(Skkn 2023) using local cultural heritage to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning english for moutainous students

NGHE AN EDUCATIONAL AND TRAINING DEPARTMENT TUONG DUONG I HIGH SCHOOL ------ TEACHING EXPERIENCE “USING LOCAL CULTURAL HERITAGE TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING AND LEARNING

NGHE AN EDUCATIONAL AND TRAINING DEPARTMENT

TUONG DUONG I HIGH SCHOOL

- -

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

“USING LOCAL CULTURAL HERITAGE TO IMPROVE THE

EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH FOR

MOUTAINOUS STUDENTS”

Subject : English Author : NGUYỄN THỊ VÂN

Group : English Tel: 0943533035

School year : 2022-2023

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART 1: THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL BACGROUND 2

1.2 Meaning and organizational methods of using cultural heritage in

2.4 The students’ learning situation on the education of conservation

and development consciousness local cultural values in Tuong Duong

district

9

PART 2: THE SOLUTION ABOUT USING LOCAL CULTURAL

HERITAGE TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ENGLISH

TEACHING AND LEARNING THROUGH

EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES AT TUONG DUONG 1

HIGH SCHOOL

10

1 Raising teachers' awareness in improving the effectiveness of

teaching English through local cultural values in high schools

10

2 What can the teacher do to help students preserve local culture

heritages and improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning

11

English?

2.1 The process of organizing extracurricular activities through

3.1 Survey about students' learning attitudes after the lesson 24

3.2 Survey teachers’ opinion about the urgency and feasibility of

solutions on using of local cultural heritage to improve the

effectiveness of teaching and learning English for students in the

I INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

Nowadays, language teaching concentrates on what students want to learn rather than on what is to be taught It can be said that the attitude and the initiative from the students are the main activity in the classroom The success of students in the classroom is the main goal of teaching and learning activity Many factors influence students in the classroom One of them is culture It is important to relate language to the culture because language must be treated in a social context It means that learning a language cannot be separated from learning the culture

Resolution No 29-NQ/TW requires a strong innovation in teaching and learning methods in a modern direction, promotes the positivity, initiative, creativity and application of learners' knowledge and skills; overcoming one-sided imposed communication Moving from studying mainly in the classroom to organizing diverse forms of learning, paying attention to social activities, extracurricular experiences, and scientific research

As an English teacher, I think that contributing to the comprehensive renovation of education, towards achieving the aforementioned goals, the use of local cultural heritage in teaching in high schools, is extremely important Through learning English and getting to know about different cultures, students can understand and love the language and culture of their people better Thus, the use

of local culture heritages in teaching in the classroom, especially learning at the heritage site, not only helps students develop their foreign language skills, improve their speaking and writing skills but also has an understanding of the local cultural

As a result, raising awareness of heritages preservation and patriotism among students could make a contribution to the development of the homeland Such are attractive extracurricular activities for high school students when experiencing local culture sites Aim of these activities is encouraging students to learn more about historical sites, traditional costumes, and indigenous cuisines By these, students could apply experienced lessons into practical life and this is considered as a way which encourages students to efficiently exposure to local culture and history

Tuong Duong 1 high school is located in a mountainous district being to the southwest of Nghe An province There is no doubt that teaching and learning English is difficult because the students are mainly ethnic minority Therefore, I believe that combination of experiential activities with teaching projects in teaching English is essential Such learning activities will help students actively and proactively acquire new knowledge, improve their self-study skill, understand and apply the knowledge learned from practice to preserve local cultural heritage, gain the patriotism, and promote positive values of local culture

In order to help students to deeply recognize, and have the right attitude and behavior to the issues of preserving the local cultural identity where they live, as well as learning to accumulate knowledge and improve the quality of English

teaching in the context of reforming the country's education, I choose the thesis

“Using local cultural heritage to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning English for mountainous students”

2 Aims of the study

- By including local culture in the teaching and learning process, it is expected that students will be aware of their own culture and able to learn English better since they are asked to describe something they know very well

- Educating students to love their hometown and country In addition, students have senses of protecting, promoting local culture to the domestic and international community

- From the results of students’ learning, teacher can assess the abilities and qualities of students

3 Scope of the study

- The study is concerned about investigating the Local Culture values in Tuong Duong district and the effectiveness of using them in teaching and learning English

