While teaching English at a university under the Ministry of Public Security, Lieutenant Vu Van Chinh, 42, volunteered to come to the border commune of Nam Ban in Lai Chau to work in November 2023 following a programme launched by the ministry to help develop areas facing difficulties.

His free English class was opened right after he arrived at the new workplace.

"Working in this remote mountainous commune, I've seen that children have little chance to access English," he said. "So, I proposed to local authorities to launch a free English class for local students during my free time. And I started it right after receiving permission."

The classroom was opened last December for the first six secondary students in a makeshift room of a local family with some tables and desks donated by a nearby school. Chinh teaches every Thursday evening, and Saturday and Sunday mornings.

"I used to be an English teacher for 11 years so it wasn’t hard to get back into it," he shared. "The only obstacle here is the lack of teaching materials. But I have enthusiastic students who have greatly improved over the past four months."

One of the students, Lo Thi Chi, said that Chinh's class was exciting and she was delighted to attend it.

"I'm Thai ethnicity and I used to be very shy as both my Vietnamese and English skills weren’t good," Chi said. "But I've become more open since attending Chinh's English class. He's encouraged us to use the language through many exciting activities my Vietnamese and English skills have improved a lot since studying with him."

Photo by Tienphong.

The teacher admitted that he faced difficulties interacting with his students as they all were from ethnic groups and their Vietnamese language skills were limited.

"I've introduced lots of activities for them to interact with and encouraged them to use the languages as much as possible," he said. "And they’ve improved a lot."

Chinh said he first intended to help some secondary school students improve their English so they wouldn’t be behind when they went to high school. However, he realised that children also lacked life skills.

“I'm going to add life skills to my English class to teach children other social skills so that they can protect themselves from school violence and drugs, which are hot issues," the policeman said.

Nam Ban Commune People's Committee Vice Chairman Nguyen Van Dai, said that local people highly appreciated Chinh's contribution to the area.

"More and more parents have registered to send their children to Chinh's class," the official said.