Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Xuan Dien was awarded the title of outstanding foreign lecturer by Sichuan University of Foreign Studies, the only school in western China that teaches Vietnamese.
For the past 14 years, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Dien has been teaching Vietnamese at Sichuan Foreign Studies University (SISU), Chongqing City. He is the first Vietnamese lecturer and also one of the founders of the Vietnamese language department at the school.
"Fate brought me to Chinese and to China. Later, it was also fate that helped me become a Vietnamese language teacher," said the 46-year-old teacher.
Associate Professor Dien currently teaches Spoken Language, Vietnamese Grammar, Business Vietnamese and Vietnamese Literature.
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Xuan Dien, lecturer of Vietnamese language department, Sichuan University of Foreign Studies, Chongqing city, China. Photo: Provided by the character
In 1992, after graduating from junior high school in Lai Chau, student Dien went to Hanoi, studied Chinese at the Foreign Language High School, then graduated from the University of Foreign Languages, Hanoi National University. After that, teacher Dien studied for a master's degree in Wuhan, China, in 2002.
In 2009, SISU opened a Vietnamese language major. Loving the teaching profession, he applied and was accepted. Mr. Dien chose Chongqing partly because his classmate, now his wife, was originally from there.
The Vietnamese department at that time had three lecturers, two of whom were Chinese. Because it was newly established, the department lacked everything from teachers, textbooks, materials, and experience in teaching Vietnamese.
"Everyone had to figure it out on their own, starting from scratch," he recalls. The first class had 25 students, but most of them were transferred from other majors. Students came to class feeling forced and frustrated.
"That made me think. How to arouse passion, inspire and spread Vietnamese language and culture?", Mr. Dien shared.
Mr. Dien (fourth from right) with Vietnamese language students at the school's international cultural festival in 2021. Photo: Provided by the character
According to Mr. Dien, the biggest difficulty for students when learning Vietnamese is the lack of a practice environment. At that time, provinces bordering Vietnam such as Yunnan and Guangxi were booming with Vietnamese language majors, and exchanges were quite favorable. Inland areas such as Chongqing, economic, cultural and educational exchange and cooperation activities with Vietnam were still limited, and there were not many Vietnamese people living there.
Because Vietnamese and Chinese grammar are quite similar, and the two cultures also have many similarities, Mr. Dien believes that as long as students dare to speak and speak a lot, they can improve their Vietnamese proficiency. To make students actively and proactively interact, he always creates a comfortable atmosphere, trying to use Vietnamese as much as possible. Mr. Dien also goes to universities in Chongqing, searching for Vietnamese international students, connecting with his students.
"That method is very effective," said Mr. Dien.
In addition, he exposes students to Vietnamese through movies, music, television shows, folk games, and most closely, through cuisine. Not knowing how to cook, but wanting to attract students, he learned how to make spring rolls, pho, and bun cha. For dishes he didn't know how to make, he called friends and relatives in Vietnam for instructions. Students often gathered at his house to cook traditional Vietnamese dishes, then ate and chatted together.
Ms. Ta Loi Chau, a student in the first Vietnamese course, is now a colleague at SISU with Mr. Dien. Ms. Chau said that at that time, social media was not yet developed, so students only studied from the textbooks compiled by the teachers.
"We learned the same way Mr. Dien instructed us to. After class, we stayed to review our lessons and asked him how to pronounce Vietnamese," the 31-year-old lecturer recalled.
Having studied with Mr. Dien since his first years, La Kinh, a fourth-year student, can now converse fluently in Vietnamese. The male student said that Mr. Dien is good at Chinese and always enthusiastically guides students on how to pronounce Vietnamese most accurately. La Kinh admires Mr. Dien and also dreams of becoming a Vietnamese language teacher in the future.
"Teacher Dien is very close to the students. Whenever we have any problems, we boldly ask him," said the male student.
As for Quach Yen, a first-year graduate student, studying Translation and Linguistics with Mr. Dien. Yen was impressed by the teacher's easy-to-understand and engaging teaching method.
"We all like to study with him. If there is anything that students don't understand, he patiently explains it again," Yen said.
La Kinh, a student of Vietnamese language department, Sichuan University of Foreign Studies, shares about Mr. Dien's teaching method. Video: Provided by the character
The Vietnamese Department of Sichuan University of Foreign Studies has so far graduated more than 10 undergraduate courses. Since 2014, the department has added a master's program. The number of undergraduate and graduate students in the department is currently more than 100. In addition to the four basic language skills, the department has opened many more courses such as Business Vietnamese, Vietnamese Literature, Spoken Interpretation, and Written Interpretation.
Seeing Chinese students increasingly love and care about Vietnamese, Mr. Dien is happy because his efforts are being rewarded. On the occasion of the Chinese Teachers' Day on September 10, Mr. Dien was awarded the title of outstanding foreign teacher of the school.
"I always consider inspiring Chinese students to learn Vietnamese and learn about Vietnam's country and culture as my career. I hope to become a bridge to promote the development of relations between the two countries," said Mr. Dien. His two children are also taught Vietnamese by their father and speak Vietnamese every day to always remember their roots.
Dawn
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