Five years later, Van Houston Academy, the school headed by Vietnamese-American teacher Van Tan Hoang Vy, has more than 200 students. Many of them have been accepted into top universities around the world. Van Tan Hoang Vy realized this since he was a Math teacher at Sam Houston High School in the suburbs of Texas, USA. That year, the 23-year-old Vietnamese teacher had just graduated from the prestigious Imperial College London (UK), and was assigned to teach Math for the first time at a school that had been "rated as unacceptable by the State Board of Education for 6 consecutive years". He and a number of other young teachers were recruited with the hope of helping the school "change its blood". With a spirit of enthusiasm, but on the first day of entering the classroom, the 23-year-old teacher was surprised because no students wanted to do the exercises. They sat lazily on their chairs, not causing trouble, but also not responding to the lecture. The young teacher tried to give a simple graph, nearly 30 students still sat still. He continued to give the students a few calculations, many of them spread their hands out to count. Some of them did not even know how many sides a triangle had. “When I found out, I realized that it wasn’t because the students were stubborn and didn’t want to do it, but because no one in the class knew how to solve it. Although they were 11th graders, most of their knowledge was still at the 6th or 7th grade level,” Mr. Vy recalled. In the first week, all the curriculum that Mr. Vy had compiled during the 3 summer months had to be discarded. Deciding not to follow the curriculum imposed from above, he compiled it himself based on the students’ abilities and tried to fill in the gaps in their knowledge. But Mr. Vy admitted that the biggest difficulty at that time was not knowledge but the students’ will. Most of the nearly 200 students in the 7 classes Mr. Vy took over did not want to go to university. Even their parents did not care much about studying. More than 70% of the female students here were pregnant or had given birth, and there was even an 11th grader who had 3 children. “That’s very normal here,” Mr. Vy said. Having gaps in knowledge from lower grades but still being promoted to higher grades, Mr. Vy's students feel that Math knowledge is more and more strange and difficult as they advance. Being discouraged because of failing too many times makes them want to give up because they think they can't do it and will never pass this subject. "But I believe that no student wakes up wanting to be a failure. It's just that they don't have the opportunity to show off or don't know how to succeed," Mr. Vy said. Therefore, the first thing he does in his class is to help his students "taste the sweetness of success". Instead of giving them difficult Math problems, he breaks them down step by step into simple Math problems so that students can see "it turns out, I can do it too". In the process, he also gradually "patches" the gaps, rebuilds a solid knowledge foundation before taking students into more complex problems. Thanks to that, they gradually regain their confidence. During his first year at Sam Houston, Mr. Vy was always at school from 6 a.m. and left at 6 or 7 p.m. at the latest to prepare lesson plans or tutor students who did not understand the lesson that day. “I hope that students will progress step by step, always want to try and see that they can succeed,” he said. Instead of using state-wide tests, Mr. Vy also designed his own tests to evaluate students at each stage. Never getting angry with students, remembering the names and interests of each student he taught are also things Mr. Vy tried to do during his 4 years of teaching at Sam Houston. In addition, every school year, Mr. Vy also asked students to post their dreams on a board. The dreams were hung there for the whole year, a compass for them to look at and try to do whenever they felt discouraged or lost motivation. The young teacher’s dedication throughout that time also brought results. At the end of the previous school year, only 33% of students passed the Texas State Math Test; after one year, that number had increased to 98%. Some students who thought they would never graduate from high school were eventually able to get into American universities. Many of Mr. Vy’s former students have even graduated and returned to work as teachers. “He not only imparted knowledge but also helped us change our attitudes towards life, have a sense of learning and find our passion,” said Brittany Cantu, a female student who was once considered a “special” student at Sam Houston. Previously, Cantu also hated studying and wanted to give up and quit school because she kept failing subjects. “But Mr. Vy did not judge or judge me, but helped me learn how to rise up,” the female student recalled, feeling grateful to the teacher for giving her the motivation to move forward. Looking back, Vy still sees his path to teaching as a destiny. A former math major at Le Quy Don High School for the Gifted (Nha Trang, Khanh Hoa), Vy received an A-level scholarship to study abroad in the UK, then was admitted to the Mathematics program at Imperial College London. Most of Vy's classmates and many former international students chose to work in banking or medicine. He himself never thought that he would stand on the podium in the future. "Honestly, when I was in school, what I feared most was boredom. I used to think that if I taught for many years, repeating the same lesson every year, it would be very boring and a waste. Until I actually stood on the podium, I realized that my previous thinking was wrong." Vy's first time teaching was the summer of his first year at Imperial College London. He followed the professor to work as a teaching assistant, teaching students in Hackney, the poorest area of ​​London. But at that time, due to a lack of staff, he was proposed to be the main teacher. “When I was in class, I felt happy and really enjoyed this job. Before, I also worked many other jobs but none of them made me feel that way. After 3 weeks of