- The study was going to be conducted at Tuong Duong 1 high school, and class 10C1, 10C2, 10A1 were asked to participate in the study

4 Methods of the study

In order to achieve the above- mentioned aim and objectives, the answers to the research questions that are presented below should be found:

1 How does local cultural heritage helps the mountainous students improve their English learning?

2 What are teachers and students’ suggestions for using local cultural heritage to improve students’ English learning?

5 Significance of the study

* Theoretical aspect: It is hopefully expected that this study would make a

little contribution to help teachers and students realize the essential role of using local cultural heritage in English language teaching

* Practical aspect: with the results of the study, it is hoped that teachers and

students would make some improvements in the English teaching and learning method The research finding indicated that bringing local culture in English language teaching would build up learner’s cultural knowledge, awareness, and competence

II RESEARCH CONTENT PART 1: THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL BACGROUND

1 Theoretical background

1.1 Basic concepts of culture heritage

According to the open encyclopedia Wikipedia: Cultural heritage is the heritage of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society inherited from previous generations, maintained to the present and for generations

to come Cultural heritage includes cultural property (such as buildings, landscapes, monuments, books, works of art, and artifacts), intangible culture (such

as folklore, traditions, languages, and knowledge), and natural heritage (including culturally important landscapes and biodiversity) Cultural heritage can be defined

as the legacy of physical artifacts (cultural property) and intangible attributes of a group or society inherited from the past Cultural Heritage is a concept which offers a bridge between the past and the future with the application of particular approaches in the present Due to its attached values for these groups or societies, cultural heritage is maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations

+ Characteristics of Vietnam's cultural heritage

Vietnam's cultural heritage is the values crystallizing from the cultural creativity of the community of 54 ethnic groups, undergoing a long historical process, being transmitted, inherited and recreated from many generations to the present day Vietnam's cultural heritage is a culturally diverse landscape, a valuable asset of the Vietnamese ethnic community and a part of humanity's cultural heritage Vietnam's cultural heritage plays a great role in building and keeping nation of our people

Vietnamese cultural heritage is the creative value of learning, exchanging and inheriting from the cultures and human civilization These values are a smooth combination of the culture and culture of humanity with the long-standing indigenous culture of the Vietnamese people

Vietnamese cultural heritage, especially intangible cultural heritage, has a strong vitality, which is being preserved and promoted in the life of the Vietnamese ethnic community

local communities Furthermore, and though they are physical objects, they help shape the aspirations, values, and beliefs of a person’s national identity.

Intangible cultural heritage is practice, representation, expression, knowledge, Intangible cultural heritage is practice, representation, expression, knowledge, or skills, they are considered by UNESCO to be part of a place’s cultural heritage Buildings, historic places, monuments, and artifacts are cultural property Intangible heritage consists of nonphysical intellectual wealth, such as folklore, customs, belieft, traditions, festival, traditional craft smanship, knowledge, and language, Intangible cultural heritage is considered by member states of UNESCO

in realation to the tangible World Heritage focusing on intangible aspects of culture

1.2 Meaning and organizational methods of using cultural heritage in teaching and educating in high schools

Significance: Cultural heritages, whether in tangible or intangible form, can

be used in the teaching process in the form of creating environment, tools or as a source of materials to build teaching and educational content

In the form of the tools and teaching equipment, cultural heritage helps students' learning process become more attractive, they are interested in learning and understanding lessons more deeply, developing creative independent thinking, ideological and moral education for them It can be affirmed that heritage is a source of awareness, a valuable visual medium in teaching in particular and education in general The role and significance of using heritage culture in teaching

in high school is specifically reflected in the following aspects:

* Contribute to promoting and guiding cognitive activities for students

* Help students develop learning skills, self-acquire knowledge

*Stimulate students' cognitive interest

* Develop students’ intelligence

* Educate students’ personality

*Contribute to the development of a number of life skills in students such as communication skills, active listening skills, ideas presentation skills, cooperation skills, critical thinking skills, responsibility skills, goal skills, time management skills, skills in searching and processing information

* Facilitate for teachers and students to organize the activities in a reasonable way

Organization method:

• Integrating the content of cultural heritages teaching into education subjects in education program

• Build plans and organize teaching related to cultural heritages and lead students to learn and exploit other contents of cultural heritages through materials

