Creating a Vietnamese-speaking environment for ethnic minority students.
For nearly 30 years, Ms. Luong Thi Minh, a teacher at Mon Son Primary School in Mon Son commune ( Nghe An province ), has primarily taught first grade. For students in remote, border areas, mostly children of ethnic minorities, the initial challenge is that many are not yet proficient in Vietnamese, while their mother tongue remains the primary language of communication at home and in the community.
To help students become familiar with the common language, Ms. Minh focuses on developing listening and speaking skills right in the classroom. The teacher encourages students to communicate in Vietnamese through sentences and paragraphs; organizes lively learning activities, tells stories, and guides them in reading stories to create interest and form the habit of using Vietnamese.
“Right from the moment the children entered first grade, we helped them get acquainted with the new learning environment and establish initial routines. Although I am also a teacher from an ethnic minority group, I limit the use of my mother tongue in class, instead encouraging students to speak Vietnamese and actively participate in activities,” Ms. Minh shared.
In addition to classroom instruction, teachers also communicate with parents, encouraging families to increase conversations with their children in Vietnamese to give them more opportunities to practice. Thanks to this frequent exposure, students gradually become more confident in communication, meeting the requirements for using Vietnamese by the end of first grade.