Câu chuyện thay đổi
With 16 years of experience in education, Mr. Hoang Van Don has met and taught many generations of students. Nevertheless, the academic year 2020-2021 perhaps marked the most special milestone in his career as he moved to Co Rao Elementary School in Tu Do Commune, Quang Hoa District, Cao Bang Province. He was, for the first time, assigned to teach students with disabilities to integrate in society. Taking on the task as the homeroom teacher of Huy Nhat's Class 3A, at first, Mr. Don faced a lot of difficulties in helping Huy Nhat integrate into the learning environment.
Nguyen Huy Nhat, Tay ethnic, was born in 2012 with Down syndrome. The first impression of Nhat is that he was a timid boy, often hiding behind his parents. Although Nhat was nine years old, he looked smaller than his peers. His perception was only equivalent to that of a 2- to 3-year-old kindergarten child. Friends of his age could write short paragraphs, while Nhat could only write the letter O and say simple words like mother, grandmother, and father. When being asked about various colors, he answered orange. Teachers who had taught Nhat before all had the same feeling of difficulty and embarrassment, not knowing how to handle it when Nhat often screamed in class, suddenly walked out of the room, or spoke loudly in class when not allowed, which interrupted the class.
Photo 1: Mr. Don was practicing teaching a lesson on interventions for students with disabilities in a training class on Operating Instructions for Inclusive Classroom on October 24, 2020. Photo by Nguyen Huyen Trang - ACDC officer
Mr. Don shared: “At first, I was very confused about how to build a plan that suits students with disabilities, how to choose content to get the best results, how to make students with disabilities cooperate in class…”. He also spent time researching online materials on inclusive education for children with disabilities, but it was not effective because he hadn’t found out how to understand the abilities and needs of children yet. Although Mr. Don did not participate in the training course on inclusive education for kindergarten and elementary school teachers from the beginning, he joined the retraining course and then became the core teacher of Co Rao Elementary School. In the training class, he actively studied and discussed with counselors and trained teachers to be capable of practicing teaching methods and skills in order to integrate Nhat into ordinary schools. After the training course, Mr. Don happily admitted that: “I have learned how to develop an individualized education program and find out the abilities and needs of the students, thereby building a lesson plan suitable for students with disabilities and adding excitement to the lessons”.
Photo 2: Mr. Don was teaching students with disabilities the letter C in a lesson on interventions at Co Rao Elementary School on March 17, 2021. Photo by Ton Thi Tam - Educational Specialist, ChildFund Vietnam
It is recommended to attend a lesson on interventions of Mr. Don to precisely know his love for the students. Nhat was arranged to sit at the front desk so that the teacher could best support him. The individualized education program Mr. Don built for him became more logical, specific, and clear as Mr. Don understood the capabilities and needs of Nhat. Now, Mr. Don can not only take care of other students in the class but also devote his time to assigning exercises suitable for Nhat. At the same time, he has acquired the skills of problem solving in making Nhat follow the rules more. Every time after finishing a task, Nhat raises her head and calls out: "Don! ...". The way Nhat calls him is so simple like friends yet full of his trust and love for the teacher.
All the hard work and dedication of Mr. Don and the active cooperation of Nhat’s family and the school pays off in the end, and Nhat has improved a lot. Now, Nhat is happy, social with his friends and bolder when communicating with strangers. Nhat shows his good cooperation with the teachers and concentration in the class. So far, Nhat can hold the pen to write the letters O, A, and C by himself, and read them out loud. Nhat also likes coloring and is able to name the red color. His family is also delighted when Nhat comes back from school, he consciously greets his parents and grandparents, and can also say complete sentences to tell what happened in class. Particularly, Nhat is able to help his mom with some simple house chores, such as setting up the dining table, washing the dishes, etc.
Photo 3: Huy Nhat and his mother were attending an event to celebrate Vietnam Day of Persons with Disabilities in Quang Hoa District, Cao Bang Province on April 17, 2021. Photo by Phan Ngoc Viet - ACDC officer
In the near future, Mr. Don hopes the project will provide more teaching equipment as well as diversify story books and other teaching aids for the inclusive classroom at Co Rao Elementary School. Thus, the teacher will have more useful learning materials to design creative, rich, and interesting lessons for Nhat in accordance with his capability and needs, so that each lesson can be a more effective one.
In order for inclusive education to be truly effective and sustainable, its implementation should be paid attention to, included in the guiding documents and plans of the education sector, and integrated in periodic briefings, surveillance and reports.
Although these changes are minor, all made up such a difficult journey with many hardships and joys that Mr. Hoang Van Don has come through in particular, and of the teachers of Co Rao Elementary School and Huy Nhat's family in general. Hopefully, the future of education in the highlands of the country will be getting brighter, so that NO ONE WILL BE LEFT BEHIND.