Choose the appropriate form of teaching organization:

- Teaching in the classroom or organizing extracurricular activities at the school;

- Organizing English club about local culture

- Organizing sightseeing – experiencing cultural heritages;

- Teaching through media, multimedia

- Choose appropriate teaching, testing and evaluation methods in order to promote the positivity and initiative of students in understanding and exploiting the values of cultural heritage

- Popularize and guide the usages of heritage documents in teaching in high schools compiled by the Ministry of Education and Training

1.3 Some cultural features of Tuong Duong district

- Tuong Duong mountainous district is a poor district in category 30a of Nghe An province consisting of six ethnic groups: Thai, Mong, Kho mu, O Du, Tay Poong and Kinh living together, creating richness and diversity in tangible and intangible cultural life As recognition that the culture is the background of economic development, local authorities have concerned and focused on improving citizens’ mental life standard in the recent years For example, Van temple festival which is hold in the early spring is recovered with the true mean of custom and minority ethnics groups’ satisfactory in spiritual demand In 2006, Van temple was recognized by Nghe An Provincial Committee to be historical- cultural heritage site and Van temple festival has become cultural feature of Tuong Duong district in which local people organize festivals to pray for favorable rain, peaceful life and organize folk games, cultural exchanges to meet and exchange sentiments The ethnic groups live in Tuong Duong still retain typical identities such as the O

Du ethnic group with the new year thunder ceremony, the Thai ethnic group with a special wedding ceremony, the Kho Mu ethnic group with the celebration of the new house, the Mong ethnic group with the early spring buffalo fighting…

- Recently, authorities have focused on directing 137 villages to organise mass art teams, to revivify ancient wedding custom of Thai group at Chan village, Thach Giam commune, to research and restore the Xang Khan festival of the Thai people in Cha Luan village, Luan Mai commune and the festival of Van temple - Cua Rao, Xa Luong commune Simultaneously, they have researched and developed a number of cultural characteristics of the Kho Mu ethnic group, opened crafting classes and instructed the use of a number of ethnic musical instruments,

organized classes to popularize the O Du language in Vang Mon village, Nga My commune

- Every year, the district cultural department organizes a contest of folk singing, folk dance and folk games to enhance the community's senses of responsibility and passion

- The local authority also invests in building traditional houses, collects and stores all kinds of items, musical instruments and costumes of ethnic groups residing in the area Moreover, models of pure ethnic culture villages were built with aims of creating favorable spatial conditions for the preservation of cultural identities of each ethnic group At the same time, the district also advocates to restore and expand a number of traditional crafts such as brocade, knitting in Thach Giam, Xa Luong, Nga My commune

2 Practical background

2.1 The community

The process of regional and global integration has resulted in an increasing demand for English language teaching across Vietnam Before the 1990s little attention was paid to the teaching and learning of foreign languages in general and English language in particular At that time, Russian was the dominated foreign language Today, however, the role of English in Vietnam has undergone considerable changes English has rapidly become the most popular foreign language in the country

Like in other provinces and big cities there is a strong support for the learning of English in Nghe An province People need English for purposes such as foreign trade or in order to further their study and to gain access to scientific, technical and literary materials Therefore, they learn English at schools, colleges, extra classes, and training centers etc Concerning the status of English in the curriculum, it is taught as one of several foreign languages available to students within the school system However, in practical terms, it may be recognized as the most important foreign language

However, it is worth noticing that despite the support and preference paid to English learning, the students’ only aim of studying a foreign language is to pass the University Entrance Exam If they intend to apply for colleges or universities which do not require an English exam for admission, they will naturally ignore English In this case they are forced to learn the language just in order to pass the final exam because in fact the students in Nghe An rarely have a chance to communicate with foreigners, which means not having an environment to use the language Moreover, in recent years, secondary school students’ focus has shifted

to sciences, natural sciences in particular, rather than a foreign language

In short, English language is not easy to learn for students, and many mountainous students lost motivation to learn this language which they felt

difficulties Therefore, educators always investigate the best methods for teaching English language for students In ( Johnson, 2002: 25) states that contextual teaching and learning helps students see meaning in the learning of academic material by connecting academic subject with the context of their daily lives including their personal, social, and cultural circumstances In this case, cultural circumstances as part of students’ daily life should be included in the materials or lesson plan in the teaching of English By including local culture in the teaching and learning process, it is expected that students will be aware of their own culture and able to learn English better since they are asked to describe something they know very well

