Greetings, Family
Our class will begin this week, I hope that we will have a smooth sailing journey together.
A Personal Note
This is deeply personal for me, and I trusted you guys within my circle to keep this between us, so DO NOT share with anyone else, okay? Even though it’s on public domain :D
Typically, I would jot down these reflections in my journal but for this occasion, to motivate you guys, to hopefully ignite a flame of undying passion for learning, I would like to share a snapshot of my life. First, one of my early mottos:
My thirst for knowledge will never be quenched.
If you don’t like it, then tough luck, take this as a reading task, and I’ve highlighted the vocabulary that you’ve learned, not the new ones.
So, to mark the commencement of our learning endeavor, here are your first tasks:
This week's tasks
- First-level of recursion for new words on this reading task.
- Your comments/remarks (at least 3), send me personally or via group chat, suit you.
- Extra 2 points for those who note grammar structures used as well. An exhaustive one.
⚠️Note Minus 1 point for each vocabulary word you miss if asked. Missing means that you haven’t noted it yet.
Autobiography
Getting into Lam Son has been my most significant cornerstone so far, though I didn’t realize it, only until recently.
It’s not because of the school’s prestige or education (which, in and of itself, is remarkable) but because of the people who changed me for the better, for good.
People often tell me how “a normal person” would behave differently than I do, so I guess it’s only reasonable that my school life wasn’t typical either, lol.
Compared to my high school peers, I didn’t study as much, often doing the bare minimum or finding shortcuts to keep pace with them.
My typical day would start like this:
I’d wake up late and rush to school, couldn’t make it on time, so I’d think, “screw it,” and go buy breakfast with extra, extra toppings, leisurely enjoying every bite.
I was the class secretary, so it was easy for me to make up a lot of excuses for my 15-to-30-minute tardiness. I did this so frequently that everyone gradually stopped questioning the legitimacy. Getting away with it almost every time - the pinnacle of gaslighting, huh? =))
The daily inquiries were rather simple:
What should I eat next?
Where should we hang out after school?
Should we play Werewolves, Ribbit, or Exploding Kittens today?
Would the literature teacher let us play board games instead? I probably shouldn’t be the one bringing it up since she wasn’t particularly fond of me.We were in the middle of the game so it would suck if the flow is broken like this. A board game session typically lasts around 2 hours, but I have some teachers who are flexible enough to let us play through. That’s why I had the audacity to even consider asking in the first place, though not all teachers were as accommodating.
So, I got the habit of playing truant from this point since the regulations are so flexible and open. You have to decide what’s next for you; the temptation level is off the chart for a student, you see.
I could attend only 2 lessons in the morning, go to “quán net” to play video games, skip the afternoon lecture, and go to coffee shop with my friends, who would also skip with me =)). And i did this a lot, with leading repercussions, of course… I am so lucky to have a lot of friends of the same frequency who would do silly things with me and make so many memories together, yet I could recount them like the back of my hand.
I traveled with my class a lot, even by plane once, to many provinces in Vietnam. We even got to stay in Da Nang for 4 days during the fireworks season; that’s when I won my 3rd girlfriend, a.k.a current bff, over as well, making it kinda unforgettable for me :D. Needless to say, looking back, everything is full of laughter, joyfulness, and A LOT OF SINGING =)) that’s why I still love to do karaoke even though I don’t sing well, since it brings back all the memories subconsciously. My high school friends all used to have the same music taste. We could jam to the beat forever and do headbang.
From what I can recall, everyone was innocent and carefree in a sense, embracing every passing moment without the slightest care in the world. The inquiry of what would become of us, or what our hopes and dreams for the future were, never crossed our daily train of thought. Yet I’m certain they will become the brightest people I know; some already are, and they’re on the brink of refining their identities.
I still remember that feeling, vaguely - the way dreaming came as naturally as breathing. Now I remember someone gave us a name: 🌱Lámer
For me, high school was when the seed of my fantasies and aspirations was planted, and the mold of my true self was finalized, all stemming from those naive and untroubled experiences. None of what will be could have happened without those everlasting moments we accumulated, when we could afford to be dreamers. Those precious times shaped our dreams and aspirations, allowing us to envision a future filled with endless possibilities.
