9th grade female student brings the title of Top Student in English to the remote district of Ky Son

Learn English at the border

Up to now, English is still a subject that is “picky” for learners in the mountainous district of Ky Son. For many different reasons such as lack of teachers, poor teaching and learning conditions, learning English here is still strange to many students. Even when teaching is organized, the quality of English learning in Ky Son is still quite far from that of the plains and many other mountainous districts.

8 years ago, when Phan Thai Anh Thu was in 2nd grade and started learning English, she had not yet learned English at school. Her mother was a teacher (Literature) and her parents worked in the military. They did not want their child to fall behind her peers, so they bought an English app online for 500,000 VND/year for her to study by herself.

When she first learned this subject, she said, “I studied it completely reluctantly” because it was a completely new subject and she did not realize the importance of English. Later, after getting used to it regularly, Anh Thu began to find her love for it. Her biggest motivation at that time was to learn English really well so that she could study abroad in the future.

Having been exposed to English quite early compared to her peers, Anh Thu was able to approach this subject easily when she was in 3rd grade, while her schoolmates were starting their first lessons. Being bold and confident, at the end of primary school, when Nghe An Radio and Television organized an English contest on television, Anh Thu did not hesitate to register to participate.

Recalling this memory, Anh Thu said: Actually, at that time, compared to my friends from the lowlands, I thought my knowledge and skills were still very limited. But when I joined the contest, I was not really worried. On the contrary, I felt very happy because I had the opportunity to go to the city, and for the first time, I entered the studio of Nghe An Radio and Television Station. My result was not beyond expectation, I received the second prize in the weekly round.

Recalling the whole process of learning English, Anh Thu also shared that there were many times when she was confused because in addition to the modest knowledge she learned at school, most of the time Anh Thu learned through software or online learning programs. Although her family tried to invest in and choose age-appropriate programs, Anh Thu admitted that she did not have many environments to develop. More importantly, at that time in Ky Son, the English learning movement was not widespread, there were no foreign teachers, no peers to communicate with on a daily basis, so Anh Thu's listening and speaking skills had little opportunity to develop.

Speaking more about these limitations, Anh Thu said: I think a student who learns English effectively means being able to use it every day, being able to communicate and in any situation, whether unexpected or arranged, being able to use English fluently. But this is quite difficult for me because I lack a communication environment.

Because of her love for learning English, at that time, Anh Thu always tried to connect to have more opportunities to communicate in English with everyone. However, online exchanges did not seem to satisfy this little student. Seeing her desire to speak and chat, since grade 4, on weekends, her father and mother took turns driving a motorbike more than 20 km from Muong Xen town to Nam Can border gate so that her child could meet foreigners and find opportunities to chat.

This journey lasted until she was in 7th grade and the people who worked at Nam Can border gate for many years got used to the image of a very young girl but very confident and bold when talking to foreigners. Anh Thu's English and listening and speaking skills also improved from then on.

At Nam Can border gate, there are quite a lot of tourists passing by and they only stop for a very short time. But not every time I go to Nam Can I am lucky because there are times when I go but don't meet anyone and have to turn back.

When I first started talking, I was so nervous because I was so young and I couldn’t say much. Sometimes I didn’t understand what they said and not everyone was willing to talk to me. However, meeting and talking to foreigners was really a very effective practical lesson. Through that, it not only helped me practice my skills but also helped me understand more about the culture and the trips they were experiencing.

I am Phan Thai Anh Thu.

During many years of working at Nam Can border gate, Anh Thu also said that she met many people who left her with very strong impressions. Among them was a German tourist who was “born on the same day, same month” as her and was over 70 years old but still excited to travel and explore new lands. From this tourist’s story, she realized that life has many interesting things and as long as you make an effort and are passionate, you can make many dreams come true, no matter what age you are.

Shorten the distance

Clips of Anh Thu talking to foreigners since she was 8 or 9 years old are still kept by her mother, Thai Hien. In the videos, there are times when she sits with tourists on the side of the road, dressed simply, her pronunciation is not fluent but she still talks confidently.

