The story of 2 national English First Prize winners from Nghe An

Phan Khanh Linh: Not afraid of challenges

A year ago, after hearing the news that she won second prize in the National Excellent Student Competition and was only 0.3 points short of first prize, Phan Khanh Linh did not hesitate to decide to take the exam again. Talking about this memory, Linh added: At that time, I was only in grade 11 and participating in the National Excellent Student Competition was considered a test. So even though the result was quite good, I still wanted to challenge myself once more. I also consider myself quite ambitious.

Phan Khanh Linh is one of two students who were co-valedictorians of the 10th grade English major.Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted. With a favorable background of having both parents as English teachers, since primary and secondary school, I have had a long list of achievements in this subject, including IELTS 8.0, First Prize, and valedictorian of the provincial excellent student competition while in grade 9.

Entering grade 10 and entering a specialized environment, Khanh Linh has more opportunities to develop her strengths. Talking about this student, teacher Nguyen Thanh My - homeroom teacher of class 12C5 and head of the school's national excellent student team said: Right from entering grade 10, Khanh Linh was a "potential" student of the class and we exposed her to excellent student exams so that she could soon try her hand at the national team. In Linh, her skills have developed quite comprehensively. Moreover, as a female student, Linh is very diligent, neat, and hard-working, never causing teachers to have to remind her.

Set goals atNational Excellent Student ExamTherefore, Khanh Linh said that she has come up with a very clear review roadmap. Accompanying Linh during the learning process, in addition to her homeroom teacher, Linh also has her mother - teacher Dang Thi Kim Oanh, who is also one of the two main teachers of the team in this year's competition season. Talking about this "special" thing, Linh added: I am quite comfortable in the review process because I can ask my mother and teacher at any time. However, this requires me to make more efforts, not only for myself but also for my family and the school.

During the process of participating in the National Excellent Student Exam, Linh also said that she was under a lot of pressure, especially when she decided to retake the exam and set a high goal for this year's exam. To achieve the best results, Linh was not afraid to "dissect" her own abilities, find her weaknesses to overcome. Talking about the exam preparation time, Linh added: When in class, the teacher will be the one to give the test and correct the students' work. However, when we go home, we have to study by ourselves and search for documents online. Besides, with the characteristics of English, in addition to mastering grammar and not allowing mistakes when doing the test, I also have to practice many other skills such as listening, speaking and writing. Of the skills, I am most confident in the writing part and I demonstrated that quite well in my exam. What surprised me was that I got the highest score in this part with 4.6/5 points, an achievement beyond my expectations.

A happy memory of Khanh Linh during this year's exam season was when she received the results and learned that she won first prize. Before that, although she had a pretty good exam, Linh was still not really confident: Neither she nor her mother dared to look at the results. So, she sent her registration number to her homeroom teacher and told her to let her know if she won first prize. When she received her exam scores and learned that she was one of the two first prize winners, she was truly overwhelmed with happiness.

Pham Hoang Hien: From average student to national first prize winner

If Phan Khanh Linh had a smooth start, Pham Hoang Hien was a rather special student. Talking about his junior high school years at Hung Dung Junior High School (Vinh City), Hien was not afraid to admit that he was just an average student.

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When I entered the school in grade 6, I was only placed in class E, a very normal class. By grade 8, perhaps I had a little talent for English, so my English teacher at that time asked for me to be in the school's gifted class and put me in the gifted student team. In grade 8 and grade 9, I was recognized as a gifted student of the city but my achievements were not high, one year I only won the Encouragement prize. After that, once again, the teachers pitied me, asked for me to have the opportunity to join the city team to compete in the provincial competition and luckily I won the Second prize.

Student Pham Hoang Hien

Always admitting that he was only a student with limited ability, being an excellent student in the province and then being admitted to the English specialized class with a modest result (ranked 32/35 students) was "unbelievable" for Pham Hoang Hien.