The fact that I love to play doesn’t mean I hate learning. On the contrary, my passion and curiosity for everything I do are inherently linked to my playful nature.
I always do things simply because I can, not because I’m asked or forced to.
My friends see me and ask “Why?” a lot, but I prefer the question “Why not?“.
My actions need no motives - I just do things for the sake of doing them. Even now, I follow my heart’s desires, unbounded by conventional pragmatism.
I realized some time ago that my privileges were out of this world, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything. Now, I see them as something I have to bear on my shoulders, my responsibilities. The spark of life 🌟I received should be passed down, not because I must or should, but because I want to, sincerely.
Back then, my mother brought up the idea that I should take on teaching as a profession. I used to despise that so much, claiming I hated teaching without any real reason — I still don’t know why I said that. Ironically enough, I started tutoring in 12th grade lol, and now I’m having 2 classes, so with hindsight, my mom was quite a prophet, right?
I often tell my students about my own teachers, who put me on the right track even when I had strayed far from it. That fact never mattered to them. I owe a great deal to my life sabers for guiding me back during times I needed it most, even without me realizing it at the time.
I realize that many kids would have been a lot better off had they met the teachers I once had, those who have the most unconventional methods that I can only fathom now.
I didn’t ever thank them properly, but well, better late than never. This Teachers’ Day, I did reach out to my math teacher, a bit cringed, but i still want to share:
We had a brief conversation, and he still remembered me vividly, even though it had been years since we last met, and he had had a hoard of students.
I realized that simple words can make someone’s day so I should reach out more to people I care about. He made my day and I hope I also made his.
So, where are all this going? No where in particular. I am a bit teared up as I’m writing these lines. I don’t think I have any emotional baggage but I do have a large spectrum of emotions. I attribute this sort of accomplishment to English.
Out of all the skills I’ve learned, learning English has been my ultimate cheat code. I see it as a bridge that connects me to any where, any souls across cultures.
I still remember the first time I heard lyrics in a language not my mother tongue, yet they resonated on such a deep level. I had butterflies in my stomach, a sadness so profound that it wrenched my heart. That feeling when words echo straight to the heart, not the brain — it felt like discovering an entirely new part of myself. Then the new refreshing experiences kept flowing: breaking down in tears watching tv shows, giggling at random jokes in the comments, discovering beauty hidden between the lines, and having words spiralling out of my mind that I didn’t know I possessed.
From the moment I can proudly claim English as my second language, I feel like I got a master key that unlock virtually every door. I’ve walked in the shoes of people from different corners of the world, sharing nothing but a common language, yet it was enough to foster both sympathy and empathy.
Each conversation, each perspective shared, reshapes my understanding of the world. With the advent of the Internet, it’s like having multiple lives in parallel: experiencing countless joys, struggles, triumphs, and so many unnamed emotions through the eyes of people I’ve never met. Truly a cheat code.
While this might seem commonplace to some, we fall into the category of those who weren’t entitled to it. It upsets and frustrates me to see so many may forever remain ignorant of the potential of their growth had they known one more thing.
The foreign viewpoint that reduces a language to merely a subject exists only because they haven’t witnessed its magic — how it can transform your outlook overnight. What they dismiss as “just English” is actually a portal to infinite glitches: to friendships that span continents, to knowledge that hasn’t been translated or better yet translated into this most accessible language, to perspectives that challenge everything you know, to opportunities that others can’t even see.
That’s why I like teaching now. Even though I’m still learning, I feel like I’ve got a lot to share. Knowledge isn’t meant to be hoarded like treasure — it’s meant to flow freely, like water. I’ve been fortunate enough to stumble upon this cheat code, and it would be selfish to keep its power to myself.
Okay, enough blabbering, I hope that you guys have caught some glimpse of my perspective and kudos to you for reaching here!
수고했어요. 나도.
What’s Next?
Now, you have familiarized yourself with the teachers. Let’s move on to the class guidelines.