Artisan Sam Van Binh was among 12 outstanding citizens honoured at the national gathering of role models in studying and following President Ho Chi Minh’s ideology, morality and style held recently in Hanoi. He was recognised for his restless efforts in studying and preserving Thai ethnic culture and literature.

Thai ethnic young woman Sam Thi Hong Trang has been a frequent student of the Thai language class in Chau Quang commune, Quy Hop district, Nghe An province by artisan Sam Van Binh. Like other students, Thai language was a great challenge for Trang at first. However, through Binh’s carefully-planned lessons and clear explanations, she is now able to write in the language of her ethnic group.  His dedication has been admired not only by local residents but also authorities. Sam Van Binh was invited to chair a local Thai language club where he was assigned with a task of publishing a Thai language course book. With the artisan’s restless efforts and assistance from local authorities, his project of “Expanding Thai Lai-Tay language classes in Quy Hop district” won the first prize in a provincial contest on sci-tech innovation. Artisan Sam Van Binh has trained 10 other teachers who are capable of teaching Thai language to local ethnic people. Nghe An province has been rushing to prepare dossiers to recognise Thai text as a national intangible cultural heritage.-VNA