This year UNIS has made a change to employ a new High School Counselor in order to focus mainly on grades 9 and 10. This new counselor is Mr. Tanya Arnold. Previously UNIS only had one High School counselor. The addition of a new counselor reflects the increasing student numbers and also shows the school’s increased interest in students’ personal development as well as the academic work they produce. The Flame interviewed Ms. Arnold to learn more about her.
How long have you been counseling?
I’ve been a counselor for 15 years but I’ve been teaching for 36 years; I was a music teacher, and did counseling combined with it, so it’s hard to say when exactly. But just counseling, I have been doing for probably about 15 years.
Where have you been before?
I started teaching in Canada, then I taught in Germany, and then back to Canada, and then I went to Moscow, and then I went to Saudi Arabia on the Red Sea Side then to the Persian Gulf side, then back to Canada, and then I stopped teaching for a couple of years, when I worked for an agency helping street moms with parenting skills and then I I went to Switzerland, and now I’m in Hanoi.
Is this your first time in Vietnam? How long have you been here?
Yes, it’s my first time in Vietnam. I arrived at Hanoi on July 28th, which from now – it’ll be 4 weeks, and so far I’ve only been in Hanoi.
How long are you planning to stay here?
As long as I’m happy! I hope it’ll be 3 or 4 years, 5 years? I don’t know the exact dates.
How was your first impressions of UNIS?
My first impression of UNIS was without students, because all the new teachers had a tour of the campus, and my first impression was that UNIS was a beautiful campus. I loved to be back in the country where corridors are always outside, I love being in a campus where it has students from discovery, all the way to senior students. I knew that UNIS was an all-in-one Campus when I got the job, and that was one of the attractions for me. Since I met the students, I am even more excited. It’s because they seem to be very polite, have fun, smile a lot and laugh a lot.
What do you look forward to achieve in UNIS?
My first goal is to get to know everybody’s name in High School. I want to know all the students names and the teacher’s names. I want to know the kids names, and know the families. Not just their names, but their family, who they are, and their stories.
What do you encourage the students to do?
I want them to enjoy being in high school, and not to be very stressed about thinking always what am I going to do or how do I get into a university. I want them to enjoy grade 9, and then grade 10, and then grade 11, and then grade 12. And yes, thinking about future plans is important, but I want them to be enjoying their time here.