Opening experiential spaces

Winter winds bring a “bone-chilling” cold covering the highland villages. In the classroom at Trung Thu Kindergarten, Sính Phình commune, teacher Nguyễn Thị Son is still engrossed in decorating the rural Tết market experiential corner. With experience after many years of teaching in difficult areas, this is one of the “secrets” maintained by Son to keep students in class every time Tết approaches.

She confided: “Just a few years ago, every time Tết approached, students would restlessly stay at home. To organize teaching activities according to regulations, we had to travel back and forth to each house to call and transport them to class. But now that scene is gone. The children are more eager and excited when coming to class with new learning corners and experiential corners.”

Speaking while walking through each corner of the classroom and the school campus, Son shared the results achieved by herself and the school teachers. Simply consisting of vegetables, tubers, fruits, shoes, traditional costumes, and packets of jam and cake, all are cut, pasted, packed, and arranged entirely by the skillful and creative hands of the teachers.

In another class, teacher Điêu Thị Lệ and over 20 students of combined kindergarten class B2 are bustling with the activity of decorating firework paintings for Tết. Lệ said that this is one of the experiential lessons created by her and teachers in the school to innovate teaching and learning methods, attracting children to enthusiastically come to class and study during the holidays. “The children all show great interest and excitement with activities like this. Through this, we expect to help children develop creativity, contribute to spreading the traditional Tết atmosphere, bring joyful and meaningful learning experiences, and stimulate the children’s desire to go to class and school,” Lệ shared.

At Tủa Thàng Kindergarten No.2, Tủa Thàng commune, Tết experiential corners have been a regularly maintained activity for many years. At each school site, the experiential corner carries a different “color,” corresponding to the cultural colors of the indigenous people. “Also consisting of peach blossom trees, cakes, traditional costumes, or local agricultural products, but each region and ethnic group has differences. Depending on the creativity of each person, the teacher in charge of the village site will design and arrange it accordingly. The experiential corner creates a Tết atmosphere and is also an experiential activity that stimulates the curiosity and creativity of students,” shared Principal Trần Thị Phương.

According to Phương, by participating in experiential corners, students learn and have a more diverse perspective on the culture and colors of traditional Tết in different regions and ethnic groups. This is an occasion for children to transform into characters and create stories to better understand customs and communication relationships during Tết, such as the custom of giving lucky money, welcoming guests on New Year’s Eve, and exchanging Tết wishes.

Exciting Tết atmosphere

For many years, the festival of wrapping chưng cakes and experiencing traditional Tết has become a familiar activity organized by many schools in Điện Biên province. The square chưng cakes cakes, entrusting the affection of teachers and students, are always something expected by students in difficult areas.

Kicking off this year’s chưng cakes wrapping festival, from January 9 to 11, at the provincial Ethnic Boarding High School, a series of ethnic Tết events linked with the cultural festival took place. The event created an interesting playground for the school’s teachers and students, with the companionship of parents and artisans of ethnic groups, helping students understand more about traditional culture in the locality.

Participating in the festival, teachers, parents, and students immersed themselves in a miniature picture of the life, activities, and culture of the community of 19 ethnic groups in the province. The whole schoolyard was filled with spring colors, with 7 display spaces. School students dressed in Hmông, Thái, Lào, and Hà Nhì ethnic costumes, enthusiastically and bustlingly participating in folk games associated with the highland spring festival such as: wrapping chưng cakes, pounding banh giay, sap dance, and xoe dance.

Principal Vũ Trung Hoan said: “This is not the first year we have organized Tết experiential activities, but this year the event takes place on a larger scale, associated with the cultural festival of ethnic groups. Through this, creating more playgrounds for students to have diverse experiences about Tết, helping them alleviate homesickness, and at the same time, it is an opportunity for students to connect and understand more about the cultural beauty of regional ethnic groups.”

At Trần Văn Thọ Ethnic Boarding Primary School, Mường Nhé commune, for many years, the chưng cakes wrapping festival has always been expected by generations of students. Principal Phạm Văn Khiêm stated: This school year, the school has nearly 1,000 students attending, the majority of whom are children of ethnic minorities. Especially among them, there are nearly 350 boarding students.

“Previously, on days approaching Tết, students often longed to go home, so they could not rest assured to study. However, since having Tết experiential activities, this situation has decreased significantly. Instead of skipping school to go home early, they eagerly ask teachers if they will get to wrap chưng cakes this year,” shared Khiêm.

According to Khiêm, each year the school chooses a different theme, but wrapping chưng cakes is an indispensable activity. This is an activity that always attracts the excited and eager participation of students. The warmest stage is boiling the cakes. Teachers and students gather around the fire, waiting for the cakes to cook. Some years the school also organizes homemade fashion contests and campfires for students to participate in before leaving for the Tết holiday. In particular, the year-end meal warm with teacher-student affection is always an unforgettable memory when studying and living at the “common home.” Khiêm explained: “The school’s boarding students are mostly of Hmông ethnicity with difficult lives. Many children do not even know what the flavor of Tết is like. Therefore, for many years, the school has always maintained organizing a year-end night with many activities as a way of sharing and contributing a full Tết to students’ families.”

Although not included in the specific direction of the Department of Education and Training, for many years, early Tết activities for students have been organized by school facilities in Điện Biên as extracurricular activities. Not only the chưng cakes festival, but cultural activities and folk games imbued with the colors of Tết in each region are taking place increasingly diversely and excitingly, especially in schools with boarding students.

Based on actual conditions, each school will organize Tết celebrations with different scales and forms, suitable for students and regional cultural traditions. Through this, helping ethnic minority students, even though living in remote villages, to have a diverse perspective on customs, practices, and traditional festivals during Tết of the Vietnamese people. And especially, they always feel and consider the school truly their “second home.”