2.2 The teachers

Most of the teachers were graduated from Vinh University, or Ha Noi national university No teacher of English in the school has ever been to an English speaking country and few of them have chances to communicate with native speakers All of the teachers are highly motivated because they neither want to be dismissed by the school nor disappoint their students

2.3 The pupils

Most of the students are ethnic minorities They come from the remote area

of mountainous districts Their living condition is poor The investment in education from their families, therefore, is not good sufficient The factors contributing to the low result are that the basic of lower secondary school is poor, the students’ skills are not good due to regional characteristics, and especially their personal feeling in English is not good, either Most parents are not aware of the importance of English in the current society, so investing time and money in learning English at an early age is not enough This is also the reason why the results of the General Certificate of Secondary Education Examinations are normally low

*The reality, the drawbacks of teaching and learning English and local culture heritage in Tuong Duong 1 high school

Tuong Duong 1 high school is the place where many children of different ethnic groups such as Thai, H’Mong, Kho Mu, Thai,… Therefore, ethnic minority students still find difficulties in language barrier; many of them pronounce Kinh unclearly, so communication between them is difficult Thus, many students also feel self-deprecating, not confident enough to communicate with students outside the same age Due to the characteristics of students living away from their families,

it requires students to be highly independent, but the number of friends who can do

so is not much Many students also think that because of difficult family circumstances, the path to starting a career later will be difficult, so they only learn

to cope, there is no orientation for the future leading to reduced study results That

is a concern, also the worries of teachers and students

Besides, a part of teachers is not clearly aware of the Ministry Of Education and Training‘s innovative policy on the use of heritage in teaching, leading to asynchrony in teaching There are some teachers who are afraid to innovate, passive in researching and designing lessons

Using heritage in teaching English in particular and subjects in general has become a common trend in the comprehensive renovation, so it receives support and attention from all levels, departments, as well as social organizations, parents and students Moreover, facilities for teaching and learning foreign languages in schools are significantly enhanced such as equipped with language classrooms, projectors, computers, televisions, radio speakers

Table 1: Grade 10 students' entrance exam results in school year 2022-2023

4 to 5

Scores from

5 to 7

Scores from

*Chart 1: The students’ learning English attitude in Tuong Duong 1 high school (appendix 1)

To get the result of my students' English learning attitude, I conducted a survey in my classes (10CA1, 10C1, 10C2) Look at the following chart; we can see clearly the rate

The chart indicates that students in these classes don’t like to learn English The majority (60 %) revealed that they didn’t like learning English because of its difficulty The other students (30 %) said that they found interesting when they learnt English Only 10% found that they like English very much

2.4 The students’ learning situation on the education of conservation and development consciousness local cultural values in Tuong Duong district

To draw valid conclusions about the sense of preservation and promotion of cultural values in the district, we conducted a survey to find out the current state of learning of students Specifically, we handed out questionnaires to our students In the area for them to express their feelings and express their opinions about educating the sense of preservation and promoting some cultural values through extracurricular activities in high school

Students’ survey:

Question 1:

What do you think about the

preservation of local culture?

B B Not protecttion and preservation 20%

Question 2: What is your

local festival?

Question 3: What is your

local national?

Question 4: Do you like

learning English through local

Which conservation and

promotion have you been

involved in?

Question 7:

In your opinion, who does the

responsibility for preserving

and promoting cultural values

belong to?

Through my survey, I found the following:

- Most of the students understand how to preserve and promote local

cultural values and know the necessity to preserve them Up to 81% of students realize the need to preserve and promote, and 80% of students understand how to preserve and promote cultural values, 85 % of students like learning English

through local cultural heritage

- They are very interested in preserving and promoting local cultural values

- Most of our students have a desire to learn experientially and report back

on the results that they collect

The survey results are one of the convincing evidence for me to conduct

research on the topic: "using local cultural heritage to improve the effectiveness

of teaching and learning English”.