There is also a video recording of the scene on a bus, both me and my new friend were talking in a hurry because the bus probably couldn’t stop for long. The longest conversation was between me and two tourists right at the check-in chair when going through the border gate. At that time, because I had just started talking, Anh Thu couldn’t say much and was quite shy. However, the tourists from abroad expressed their excitement when meeting a young girl who asked to come and talk.

Talking about her daughter, Ms. Thai Hien also said: When we first took her to the border gate to talk to foreigners, my husband and I were quite surprised. But seeing her eager to learn and excitedly telling her parents about the foreigners she had just met, we were motivated to accompany her on this journey. I think that without passion and love, it would be difficult for her to persevere for so many years.

Why did Anh Thu and her family choose the border gate as a place to learn English? Besides the reason that this is a favorable environment with frequent foreigners coming and going, another reason for Anh Thu and her family is to save money. Telling more about this, her mother said: Anh Thu's father is a soldier and was stationed near the border gate. Once when I went there, I saw a foreigner coming to do the procedures, so I went home and told my child. That was also the time when Anh Thu already had a decent vocabulary and was eager to communicate with foreigners. However, our family is in a normal civil servant situation, with limited income, so registering for an online course with foreigners is too expensive. Therefore, I suggested that my child go to the border gate so that he could experience real people and real things.

To learn to communicate effectively, Anh Thu's mother went online to learn from experience. Therefore, although she did not know English, she still guided her child quite systematically, such as finding materials and encouraging her to talk about each topic to expand her vocabulary.

Her mother also recounted that, at first, Anh Thu often went to the border gate alone. Later, Thu's younger brother also liked English, so he often asked his mother and sister to go with him to practice speaking. On lucky days, the two of them would meet one or two foreigners to talk to. However, there were also unlucky days when they waited all morning but did not meet anyone. There were also many times after the meeting, on the way back, Anh Thu cried because that morning she only met one foreigner and her younger brother took all the talking so she did not get to practice. Usually, the meetings were very short, lasting less than 30 minutes. That was when the passenger buses stopped to wait for exit procedures...

Later, when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, the Thu sisters' journey to the border gate to study English on weekends stopped. Currently, with quite good listening and speaking skills, in addition to taking some online courses, the Thu sisters practice speaking with each other and at home, the two sisters mostly communicate in English.English.

Because of her perseverance in learning English, Anh Thu stands out as a special case in Ky Son district because it is difficult to find a new secondary school student who can listen and speak fluently.

Anh Thu's mother also added that before, Anh Thu mainly studied foreign programs, practicing the 4 basic skills of English, so she did not pay much attention to grammar. When she started studying for the excellent student exam, Thu had just spent 10 months studying to get an IELTS certificate (Anh Thu already had an IELTS 7.0 certificate), so she did not have much time to study and was quite weak in grammar. Meanwhile, many people assumed that Thu would definitely pass the exam with high results, so she was really worried.

In fact, after finishing this exam, Anh Thu cried when she left the exam room because she was unlucky in the listening part, which was her advantage. In the grammar part, Thu was still not satisfied with herself because she thought she had not done her best.

Ms. Huong Giang - Anh Thu's English teacher also said: Although Thu was very sad after finishing the exam, I always believed in her, because Thu is a talented, intelligent, and hard-working student. She completely deserved to win First Prize and we were even happier because she was the only student to win First Prize in Group B and was the valedictorian of this exam.

Talking about her student, her English teacher also highly appreciated her self-study and ability to overcome difficulties. Moreover, from Anh Thu's English learning method, the teacher also hopes that she will become an example to spread throughout the district and change the views and thoughts of parents in disadvantaged areas towards this rather special subject.

With this result, after nearly 14 years, after the first prize in English of Mong male student Vu Y Hai, for the second time, the education sector of the mountainous district of Ky Son has had another student win the first prize in the provincial excellent student competition. Although the progress is still slow and full of thorns, these are positive signals that create motivation for learning in this mountainous district with many difficulties.

The joy was multiplied because this year, for the first time, the English valedictorian named the mountainous district of Ky Son!./.