Ms Nguyen Thi Thanh Thuy and Literature class 11-14

Ms Thủy is a humorous and comfortable person. She always keeps a smiling face and has great stories about life. She has many friends and to her, friendship is among her first priority. She does not like cakes but when her students make her some, she still enjoys them. She is fond of the "Kim Anh" tea. She has a simple but beautiful apartment. Her birthday is on March 8^th. And she is the only one to call me "the silly monitor".

Ms Thuy's on her birthday  celebrated by Literature class 11-14

I am fortunate enough to attend her extra class and even though it was only a short period of time, she had made a good impression on me. It was my impression towards her apartment, my dream home. It was my impression towards her stance and her way of talking. She is not the stereotype of a gentle Literature teacher as many people thought t; she was quick both in her actions and her words. That's how she usually shouted at me for being “silly” just to smile, creating a livelier atmosphere. That's the way she talked about a good Literature learner: "Literature learners have to be good at listening in order to grasp all the ideas from the teachers and they should never copy the work of other students". That's the way she talked about a good excerpt: "It must be concise but still able to convey all the ideas". That's the way she came up with the idea for the introduction and conclusion of any topics with selective words and impressive expressions in just seconds. That's the impression of me about a teacher who knows everything about the Vietnamese literature, who is a teacher of immense erudition, a Vietnamese living dictionary, a source of folk verses, proverbs and dozens of famous quotations of many people in the world that one ought to understand.

Ms Thuy's photo on the website: Hocmai.vn

To many students, attendingextra class is never meant to be fun and pleasant; but to me, it was such a pleasure to come to her house every Friday afternoon to attend her class. There, I could fulfill my duties admirably of a monitor such as serving tea for her every lesson and preparing coffee for other students. There, I could have time to share with her and talk to her about my daily life, which helped me to dispel all the pressure I was suffering from. She usually told me about her profile picture on the website Hocmai.vn, commenting on the photo: "I looked too serious, it was so unlike me!".

Ms Thuy and her students

In real life, Ms. Thủy might not be the strictest teacher, but the most energetic and optimistic teacher I have ever met. During the time I was Ms.Thuy’s  monitor, I got to know her more, to know about all the stories that she told about her previous classes. All these things made me determined to get in her class at school, and I once told her: "I will get into your class and I will become your "silly monitor" for the next three years. If that won't happen, I could be your secretary and serve you tea every lesson. I promise".
Now, my dream of becoming a Literature student might never come true, and she would have another monitor, another secretary that could never be as "silly" as Mrs Thủy once described me. Maybe, determination was not enough and I still needed a little bit of luck to overcome a quarter of a point in order to be in her class. Sometimes, a dream will forever be just a dream.

But every Monday and Thursday, there would still be a cup of hot tea on her desk that I brought to her because even though I might be far away, a promise is still a promise and even though I do not study in her class anymore, she is still my favorite teacher and it will always be like that.

On the occasion ofVietnamese Women’s Day, I would like to wish you good health, beauty, optimism towards life and having more and more students who love you like I do.

Author: Mai Trang – Physics2  14-17

Translator: Le Quang  - English1 14-17