Life Lessons
Written by: Tran Thi Ha Nguyen, Nguyen Huu Nghia, Nguyen Thuy Le Hang, Luu Cong Dinh, Phan Thi Phuc Thu.
If a stranger approached me and offered to buy me an ice-cream, I’d say no,” said one young pupil speaking on behalf of a group of students. “Otherwise he might kidnap me and demand money from my parents for my safe return.”
“We agree with them,” said the nominated speaker for a second group. “But we also talked about how a kidnapper might injure a child and then force him or her to beg for money, which he’d take,” she continued. “People are more likely to give money to an injured child.”
The youngsters were speaking beyond their years at a life skills training session, focusing on self-protection and confidence building, held for third-graders at a primary school in Ho Chi Minh City.
During the 45-minute class, the children played games, performed role-plays and discussed topics in groups. The activities were based on potential real-life situations and all the pupils participated in them actively, enthusiastically and confidently.
“I like being at school when we have classes like the life skills one because I can play with my
friends and study at the same time,” commented one student. “I like answering the teacher’s questions about the real world and what I’ve learned will help me in life.”
Most of the students’ parents are poor labourers living in District 8 of Ho Chi Minh City and do not have time to take proper care of their children’s education or teach them life skills.
With technical support provided by World Vision, the staff of Hung Phu Primary School organised two series of training courses on life skills for 28 classes in all grades. The teachers have also integrated life skills tuition into their regular lessons and hold weekly meetings for the children.
The school is an example for other schools in the district to follow in terms of life skills training and its principal, Ms Hue, is pleased with the positive changes World Vision’s support has brought about.
“Our teachers have participated in many training courses on life skills, which were organised by World Vision,” Ms Hue said. “We were also given some materials and stationary to use to make teaching aids on our own,” she added.
“Our students are the ones who’ve benefited from the support the most,” she continued. “Their lessons are more involving, so they’re more interested in learning and they seem more confident too,” the principal concluded.
The school plans to encourage all its teachers to be creative in making their pupils more excited about their classes in the future.