On the first day of grade 10, just like other students, I joined 10Geo’s line with a feeling of fret. I can never forget the special way she asked us to introduce ourselves back then, the way that at times we still bring to mind. Each student was asked to stand on the pulpit and introduce his or her personal information together with 3 strengths and 3 weaknesses. The person who later became our class’s leader volunteered to take the stage first. Although that was the first time I met Ms. Huong, I felt like the distance between us had disappeared when we together laughed out loud at those unique introductions. Somebody said that his hobbies were to eat, sleep and study; other was humorous when saying that his foible was studying, leading to her question: “A student’s mission is to study, so how can it be your weakness?” that made the whole class laugh out loud. For my part, I just stayed in my seat waiting. When it was my turn to come, my heart beat really fast, but her encouraging glance helped calm me down and gave me the courage to come and introduce myself to the class. On allocating class board’s roles, she assigned me the position of a team leader; she also commended me on my handwriting, which delighted me long afterwards. Our 10^th grade with her was so complete!

Ms. Huong and my classmates’ photo pose on our trip to Vietnamese Traditional Tribal Village in grade 10

Grade 11. People often say “Monsters come first, Ghost come second, and Students come third”. It was impossible to avoid the naughtiness of that third group - the naughtiness that led to my teacher’s upset sometimes. Lessons seemed to get noisier. Pages left blank in notebooks. Late specialized classes in the afternoon. All of them made her sad. That year, I was chosen to be a part of gifted student team city level, and I felt so lucky to be granted the chance. Although afternoon lessons were exhausting, we still tried our best, knowing that she was putting great trust in us. We also came to understand her more through several small talks and sharing.

Grade 12. We are “oldest” in school now. The day we went to work outdoor in our school’s “Geography village”, a miniature weather station, it was drizzling. She still stood there giving the lecture regardless of the rain, even trying to cover us from it. She was very considerate, too. Sometimes, in the afternoon, she bought us food so that we got our energy refilled for our lessons.

One of my classmates shared: “Although there is more than a generation between us, you are very considerate and supportive in many of our activities. Your lectures are very far-fetching and useful in helping us solve geographic problems which will be difficult if we have to look into them ourselves.”

For my part, perhaps words cannot describe my emotions when I think about you. On behalf of our class, I want to send to you our thanks and apologies. We want to thank you for tolerating us naughty kids, for strictly teaching us to be responsible for our acts then giving lenient advice, for always being ready to help us in all times. We are also sorry for the times we upset you with our childish acts, for the times that we make you sad.

On celebrating Vietnamese Teachers’ Day 20^th  of November, students from class 12Geo would like to express our greatest gratitude to you for your considerateness. You are always in our heart!

Reporter: Hong Anh – Geo 1316

Translator: Mai Anh – English1 1316