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

Pretty, obedient, and lively - those are the sympathetic impressions that Mai Anh gives to people at first meeting. Talking to her, people easily forget about 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 is a Literature teacher. In her childhood memories, the poems and songs that her mother often read and lulled her to sleep naturally permeated her mind. Mai Anh herself also admitted that her mother played an important role in the process of forming 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 equally 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 are truly capable, the school will motivate and encourage them to develop their specialized subjects.

In fact, 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 love 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 the arguments will be more solid,” Mai Anh shared, adding that many people think that studying Literature will be romantic, always “soaring in the sky,” but that’s not the case: “Literature is life, it helps me see things more humanely and thoroughly.”

Teacher Truong Thi Ha and 2 students won first and third prizes in the provincial excellent student contest in Literature. 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, has coherent thinking, and rich language.

Teacher Ha has 7 years of experience in nurturing 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 9th grade student also won third prize in the provincial excellent student competition in Literature. The two girls 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 their teachers at home, look up good articles online, and collect good essays from their seniors for reference.

What is special, for Mai Anh, she is also a loyal audience of news programs on national and local television. "I like listening to news because it provides me with rich life experiences, 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 in the family, after school hours, Mai Anh also helps her parents a lot with housework and taking care of her younger siblings. She spends all her time each day on studying and housework, her hobbies are reading books, listening to ballads and piano. I wish this lively and good-at-literature girl more success in her studies, and fulfill her dreams in the future./.

Phuoc Anh