teaching, I decided to tell my family about my dream of becoming a teacher.” Carrying that dream with him until he graduated, he had the opportunity to work at Sam Houston. Having met many weak and special students, Mr. Vy never felt discouraged. “I simply think that with good students, teachers only play a guiding role, because these students will have the ability to explore and learn on their own. It is weak students who need excellent teachers.” And most of all, for him, teaching weak students, helping them love learning and improve every day is the greatest happiness of a teacher. “Some of my colleagues cried tears of joy when they saw their students improve their final grades. I think that when you have passion for your job, you will never feel discouraged but will only think about how to help students succeed in their studies step by step,” he said. After 4 years working at Sam Houston School, including 3 years as the head of the Math Department, Mr. Van Tan Hoang Vy decided to temporarily stop teaching to focus on systematic research on pedagogy and curriculum development. His wish at that time was to spread and support more students beyond the scope of his school. In 2012, he continued to apply to Stanford University, pursuing a master's degree in Education. "Before entering the teaching profession, I had never attended any pedagogical school. Everything I did was based on instinct," he said. But after 2 years of studying and graduating with honors from Stanford, Mr. Vy began to be more confident in his knowledge and skills. That was also the time when he wanted to return to contribute to the Vietnamese community. The idea of ​​a Vietnamese school in Houston began to take shape at that time. In 2016, Van Houston Academy was born, initially operating with the “After school” model - tutoring after school hours. However, according to Mr. Vy, this model, although financially beneficial, did not have much educational significance. “With 2 hours/day, I could not retain good teachers because the income was not enough to support themselves. That amount of time was also not enough to foster real progress in students.” Therefore, after two years, Mr. Vy decided to expand the model into a full-day private school. In 2019, the Covid-19 pandemic hit, students had to stay at home, and schools switched to online teaching. Mr. Vy’s newly established school was also in dire straits because of its rudimentary facilities, unable to maintain teaching activities. That year, the school had to close, and all students were sent back to public schools. “I thought I was bankrupt,” Mr. Vy recalled at that time. But luckily, in 2021, the US government began to reopen, he decided to "save" the school by gathering 6 former teachers of the school, rebuilding from the foundation. The teachers at that time were also willing to give up all their jobs, return and join hands with Mr. Vy to "save" the school. Struggling to rebuild from enrollment, the facilities were not very spacious, but because of the teacher's "reputation" from the time of the "After school" model, many parents were willing to send their children back to study. However, there were also many doubts about a school founded by Vietnamese people. "Many people said that the school's transcripts were not recognized, so it would be very difficult to get into American universities. But I still maintained my stance, that if I do the best for the students, I will gain the trust of parents." According to US regulations, private schools must operate for at least two years to be considered for Cognia certification - one of the world's largest educational accreditation organizations. In 2022, five education experts were sent to the school to review lesson plans, curriculum, and interview teachers, students, and parents to give scores. Mr. Vy's school passed the assessment rounds with very high scores. Thanks to that, from a school with only 8 students, after 5 years of operation, the school has 200 students with 20 teachers. Currently, most of the school's students are of Vietnamese origin living in Houston. According to Mr. Vy, the mindset of parents, whether living in the US or Vietnam, still places great importance on achievements and puts pressure on their children. This inadvertently causes children to lose their passion for learning. "Changing parents' mindsets and helping them understand the educational philosophy towards the long-term development of children is very difficult," Mr. Vy said. On the other hand, sometimes the pressure from parents on their children unintentionally creates an ever-widening gap. “At this time, teachers are the ones in the middle to resolve the problems.” Having studied abroad in high school, Mr. Vy also realized that the barriers for international students are understanding the complex American curriculum and the difficulty in transitioning to a new environment. Therefore, his wish is to support and accompany them to help them easily integrate and adapt. “What I appreciate about schools in Vietnam is the community culture. Before, when I taught at Huston, I realized that after leaving school, students would no longer connect with each other because they did not have many connections. Therefore, I want to have a school where students will feel like they belong.” Every Friday at Van Houston Academy, students will have time to connect, exchange, play sports, practice yoga, etc. Students in the school also study according to their own schedule, suitable for each person's ability. They always have teachers accompanying and supporting them in their studies so that they do not feel lost when they do not understand the lesson. "Everything I do is to put students first. When I work for students, I believe that teachers will also want to stay and stick with me. And, it is the results that students achieve that will make parents trust the quality of training at the school," said Mr. Vy.

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Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/cuu-hoc-sinh-chuyen-toan-mo-truong-tu-dau-tien-cua-nguoi-viet-o-my-2292737.html