Female student won first prize in Nghe An province's excellent student competition: 'Applying chemical bridging arguments to literature'

Pretty, obedient, and lively - those are the sympathetic impressions that Mai Anh gives to others in the first meeting. Talking to her, people easily forget questions about grades and achievements, and are naturally carried away by her sincere passion for the subject that requires delicate perception, good memory, and rich vocabulary.

Phan Thi Mai Anh. Photo: Phuoc Anh

Mai Anh shared that she has loved Literature since she was a child. That love seems to have been inherited from her mother, who was a Literature teacher. In her childhood memories, the poems and songs her mother often read and lulled her into a natural state of mind. Mai Anh herself also admitted that her mother played an important role in the process of shaping her personality as well as her learning orientation. "My mother is my mother, my teacher, and my best friend" - Mai Anh proudly confided.

Although she studied well and consistently in all subjects, it was not until grade 9 that Mai Anh transferred to class 9A - the town's specialized class located at the school. Mai Anh's case is a typical success of the school's strategy of spearhead education along with mass education.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Ly - Principal of Quynh Thien Secondary School said that the school conducts long-term training, from grade 6 to grade 8, students will be oriented to study all subjects equally but teachers will still pay attention to the qualities and resilience of each student in each subject. After that, if they really have the ability, the school will motivate and encourage them to develop their specialized subjects.

In reality, as in Mai Anh's case, when she moved to class 9A, she gradually made a breakthrough in Literature and achieved high results in the recent provincial excellent student exam.

Talking to this excellent student is very interesting. Mai Anh is talkative and mischievous, but also has thoughts that are more mature than her 15 years. She shared that, in addition to Literature, she especially likes Chemistry. Her liking may sound a bit strange, but Mai Anh said that for her, these two subjects complement each other very well.

“In Chemistry, I learned how to make a bridge argument, every problem has a clear cause and effect. Applying this thinking to Literature, I find that my writings will be more logical and my arguments will be more coherent,” Mai Anh shared, adding that many people think that studying Literature will be romantic, always “soaring in the sky”, but in fact it is not: “Literature is life, it helps me see things more humanely and thoroughly.”

Teacher Truong Thi Ha and two students won first and third prizes in the provincial literature competition. Photo: Phuoc Anh

Talking about Mai Anh, both teacher Nguyen Thi Ly - Principal of Quynh Thien Secondary School and Head of Social Sciences Group - Literature teacher Truong Thi Ha have the same opinion: the student is very rich in literature and writing ability, coherent thinking, and rich language.

Teacher Ha has 7 years of experience in training generations of excellent Literature students at the school, but directly teaching Mai Anh, she still believes that this is one of the most diligent, industrious and receptive students she has ever taught.

Along with Mai Anh, Dinh Thi Kim Ngan - a 9A student also won third prize in the provincial excellent student competition in Literature. The two friends share the same love and passion for Literature and accompany each other in the tutoring sessions. Outside of school hours, the two girls always complete the homework assigned by the teacher at home, look up good articles online, and collect good essays from their seniors for reference.

What is special about Mai Anh is that she is also a loyal audience of news programs on national and local television. “I like listening to news because it provides me with a rich life experience, these are examples for social discussion topics in school” - she said and “revealed” that her future dream is to become a good journalist.

Sitting next to her daughter, Ms. Lam - Mai Anh's mother said that as the eldest sister in the family, outside of school hours, Mai Anh also helps her parents a lot with housework and taking care of her younger siblings. She devotes all her time to studying and housework, her hobbies are reading books, listening to ballads and piano. Wishing this lively and good-at-literature girl more success in her studies, and fulfilling her dreams in the future./.

Phuoc Anh