PART 2: THE SOLUTION ABOUT USING LOCAL CULTURAL HERITAGE TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ENGLISH TEACHING AND LEARNING THROUGH EXTRACURRUCULAR ACTIVITIES AT TUONG DUONG 1 HIGH SCHOOL

1 Raising teachers' awareness in improving the effectiveness of teaching English through local cultural values in high schools

Student-centered teaching, I myself find it boring, students are sluggish and not interested in learning, learning English becomes a fear for students Since then,

I have always wondered, raising a thought to find a way to help students learn English more effectively and make them interest in learning In order to approach the policy of the foreign language project 2020, applying interdisciplinary knowledge I have realized that the use of local culture in teaching English is essential because of the great effects that bring to learners as well as teachers

Combining with interdisciplinary integrated teaching methods to develop students' capacity for self-learning, self-experience, and their intellectual discovery

to apply to solve practical problems Since then, it helps students have a more comprehensive and knowledgeable view of their homeland Therefore, I have conducted research and implemented a number of solutions such as bringing heritage into classroom teaching, organizing discussions in English about heritage,

using heritage in English extracurricular sessions or organizing study tours at heritage To be effective, teachers need to carefully study local cultural heritage (both tangible culture and intangible cultural heritage)

When conducting extracurricular activities we should follow these steps: Step 1: Make a detailed plan for the extracurricular session

Step 2: Develop an extracurricular program

Step 3: Rehearse, evaluate and perfect

Step 4: Conduct the official organization at the school

Step 5: Learn from experience, get ready for the field trip

Step 6: Organize heritage study tours

Step 7: Learn from common experience

In the process of organizing, I find that teaching method above has the both advantages and disadvantages

Advantage:

For teachers: Extracurricular sessions that use heritage inside and outside the school have achieved high results Teachers have a sense of researching, learning the material Creating good conditions to build close relationships between teachers and students, helping teachers have a more holistic view when evaluating students

For students: The students are very interested in learning, participating in very active and enthusiastic training sessions Students have the opportunity to exchange learning, to practice and show their abilities They find English lessons more engaging, meaningful and therefore set goals for better English learning Through extracurricular hours, their listening and speaking skills have improved markedly, they are much more confident Moreover, using local cultural heritage in extracurricular activities combined with visiting heritage makes students feel more proud and love their homeland

Disadvantages:

When using local cultural heritage in teaching, teachers must invest more time in researching and understanding content related to heritage The stages of conducting an activity, a lesson or a program are much more elaborate than the old solution, so the teachers must constantly self-study, self-improve and improve knowledge to meet practical requirements

2 What can the teacher do to help students preserve local culture

heritages and improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning English?

Bringing local culture in English language teaching would build up learner’s cultural knowledge, awareness, and competence It is that said that in learning

English, bringing the idea of multiculturalism taken from the students’ closest environments promoted them to increase their vocabulary The result of this study showed that the idea of bringing local culture in English writing classroom however attract the students’ interest

2.1 The process of organizing extracurricular activities through

self-c Attitude:

Educating students to consciously participate in the preservation of local cultural heritage

d Formative competencies for students:

- Collaborative capacity, communication capacity, creative capacity, problem solving , computing capacity

2.1.1 Format: Visit to deepen knowledge

2.1.2 Participants: Students 10A1, 10C1

2.1.3 Steps to conduct a tour

Step 1: Teachers clearly state the purpose, requirements and content of the

experience tour for students to understand and perform the tasks during the experience trip

Step 2: Students visit and learn

Step 3: Students process data, collect more information online, reference

books proceed to write harvest articles for the experience tour

Step 4: Students write harvest papers in English

Activity 1 Studying at Van Temple Historical Site - Tuong Duong District

The temple is located in Xa Luong commune ( Tuong Duong), standing in

of the first lunar month, the festival issolemnly is held during 2 days with bold rituals of regional traditions, attracting a large number of people inside and outside the region to the festival

Photo of students are carrying palanquins at the festival

Van Temple - Cua Rao shines a shadow on the clear blue water, hidden under the ancient trees hundreds and thousands years old The temple is associated with the career and merits of Governor Doan Nhu Hai, a Tran dynasty general who died on this frontier land to protect the borderland, protect the village and people's lives

To memorate the fallen Governor General and the soldiers, people set up temples at the confluence of rivers and they pray for blessings and protection, as a place for Tuong Duong people to send their spirits

