Teacher Trinh Ngoc My, born in 1999, is currently a lecturer in the English Theory group, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hanoi University of Science and Technology. Ms. My was recruited in May, becoming the youngest lecturer at Hanoi University of Science and Technology at present.

“Becoming a lecturer at the school from a student is something I have long cherished,” said Ms. My.

With a father who is a former student of the Automation Department of Hanoi University of Science and Technology, Ngoc My often heard stories about "Bach Khoa people" and without knowing when she considered "Bach Khoa as home". Therefore, after finishing high school, the student majoring in Literature at Hanoi National University of Education High School decided to take the entrance exam for the English Department of Science, Technology and Engineering at Hanoi University of Science and Technology.

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Teacher Trinh Ngoc My is currently a lecturer in the English Theory group, Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hanoi University of Science and Technology. (Photo: NVCC)

Right from the moment she entered the school, Ngoc My was impressed with the teaching style of the lecturers of the Foreign Language Department and began to dream of one day standing on the podium, teaching the subjects she was studying.

To gain experience, from the third year, My applied to be a teaching assistant for English centers, while trying to maintain her grades and master specialized knowledge.

Admitting that she is an introvert, during her 4 years of university, there was a period when My achieved a perfect score of 4.0/4.0, but still did not receive a scholarship because of the lack of accumulated points from extracurricular activities. That was also the reason My realized that it was time for her to "break out of her cocoon".

“I dreamed of becoming a lecturer, but if I were an introvert, I wouldn’t be able to communicate with students. With the encouragement of my teachers, I started to open up more and actively participate in clubs and extracurricular activities,” Ngoc My said.

With a clear direction, during her graduation thesis, My learned about the criteria for recruiting lecturers at the Polytechnic. In addition to a master's degree, candidates need to have a second foreign language certificate and scientific research capacity.

Immediately after graduation, My enrolled in a 2-year joint master's program in English teaching at Hanoi University and Canberra University in Australia. During this time, she also studied for the second foreign language certificate. Because she had a foundation in Chinese in college, it took My only 3 months to achieve the HSK4 and HSKK intermediate certificates. At the same time, she completed her master's program and received her degree.

After passing the application round, My went through an admission test to test her general knowledge, professional knowledge, and trial teaching. In May 2024, Ngoc My was recruited and became a lecturer at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hanoi University of Science and Technology.

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Ms. My is currently the youngest lecturer at Hanoi University of Science and Technology. (Photo: NVCC)

Hired at the end of the semester, during the summer, Ms. My actively observed the lectures of the Foreign Language Department to learn from their experiences and attended professional meetings. By last September, Ms. Ngoc My officially taught her first course related to Language Theory for English Language students.

As a “gen Z” lecturer, with her youthful appearance, Ms. My was often mistaken for a classmate by students, and was even invited by students to do group assignments together. Later, whenever she had class, she chose to wear more business clothes to “hack” her age.

However, according to Ms. My, the advantage of “Gen Z” lecturers is that they can easily share and talk openly with students. Every time she starts teaching, she often starts with a story about her life or shares about her years as a Polytechnic student.

She also regularly receives questions related to future orientation, difficulties, experiences in writing graduation theses or choosing a master's program... Sometimes during the lecture, the young teacher intersperses a few "trendy" languages ​​to dispel the tense atmosphere when students have to receive a large and difficult amount of specialized knowledge.

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As a “gen Z” lecturer, Ms. My has been mistaken for a classmate many times by students. (Photo: NVCC)

Becoming a lecturer at the school she used to attend, Ms. My became a colleague of the teachers who taught her. For her, sitting with teachers to exchange professional experiences was a very different experience than sitting in class listening to teachers lecture.

However, according to the female lecturer, this is a great learning opportunity. “For example, with the dry and boring nature of language theory subjects, learning from teachers how to make the subject more approachable and easy to understand for students is essential,” said Ms. My.

In addition to teaching, the female lecturer is also actively involved in scientific research. Since May, she has had 1 personal scientific article and 2 co-authored articles with research directions on language theory. The young teacher aims to continue her doctoral studies and strives to teach well subjects related to language theory.

A 26-year-old man in Bac Giang quit his stable job, retook the teacher training exam and scored 29.45 points . Realizing his desire to stand on the podium and become a Literature teacher, Thanh decided to quit the job he had been doing for the past 3 years to retake the teacher training university entrance exam.