Phan School female student shares about Silver Medal in International Russian Language Olympiad

On the occasion of Vietnamese Students' Traditional Day (January 9), Luu Le Thuc Nhien shared with Nghe An Newspaper about her journey of learning and success in this very special subject.

PV:Compared to many other foreign languages, Russian is not a trendy subject for young people today. Why did you choose and stick with this subject?

Liu Le Thuc Nhien:I study at Nghi Lien Secondary School (Vinh City) and only 2 students in my class passed the entrance exam to Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted. Many students who take the English exam often choose other specialized classes, but I chose the Russian specialized class and this is my first choice.

At that time, although I had never known Russian, I was probably influenced by my uncle's love for the Russian language. He had studied and worked in Russia and often told us about a great and beautiful Russia. I was also impressed by the Russian winter, the white snow and the cold that cut into the skin and flesh, down to below zero degrees Celsius. I really liked the snow.

When I was admitted to the Russian class, I was only in the top 20 and we all started with Russian from zero. As an English major student, learning two foreign languages ​​at the same time in the beginning was very difficult because Russian and English have many similar letters but the way they are written and read is different, so it is easy to get confused. Russian materials are also not as rich as other foreign languages.

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Once I got acquainted with Russian, I found it quite an interesting subject because I liked the way Russians spoke, read and pronounced.

Later, the more I studied, the more I loved Russian because I simply thought that since I chose to major in Russian, I had to be responsible for my choice.

Liu Le Thuc Nhien

PV:As you shared, learning Russian is not easy. But you did something surprising when you won the third prize in the national excellent student contest in Russian when you were only in grade 11?

Liu Le Thuc Nhien:Perhaps because I already had a love for Russia, even though I had just started learning Russian since grade 10, I learned quite effectively. In the first hurdle exam in grade 10, I scored more than 90 points and was the student with the highest score in the class. This was the motivation for me to be determined to pursue Russian and an opportunity for me to participate in the selection for the school's national team.

In grade 11, when I was selected and became one of the 6 official members of the school to participate in the National Excellent Student Competition, I decided to participate to gain experience and gain experience. However, being one of the only 2 students of the school to win the prize in the previous competition season made me burst with joy. This result was beyond my imagination.

This school year, for the second time, I continued to participate in the National Excellent Student Competition and looking back at the journey of the previous school year, I think I "overcame myself".

If in other subjects, you have been familiar with, learned from primary school, junior high school, we only started to know this subject in high school. Normal studying is not easy and studying for the national team exam is even harder. In the national team program, teachers usually give questions, correct questions for students, then we go home to study and do them again. In addition to practicing questions, I spend a lot of time at home practicing listening and speaking by listening to the radio, going to YouTube to listen every day.

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I listen a lot, take advantage of every moment to listen, even when eating, when bathing, listening and learning how Russian people speak, so thanks to that I improve my pronunciation a lot.

During the learning process, I set a goal, every day I will speak to myself, record myself to record my feelings after a day and plan for the next day. Recording will help me review my pronunciation volume to make appropriate adjustments.
In addition to my own efforts, my teachers at school, including the Russian teacher, also supported me a lot.

Liu Le Thuc Nhien

PV:In addition to being a national excellent student, Thuc Nhien is also honored to be the sole representative of Vietnam to participate in the Russian Language Olympiad in November 2024. Can you tell us about this trip?

Liu Le Thuc Nhien: International Russian Language Olympiadis a competition with a history of over 40 years, the most prestigious in Russian language ability and knowledge about the country and people of Russia for students without Russian nationality from all over the world. After many years of interruption, this year the exam was officially held again and Russian major students like us are very excited about this information.

Before coming to Russia, we will have to go through 2 rounds of exams in Vietnam. The first round includes vocabulary, grammar, listening and writing. All 6 students of Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted passed this round.

In the second round, the Organizing Committee will give the exam questions and require the candidates to have 2 videos to answer questions demonstrating their understanding of Russia, its history, culture, and famous places. I am really happy because the exam has the participation of many students from all over the country, but in the end, I am the only representative of Vietnam chosen to participate in this exam in the Russian Federation.

