A 9X teacher

After graduating from the Hanoi Foreign Trade University, Nguyen Lan Anh, 23, spent a year studying and working in Japan. After that, she left for Australia to attend a 2-year training course for a master’s degree in teaching English to foreigners.

Rejecting good job opportunities in Japan and Australia, Anh came back to Vietnam to work for Nguyen Sieu Secondary School in Hanoi.

“Teachers not only provide knowledge to students. They can influence students’ personality and help them grow up,” Anh said.

After school hours, Anh teaches English at foreign language centers in the evening and on weekends, which helps improve her knowledge. 

She fears that she may lag behind students. Anh said urban students now begin learning English at a very early age. 

Some sixth graders at her school plan to study abroad and often ask her for advice on what books they should read. To help the students, Anh said, she has to update information continuously.

Unlike teachers of old times, who struggled to become a civil servant to enjoy lifetime recruitment, today’s teachers want to work in a more modern environment at international and private schools.

Diem Hien, 26, a teacher at Marie Curie Primary School, said she has been working for three private schools since she graduated from a pedagogical university. 

On weekends, the teacher often attends foreigners’ talk shows to improve her English and practice soft skills. The young teacher also teaches Vietnamese to foreigners and works as a tour guide.

9X (born in the 90s) teachers, in students’ eyes, are those who receive western education, have good foreign language skills and treat students like friends.

At 9:45 pm on some week days, Nguyen Thanh Huong, 27, is on livestream correcting mistakes in students’ works. The videos attract thousands of likes and hundreds of shares.

Huong said she can interact with students, days and night. Being an online teacher, she has had to ‘sacrifice’ some hobbies, including gymnastics.

Doan Huong Mai, a lecturer at he biology faculty of Hanoi University of Natural Sciences, surprised students when they discovered that she drives a pink Hello Kitty car, the color usually favored by teenagers. But she is an experienced lecturer with an associate professor title.

A female graduate told Mai that she sometimes felt tired because of difficulties in her life, but when seeking the pink car on Facebook, she felt the joy of living.