Van temple festival is always exciting with culture and artistic exchange programs between villages During the festival, folk songs and dances of Thai, Mong and Khmu ethnic groups will be played, both throbbing, deep and imbued with the sound of frontier mountains, is an opportunity for visitors understand the rich cultural values of the highland of Nghe An

Photo : Cultural exchanges

• Results

The cultural heritage experience of Van Temple in Tuong Duong District has raised students' awareness and actions Through the heritage experience, students understand more about the heroic past of the nation and thereby educating students to appreciate the achievements in the land where they were born and grown up

After experiencing activities about the historical relics of Van Temple, students wrote articles to share their feelings:

Student Lo Thi Phuong of class 10A1 shared: As a child of Tuong Duong's

hometown, I feel proud and grateful when I was born and raised in a land rich in revolutionary traditions Visiting the cultural heritage of Van Temple, I understand more about the history of his homeland - a heroic West, about the sacrifice of heroes in the war to protect the boarder of the country To express gratitude to the heroes and martyrs who sacrificed for us to have a peaceful life like today, we will constantly study and train to become successful and useful people to society

Nguyen Thi Dung 10A1 shared: Every 2 nd January 1 st lunar month, the people Tuong Duong are eagerly preparing to gather at Van Temple The temple was established to worship the governor Doan Nhu Hai, who fought and died on this land to protect the territory and the lives of all people Even when the temple was knocked down twice by war , but our people still tried to resist and protect this

sacred temple, I felt so proud and touched, beside, I felt very lucky when I l live in peace of time with a heroic and fierce history I will try to study better to become useful person

Activity 2 Learning about the traditional costume - Tuong Duong District

+ Thai traditional costume

Nestled among the romantic green mountains of the mountainous area in the southwest of Tuong district, Nghe An province are simple, rustic wooden houses

of the people Thai people attach great importance to weaving and embroidery skills, therefore, from as children, girls were taught how to sew dresses by their grandmother

Photo : Learn about the traditional craft of weaving

The traditional costumes of Thai women are very unique and graceful with headscarves, tops, skirts, and belts decorated extremely elaborately and sophisticated The dress is the most important part of the outfit, consisting of three parts: the skirt legging, the skirt body, and the skirt The skirt is about 10cm high

in cotton, red in color; the body of the dress was woven of indigo-dyed cotton yarn, and was simply decorated with small lines of deep red or yellow; the skirt is arranged in a variety with many decorative patterns interwoven with many

different shapes The skirt has the main colors of red, orange, yellow, white, green and is woven with silk material

+ H’Mong traditional costume

Traditional costumes are a unique culture of the H’ Mong people in the West

of Nghe An If Thai and Kho Mu people have similarities in costumes, the Mong people are different Hmong women always keep the traditional costumes of their compatriots The patterns on Hmong dresses are basically hand-embroidered In addition to colorful embroidery and silk bands, the costumes of Hmong women are also studded with silver coins around the belt The skirt has 2 blue and red silk bands wrapped around it This colored fabric shows the discreetness, preserving the dignity of the H'Mong

Traditional costume of H’ Mong ethnic group - Tuong Duong district

+ Kho Mu traditonal costume

The brocade craft of the Kho Mu people is not as developed as the Thais Khmu people through buying, selling and exchanging goods to make Thai brocade

to cut and tailor into traditional costumes Kho Mu women's dresses, tops and headscarves are similar to Thai costumes, showing the strong impact of Thai culture on Khomu culture The special feature costume of Kho Mu people is color The ancient Khomu people preferred to choose the dark The headscarf is also dark blue, on which are embroidered many delicate patterns with the main red color

The traditional costume of Kho Mu women includes: scarf black headgear, black grass blouse with rows of buttons on the chest, in addition to belts, skirts, leggings, headpieces, belt sets

Students in Kho Mu traditional costume

Here are some students’ essay after learning about traditional costume:

Nguyen Thi Khanh Vy 10C1 shared: Learning about traditional costumes in the

Kho Mu ethnic group, I feel attracted and impressed by the characteristics display

of this type of costume Kho Mu girls don't wear sets branded wings, expensive jewelry sets that are still very lovely in the costume dressed in a headscarf, a black blouse with buttons on the chest, a belt, skirts, leggings

I love the sophistication in the color scheme, each pattern, the composition, the brilliant harmon, etc Although it has a bit of the feeling of Thai costumes, Kho

