a long road to teaching

By Mikayla Saquiton

Being back at school in the middle of a COVID-19 pandemic has been very rough for a lot of people. Phuong Hoang, an English and Vietnamese teacher at YB, has been striving to survive during this hard time.

Mrs. Hoang loves every minute of being a teacher, knowing that she can help encourage students, believing in them when they feel immensely down on their knees, and making a difference in their lives.

Mrs. Hoang: “I feel very happy that I get to share my knowledge and wisdom with the younger generation.”

It appears that teaching is not as easy as it seems. It is believed that teachers teach without respite, grading papers, learning, and making lessons.

Well, that implies to be the case for Mrs. Hoang. She is too caught up with teaching, she finds it a struggle to seek time off for herself.

Mrs. Hoang: “I spend time at work,you know, grading, spending time with family, but you know, I have to carve out some time out for myself to relax, for mental health is very important.”

She’s very passionate about her job and puts her heart out into teaching but doesn't seem to get the respect she deserves back. There is a lack of appreciation towards her, but she brushes it off, and puts her students first, making sure they have all of her support.

Mrs. Hoang: “People are going through a lot right now, during, especially during covid. So you know, I extend help when I feel that students need help. I reach out to them, I talk to their parents, see what I could do to support my students”

Mrs. Hoang has gotten these methods from her past teachers. She knew she wanted to become a teacher ever since she was very young. She also got inspired by her parents who were former teachers.

She claims they happened to be her biggest inspiration. She gained a large amount of support from them, and that encouraged her to continue on with her passion.

Mrs. Hoang: “my teacher from third grade, and my parents really inspired me to become a teacher. They always believed in me, always pushing me through, and, you know, when I grow up I just want to give back to the community and I found that to be my strength. Just to deal with, you know, helping young people, you know, discovering their strength, and what they're good at.”

Though, her path was not always one straight line. When she moved to America from Vietnam, she didn't know very much English. She got bullied by her cousins, and that's when she knew she wanted to prove them wrong by being an English teacher.

Mrs. Hoang: “I felt like I didn't belong, because I didn't know English very well, and I didn't know how to communicate with people, getting my ideas across, I was um kinda bullied by my cousins, and that really propelled me to become an English teacher because I said “okay if you can speak English, I can do it, and I can do it better”, and you know, I'm gonna help people learn English, but also retain their own home language as well.”

Regardless of everything that's happening outside of school, she wishes to continue helping her students in the most helpful way possible.