always try my best for the career of educating people that I have chosen,” said Ms. Xuan.

Muong Lan Primary School for Ethnic Minorities has the largest number of students in the district with 54 classes and 1,489 students. Most of the students are Mong ethnic people. The school has 1 main campus and 7 satellite campuses; there are 76 teachers and staff. I myself am the Vice Principal and have only been working as a manager for 1 year, my management experience is still limited, so there are certain difficulties," said teacher Quang Thi Xuan.

Up to now, Ms. Xuan has been constantly creative in her work, using many initiatives and good models in the teaching process.

In particular, there are solutions to improve learning interest and effectiveness through organizing warm-up and connection activities in teaching Vietnamese for grade 5 students; solutions to practice reading in the right reading subject for grade 5 students in the whole Sop Cop district.

Ms. Quang Thi Xuan has had many initiatives and solutions applied to teaching Vietnamese. Photo: P. Linh

During his work, he was awarded a Certificate of Merit by the Ministry of Education and Training and the Provincial People's Committee, and many certificates of merit and certificates of merit by the Emulation Council at the provincial, district and communal levels; 4 years of achieving the title of "Emulation Fighter at the grassroots level"; Title of "Excellent teacher at the provincial level" in the 2020-2021 school year.

Xuan Tung

Source: https://tienphong.vn/buc-thu-viet-tay-dac-biet-vuot-hon-2000km-cua-co-giao-chia-se-cung-thay-co-post1691893.tpo