It’s never too late to learn

Judging by age and experience, these “students” from Hanoi are really at the top of the class. They meet once a week and take English lessons. Silver hair is living proof that you’re never too old to learn.

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“My name is Nguyên Thi Thanh Đà, 81 years old. I spend time practicing English”. Slowly word by word m^me Đà repeats aloud the English sentences she wrote in her notebook.

In a small room full of chairs and tables in Hai Ba Trung Ward, Hanoi, she is learning English with other elderly people, something she would never have imagined a few years ago.

A special class

“I wanted to join this class when it opened because I didn’t have the opportunity to learn English when I was youngShe shares. Studying at this age is very difficult. Our hearing is diminished. Our eyes are less efficient. However, I am overcoming all these obstacles because I want to learn”.

The class takes place every Tuesday, with the youngest student over 60 and the oldest 86. Class members come from different backgrounds but share one thing in common: a thirst for knowledge.

La Thi Song, 76, lives 10 km away. It takes almost an hour to get to class by bus, but she has never missed a lesson in the past four years. “Even if it rains, I always go to class. Learning is fun and keeps my mind active. It is good for old people like me”she says.

Nguyen Van Anh, 81, the only man in the class, says: “When Venerable Thich San Quang created this class to encourage the elderly to learn English, I was very excited. I wanted to learn new things and improve my knowledge, so I enrolled from the very first days.

Mr. Anh and his wife Nguyên Thi Lôc decided to convert a room in their house into a classroom. Ms. Lôc recalls the difficulties she faced at first. “I don’t know a word”she recalled. “But I didn’t want to give up, so I practiced reading English words over and over again”she adds.

Thanks to his continuous efforts, his pronunciation skills have greatly improved. His score on the English Learning App reached 100 points for correct pronunciation.

The road to mastering English is long and arduous for these exceptional students, but they find it enjoyable and rewarding.

“The simple fact of memorizing a sentence or a word makes me happy”, Says Mr. An. “Sometimes our family throws birthday parties for our grandchildren. Earlier I couldn’t sing Happy Birthday with them. We sat down and clapped hands. But now we can sing with them and it’s really nice.

M^me Although her vocabulary is still modest, it says that it still helps her a lot. “For example, in the beginning, when I watched TV, I didn’t understand anything in English”, she says. “But now, when we see an English word, we can understand. Or when going to the airport, read the signs and tell what’s being sold at the fast food restaurant. This is how we use English in our lives”.

Hai Yên teaches a girl to read.

Photo: CL/CVN

Unlike a regular English course, the lessons here focus on pronunciation and simple vocabulary to help learners understand basic English.

Phùng Hai Yên, 30, class teacher, clerk in insurance department. She joined the class after asking her friend who was too busy to transfer her.

Although she is not a professional English teacher, she is happy to continue her work. “I was very touched by the strong desire to learn from my former students”, Yên says. Every week, she gives two English lessons to the seniors: one on Tuesday morning and one in the afternoon.

There are three presidential courses and some online courses for those who cannot attend. During the COVID-19 pandemic, all classes were offered online.

“It was difficult at first because my older students did not study English. Therefore, it had to be taught carefully and repeatedly, sentence by sentence, word by word. Then gradually, after a couple of months, they naturally fell in love with the language.she says.

Despite the challenges, Yên is happy to have dedicated students with whom she can teach many subjects. “My students work hard. Their hard work and enthusiasm motivates me and helps me overcome difficulties”, Yen says. Sometimes they ask homework in the evening. Such a state of mind prompts me to continue passing on some of my meager knowledge.

Huong Linh/CVN