There was something quite special in the first round, that is the Organizing Committee asked the contestants to share their dreams when coming to Russia. I remember, in my essay I said that my dream was to become a Russian teacher and that is why I love Russian language, culture, literature and later want to pass on that love to my students.

My dream of becoming a teacher was also inspired by my mother, a Chemistry teacher at Nguyen Duy Trinh High School. When I was little, my mother often let me sit in the same class with my older siblings and I liked the way she taught her students.

In the second round, having to record a video to share my issues was also a challenge for me, because I used to be very shy and afraid to speak in front of a crowd. When I was selected, I think it was because of my love for Russia, because I shared my thoughts so honestly that I won over the judges.

PV:What makes the Russian Language Olympiad different from other exams? What surprised you when you took this exam?

Liu Le Thuc Nhien:Right after the results in my country, I had 15 days to prepare before going to Russia. During that time, I was supported by teachers at school and experts from the Pushkin Institute. However, because this is a foreign language competition, the scope is very wide. In addition to learning to speak, learn to pronounce, learn to write, I also had to learn a lot about Russian culture, country, literature...

Although I had prepared quite well, I was still really nervous when I first came to Russia. Before that, the qualifying round of this exam had attracted the participation of more than 2,500 students from 65 countries around the world and only 24 candidates made it to the final round. Many candidates participating in this exam came from countries that used to speak Russian and used Russian at home as their daily language. The organizers also gave a very "strange" exam, much different from what we had prepared at home.

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The writing exercise of the topic is very good with the title "Clock": There is a friend whose house has a broken clock. When he fixed the clock to run on time again, the clock hands kept going backwards and a genie appeared.

The genie asked what they wanted to change in the past, asking the contestants to continue the story and guess what their “little friend” would wish for.

In fact, when I first read this question, with its very new way of posing it, I didn't understand what I would write next. I even planned to "think up" a story to write.

Finally, I wrote about the recent Typhoon Yagi that hit Vietnam with many losses in human lives, property and homes. I wished that there would be no such storm, no natural disasters, no floods.

Liu Le Thuc Nhien

The speaking test was about your most memorable event and you said that it was the trip to Russia to take this exam. Thanks to that, you were able to really "touch" Russia, reconnect with many friends around the world because of your love for the Russian language and Russia. The trip also allowed you to meet Vietnamese people in Russia, international students... and wherever the delegation went, they received enthusiastic support. Those are unforgettable memories.

PV:After 3 years of studying at Phan School and Russian, how has Thuc Nhien changed? In your opinion, what is the most important asset for students of the current Gen Z generation?

Liu Le Thuc Nhien:I was a quiet student, so taking exams and having to present in front of a crowd changed me a lot.

From my own experience, I think that today's students, in addition to studying well, need to have many other soft skills and should participate in some extracurricular activities to learn more about life. Learning needs to go hand in hand with practice. Participating in extracurricular activities will help us learn many useful things, which are no less important than what is in books. Future luggage is the knowledge and experiences that students have had. Besides, there needs to be a desire to learn and progress to improve ourselves.

PV:Thanks for the chat!

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As a Russian teacher, our greatest happiness is to have students who love this subject and if they pursue this subject, it is an even greater joy. With Thuc Nhien, I think what helps her achieve high results in exams is because she has the qualities and talent to learn Russian from a very early age, she has the advantage of good pronunciation and language thinking.

When participating in an international competition, it is difficult to generalize the amount of knowledge, the scope of topics, and the format of the competition, especially when teachers and students only have a very short time to prepare. Winning the International Olympic Competition, I think the most important thing is the student's efforts. From a shy student, quite "disadvantaged" compared to international students, Thuc Nhien has constantly tried, boldly and confidently expressed herself.

I also think that there are few students who love and like Russian as much as Thuc Nhien. She even shared that thanks to learning Russian, she is healthier and no longer gets sick. Russian is like medicine for her spirit.

Teacher Ho Hai Ngoc - Head of the Russian language team at Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted

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