Hien also confessed that, apart from studying for the national team and learning from teachers in class, in 9th grade he did not go to specialized training like most of his classmates. With a rather low starting point, when he first entered Phan school, Hien was quite "overwhelmed" when most of the members in his class came from specialized schools in the city. Compared to his classmates, Hien always knew that he was much worse.

Hien's learning style is also different from the majority as he approaches English based on his "interest" and his learning focuses on application instead of focusing too much on books and doing exercises.

Previously, Hien said that he had only studied English fully since grade 6. However, this male student approached English quite early for the simple reason of satisfying his hobby of watching movies: Since the age of 5, he liked watching cartoons on the Bibi channel. But after watching for a short time, he realized that foreign channels often showed a few episodes earlier and had sharper images. Therefore, he practiced watching foreign channels and guessing the words and content himself.

The habit of watching movies and foreign programs over time has helped Hien have a special listening skill. This is also the factor that made Hien receive the attention of his homeroom teacher even though his other skills were limited. Talking about Hien, teacher Nguyen Thanh My said: After teaching him for a short time, I was very surprised by Hien's listening skill, especially listening to news with original materials. Hien is also a very individual student, since grade 10 he proactively applied to join the national team.

Another strength of Hien is his rich vocabulary. However, due to his limited speaking and expression skills, Hien had to practice a lot when he first joined the team. When he joined the team, Hien also had to overcome his own limitations, and his learning had to change from instinctive learning to disciplined learning.

Accompanying Hien during the exam preparation process, teacher Thanh My added: Usually when selecting members for the national team, we will have to choose students who have all 4 skills. But Hien is a special member. What we appreciate about Hien is that he is very hard-working, diligent, and after each time he was given a low score or scolded by the teacher, he has the will to change. From a student who was weak in reading, he has risen up and has been evaluated by his teachers as the student with the best reading ability. In writing, he has the advantage in thinking, being coherent, clear and summarizing the problem fluently.

Before participating in the National Excellent Student Competition for Grade 12, Hien had also won third prize and was a national excellent student in Grade 11. Although he did not put much emphasis on his achievements in the later competitions, Hien himself said that he always tried to bring "good reputation" to his parents and teachers.

A special memory of this year's exam was when Hien was the only candidate of the team who had to retake the speaking test due to technical errors. During the nearly 2 hours waiting for the retake, this male student said he was very stressed and worried. However, in the end, overcoming his anxiety, Hien had a very exciting test when the topic of this test gave him the opportunity to express himself.

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The question in the speaking test was about “personal happiness”. So, I told my own story from an average student, to being admitted to a provincial specialized school and becoming a national excellent student. I think happiness is overcoming yourself and always striving to achieve your goals.

Pham Hoang Hien

With the advantage in the listening section, Hien successfully passed a difficult test and achieved 4.6/5 points, the highest score among all the candidates. More surprisingly, in all the remaining tests, Hien also achieved very high scores and he achieved 16.3 points, winning first prize with the position of runner-up nationwide.

Teacher Dang Thi Kim Oanh - co-head of the team said: When I heard about Hien and Khanh Linh's achievements, I was very touched and overwhelmed with emotion. Their success is worthy of their efforts, attempts, and overcoming themselves.

As future teachers

With two awards at the National Excellent Student Competition and both having IELTS certificates of 8.5 and 8.0, Phan Khanh Linh and Pham Hoang Hien are facing many opportunities to enter top universities in the country. However, it seems that there is no need to choose, Phan Khanh Linh confidently said that she will study pedagogy to continue the family tradition.

Meanwhile, Pham Hoang Hien, although growing up in a family where both parents work in the medical field, decided to pursue his dream of becoming a teacher: He wanted to teach to pass on his love of English to his students. Moreover, he also wanted to give his students opportunities. He thinks that he would not be who he is today if he had not been trusted and chosen by his teachers in secondary school and teachers at Phan school. That gave him the strength and confidence to develop and demonstrate his abilities and helped him achieve the results he has today.