[Vietnamese Teachers' Day -20/11] Mr Khuat Duy Dung – Our “second father”
I soon had the chance to meet Mr Khuat Duy Dung a year before I was admitted to Hanoi – Amsterdam High School. At that time, I was still a 9th grader who was urgently revising for the test for Ams’ History major – my long-lived dream. During that strenuous revision period, I had a deeper understanding about him, the person who then became the respectable homeroom teacher of our class 10History.
Mr Dung when he was younger (Source: Labor Newspaper)
I remember on the first time I met him, a feeling of nervousness and shyness suddenly stroke on me since on the one hand, he had quite a hard glint and on the other hand, I had never had the chance to meet and talk to him. However, I was mistaken… Hidden behind those hard glint and imposing figure were deep affection and vivid passion towards students. During my revision period, I had a lot of unforgettable impressions and memories about him. I was impressed by his interesting and passionate teaching style and all the deep experience he gave after each lesson. He always told us that in order to study History well we needed to link historical events and get all the main points of those occurences when reading and analyzing the assignment carefully. Such advice proved to be of much usefulness; it helped me to pass the entrance exam and get a place in Hanoi – Amsterdam High School.
On receiving the news that he was going to be our History class’ homeroom teacher for the next three years, I was both happy and excited. I was happy because I was already familiar to his teaching style but at the same time excited since I did not know if he would be different in the position of a homeroom teacher. And then, I finally got an answer for myself: He is such a wonderful teacher! During school time he is so open to us that I feel there is no more distance between him and us; he is like our “second father” who guides us through interesting pages of History. In his lessons he usually tells us some stories familiar to our everyday life so that we can have a deeper understanding of the issues he is talking about.
Mr Dung passionately giving a lecture to his students
Not only does Mr Dung have a lot of knowledge and experience about teaching, he is also a teacher with great sympathy towards his students.When he sees us tired and fatigue in our extra specialized lessons, he never says a word of reproval; instead, he just inquires after us “So have you had lunch yet?”, “Why do you look so worn-out? Did you go for a football match at noon?” and then tells us meaningful stories about life to refresh us so that we are back to our most comfortable state of mind and continue to be engaged in landmarks and important lessons of Vietnamese and World History. Never has he scolded us severely; in addition, he does not point directly to those who cause troubles but speaks by hints so that they can draw the experience and rectify the mistakes themselves. He tells us: “Now you’re all grown-ups, it is essential to have self-esteem”.
Mr Dung always keeps a close eye on every single activity of our class. After each week, on every Monday, he draws out all the good points we have made and all the weak ones that need to be rectified; after such time we all tell ourselves to improve and behave so that he does not need to worry about us anymore. Hardly is there anything about our class that he does not know; he even knows exactly the names of those who are often late for class (although they are not late for his). He often reminds our class’ leading group to keep a close eye on each member of our class and maintain classroom’s discipline.
Mr Dung also expresses his concrete opinion to us: “Playing is playing, and studying is studying; you should play to the fullest, and study in the same way.” He is a man of discipline who works methodically, but at the same time he often joins us passionately on our fieldtrips. On our 2-day-and-1-night trip to Tuyen Quang, he was extremely enthusiastic and effervescent.When we invited him to sing a song, not only did he agree but he also sang for us very beautifully; in the evening, when we invited him to dance with us around the bonfire, he danced so enthusiastically that we were all excited and had a really good time.
Mr Dung (on the right)
He is always an enthusiastic person
We know that there are still times when we upset him and make him worry about our studying and disciplinary problems, but: “In our hearts, we all have special affections for you.We love you very much! Please continue to be our “wonderful sailor” and guide us through rivers of obstacles and challenges!”
On celebrating 20th the November, we would like to wish you good health and hope that you will keep on good work and love us more!
Reporter: Quang Minh – History 14 – 17
Translator: Mai Anh – Eng1 13 - 16