Mu costumes still exude a very unique characteristic, creating a distinct style of Kho Mu people Through traditional clothing, I can recognize the culture of a group of people, as well as their way of life Costumes are a unique cultural feature Although I am not Kho Mu person, but I am very proud of their cultural beauty I hope that all of us in general and the Kho Mu people in particular will continue the custom of protecting and promoting this beauty, in order to build a culture of page sustainable traditional restoration for the Vietnamese people

Pay Thi Hong Nhung 10C1 shared: At first sight the outfit of the H’Mong

ethnic group attracted me because of their sophistication and feat Unlike other ethnic groups, the costume of the H’Mong ethnic group has many parts and it is very sophisticated such as headscarves, hats, shirts, skirts or knots back We can feel a H’Mong girl in a suit with a pleated skirt when walking creates rhythmic swinging The swaying coins touching each other make it sound like a playful piece

of music The pattern lines on the costumes are extremely sophisticated, unique and have many meanings for daily life, spiritual life

I was surprised to learn that H’Mong people often look at the patterns on the costumes to know the life and emotions of the wearer The more I surprised they are to see the meticulous hand-embroidered shapes, the more I admire their craftsmanship As a child of the Vietnamese nation, I feel extremely proud that my country has many traditional beauties, and especially the costume culture Thereby, I am also always aware of the responsibility of building and preserving the traditional culture and I love my country more

Student Xong Y Xong 10C1 shared: For generations, referring to Thai

ethnic people, everyone must feel the special features of Thai costumes because of the simplicity and grace To have such outfits, people must skillfully combine every detail to create the image of the own Thai girl Rows of butterfly-shaped silver buttons on the shirt represent the belief of yin and It can be said that the ingenious combination of butterfly button-down shirts and skirts, makes the beauty of mountainous ethnic girls have their own features The most prominent on the skirt can be red, yellow or blue and it shows extremely sophisticated pattern In addition to the skirt legging, an indispensable part of the black velvet dress is the skirt pattern Usually the most popular patterns are the deer and the dragon Thai people like to choose these animals because it is very close to the scenery in mountains and hills And to make skirts have their very own beauty of Thai ethnic people, it is a harmonious combination of 27 types of woven patterns; Time may pass, but the scarf, the Thai shirt, the velvet cotton skirt with the strings always stayed with the village people

Activity 3 Learning about Thai knitting villages

Tuong Duong district still retains the traditional craft of bamboo rattan knitting For a long time, this has been a destination for traders and interested

tourists who love the products that are made from bamboo rattan

Thai people make a wide variety of wicker products, from containers, production tools, fishing tools and some objects used for ritual practice The products are made very elaborately by the workers here, wrapped with very unique rattan rope, showing the characteristics of the ethnic group clearly such as rice sticks, trays, chairs, clothes boxes, sticky rice boxes Depending on the type of product, Thai people use different traditional knitting techniques and they choose bamboo plants that are 3 years old or more In particular, bamboo must be straight and long to produce smooth spokes, so that when knitting there are not many segments The spokes stage is decisive to complete a beautiful product, so it requires experienced knitters

Photo of students learning about handmade carving

To check the results of the session for the experimental class, I did it in the following ways

First: Have each individual write a harvest paper with the theme

"Knowledge gained about local cultural heritage and their plans after the

experience" (Time to complete the harvest after 2 days) The teacher collects the marking and the results are as follows

The second: Teachers prepare a system of questions for students to answer

quickly and turn in to poll students participating in the experience From there, it serves as a basis for teachers to evaluate the effectiveness of the trip

2.2 Organize extracurricular activities in the school ( appendix 2 )

Learning foreign language through extracurricular activities associated with heritage is one of the most effective ways to develop foreign language proficiency

in students, especially language practice In general, the foreign language learning environment of students in mountainous areas is limited; students have few opportunities to practice, so they face many difficulties in using the language In fact, many students feel confused and do not know what to do between specific situations such as shopping, visiting… Moreover, organizing extracurricular activities associated with heritage also creates excitement for learners, helping them develop holistically because they will have the opportunity to present issues that interest them through activities such as debating or developing creativity, etc

In this school year, along with the ideas I have presented above, together with the support of my colleagues, I have successfully organized an extracurricular