Vietnam teacher makes students exercise with viral TikTok dance
Wednesday, May 20, 2020, 19:16 GMT+7
A high school teacher in Ho Chi Minh City is making his students exercise with a viral TikTok dance to improve their health.
Pham Thu Tung, a teacher at Ernst Thälmann High School in District 1 who is behind the idea, said the purpose of the exercise is to help students become more sociable and create a happy atmosphere in the classroom after a prolonged school closure due to the complicated COVID-19 epidemic.
“In order to prevent [the transmission of] COVID-19, our school has temporarily suspended the weekly Monday flag salute ceremony in the schoolyard. Instead, the students will spend that time having activities in their classroom,” Tung said, referring to the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
“After a three-month break, I noticed that the students seemed more inactive than before so I thought that it was important for them to take part in collective activities that improve solidarity and create a happy atmosphere in the classroom,” Tung told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.
Tung chose ‘TikTok Laxed’ — a viral tune that has sparked a worldwide dance challenge on video-sharing platform TikTok — for the exercise.
Tenth-grade students at Ernst Thälmann High School in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam exercise with ‘TikTok Laxed,’ May 18, 2020 in this video supplied by their teacher Pham Thu Tung.
“Last Friday, I sent a video [of people] dancing to TikTok Laxed to my students. I told them that this dance is interesting. I suggested that they watch it and practice at home so the whole class can perform it on Monday as a physical exercise during in-class activities,” Tung shared.
The dance was performed by students of class 10A2 at Ernst Thälmann High School, of which Tung is the homeroom teacher, on Monday morning to start a new day and a new week full of excitement.
‘Laxed (Siren Beat)’ was originally created by 17-year-old Kiwi Joshua Nanai and posted to video sharing site YouTube in 2019.
But the tune only truly exploded in popularity when it hit TikTok, which is owned by Beijing-based Chinese company ByteDance.
Tenth-grade students at Ernst Thälmann High School in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam exercise with ‘TikTok Laxed,’ May 18, 2020 in this video supplied by their teacher Pham Thu Tung.
Droves of people, including global celebrities, have filmed themselves dancing to the catchy tune in response to a dance challenge that followed.
The app was launched in 2017 and has become a big hit not only in mainland China but also in Vietnam and many other countries.
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