Male student Ambassador of reading and writing culture 'fairy tale' in everyday life

Boy Teo in everyday life

“What do you think about that poor boy with a sad face on crutches? That was me 2 years ago, when all the doors to the future closed before my eyes…” - Dinh Nguyen Nhat Minh began his entry for the “Reading Culture Ambassador” contest with such a heartbreaking confession. Nhat Minh is 18 years old but has the body of a 6th grader, a sad face and a somewhat weak voice. However, hidden within that shy appearance is a pure soul, always looking towards positive things.

Dinh Nguyen Nhat Minh often makes friends with books. Photo: MH

Coming to the “Reading Culture Ambassador” contest, Minh chose the book “Making Friends with the Sky” by writer Nguyen Nhat Anh. The main character in the story is Teo - an unfortunate boy who was born without knowing who his father was and whose mother left him. Ironically, later on, Teo had a terrible accident that led to life-threatening injuries, forcing him to stay in one place.

From that day on, Teo’s life revolved around the bed next to the window and making friends with the blue sky. With optimism in life, Teo “always saw luck in an unfortunate situation, always cheerful in an unhappy fate, always treated life well even though life did not always treat him well”…

Dinh Nguyen Nhat Minh also said: The way Teo faces everything with love is heartwarming. Teo does not see himself unhappy. He is not bored or angry with anyone. He lives for the present and seeks joy through his eyes. Teo also looks at life with happy and optimistic eyes, always transmitting positive energy to the people he loves...

The homeroom teacher is the person who accompanied Nhat Minh during the process of participating in the Reading Culture Ambassador contest. Photo: MH

Teo and the story "Making friends with the sky" since its inception have become Nhat Minh's spiritual friend.

17 years ago, Minh was born completely normal and went to school with his peers. At the end of 4th grade, because his legs hurt and he had difficulty walking, his family took him to the doctor and were surprised to learn that Minh had a spinal tumor. The disease made it increasingly difficult for him to walk, almost paralyzed and unable to move. After going to many hospitals, Minh's hope after surgery was only 10%.

From that day on, Minh “saw his life ending in a wheelchair and two painful feet”. However, the story of the boy Teo in the story gave Nhat Minh inspiration and determination, the habit of observation and subtlety, love and forgiveness. After many surgeries, painful training sessions and nearly a year off from school, Minh returned to life and integrated like normal people.

Despite having difficulty moving around, Nhat Minh still goes to school normally and gets along well with the class. Photo: MH

This male student also gradually got used to the body of a 12-year-old boy, forever unable to grow due to the consequences of illness, and got used to the pain when the weather changed. During the difficult days, Minh also found joy in studying and was always a good student, loved by teachers and friends.

Spread faith and optimism

3 years ago, with nearly 40 points, Dinh Nguyen Nhat Minh was one of the male students with high entrance scores, admitted to Ha Huy Tap High School (Vinh City). With the foundation of the Encouragement Award for excellent English students in the city, Minh registered to study in class 12D1 - an English-oriented class. The small, quiet and modest male student showed a special talent for this rather "picky" subject. Right at the 10th grade Excellent Student Exam, Minh was awarded the title of valedictorian of the whole school.

English is also the motivation for Minh to overcome difficult days. Because, since middle school, the painful days after surgery, in the times when Minh lived in isolation, he turned to English for joy. Minh's way of learning English is also quite special when he mainly searched online, learned through playing games with friends from abroad and partly through reading books and newspapers.

Teacher Cao Thanh Bao - Principal of Ha Huy Tap High School commends Dinh Nguyen Nhat Minh. Photo: PV

Talking about the reason for choosing the game, Minh shared that: Most students are forbidden by their parents to play games because they are afraid that it will affect their studies. But my situation is quite special because for a long time I did not interact with many people, could not move around so I was alone at home. At that time, I played games to release my emotions and to get along with everyone. While playing games, I often chose online games with many players from many countries around the world and most of them spoke English. Thanks to that, I was able to practice speaking skills, enrich my vocabulary and could ask my friends if my pronunciation was not correct.

Self-studying English and practicing skills are also favorable conditions for Minh to pass the IELTS exam and achieve a score of 7.5 after only 6 months of self-study and without taking any exam preparation classes. In particular, the component scores are quite convincing with a listening and reading score of 8.5, a speaking score of 7.0 and a writing score of 6.0.

Talking about the exam preparation process, Dinh Nguyen Nhat Minh added: Actually, I went to study for a very short time at a foreign language center, but the tuition was too high and my family's conditions did not allow it. After that, I studied by myself by downloading questions from the internet, watching clips to practice listening and speaking skills. I asked my teacher for the essay part and studied with the gifted student exam preparation team... Another reason why I did not allow myself to be subjective was because I thought I only had one IELTS exam because the exam fee was quite expensive. Therefore, I tried my best.

After completing the IELTS exam, Nhat Minh also entered the Provincial Excellent Student Exam for Grade 12 and after his efforts, Minh brought home the second prize for Ha Huy Tap High School. This result did not surprise his teachers and friends because for many years, Minh had never disappointed his teachers. It was also a way for Minh to assert himself and spread a positive way of life to many other students with difficulties.

Dinh Nguyen Nhat Minh won second prize in English at the 12th grade Excellent Student Selection Exam for the 2022-2023 school year. Photo: MH

In just a short time, Minh will complete his high school program. Ahead of him is a bright future because with his excellent academic achievements, Minh seems to have firmly been accepted into a university.

The male student who won the second prize in the provincial “Reading Culture Ambassador” contest is also the only high school student in the province to be selected to participate in the national “Reading Culture Ambassador” contest and is waiting for the results to be announced. The contest entry, with its special story, narration by Minh himself in two languages, English and Vietnamese, will certainly make an impression, igniting faith and optimism in everyone to overcome adversity, living a brilliant life, like Teo, like Dinh Nguyen Nhat Minh!