Students at East Northport Middle School had an opportunity to connect their recent class book, Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai with art teacher Thuy Pham’s real life immigration story from Vietnam. For the past six years, Ms. Pham has shared how her family escaped a communist country to travel to America and how that experience shaped her perspective later in life. Middle school English teacher Sandra Leahy noticed the parallels between Ms. Pham’s story and the plot of Inside Out and Back Again, and now the guest speaker is a staple of the book’s lesson.
When speaking about how her family escaped Vietnam over 30 years ago, Ms. Pham explained how as a child, despite her family’s difficult circumstances, she grappled with typical childhood issues as well, such as falling behind in school. However, once her family was able to escape, she detailed the strenuous and dangerous journey to America.
When describing what she wants students to take away from her story, Ms. Pham shared she wants students to have an understanding of the importance of connections. “That’s what learning is, to make connections with yourself” she said. She hopes students can hear her story and later on in life, find ways that this connects with their own lives or experiences.
Ms. Pham added that the opportunity to tell her story to students “has become one of my favorite days each year that I get to connect with students on such an amazing level.”