The successful 'turn' of a male 11th grade IT major student who won first prize in English for national excellent students
(Baonghean.vn) - Nguyen Quang Thanh is one of the few 11th graders from Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted who won first prize at this year's National Excellent Student Competition. What's special about this male student is that he won first prize in English, even though he was originally a student in a specialized IT class.
Don't want to continue making mistakes
Nguyen Quang Thanh had a pretty good start when he was a math student at Dang Thai Mai Secondary School (Vinh City).
Thanh majored in Math and had won prizes in competitions for gifted students, so his family thought it was natural for him to take the entrance exam for a Math or IT major.
"I have had a talent for English since I was young, but in the past, I only considered foreign languages as a tool for communication, to be applied in other fields of study. Later, I took the exam to major in Information Technology because I wanted to explore my abilities further because this is a new field of study, with high creativity" - Quang Thanh said.
Since entering schoolPhan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted, Nguyen Quang Thanh also set a goal for himself, which is to study abroad. The essential condition to be able to "hunt" for a scholarship is to have a good profile and Thanh set a goal for himself to win a national prize.
When starting to set goals, Thanh also realized her difficulties and knew that although her starting point was Math and IT, she was not really passionate about subjects that involved too much "calculation and rules".
Compared to my classmates, I think I can’t compete. Therefore, I looked back at my strengths and chose the right path. Actually, from a young age until now, I have been “sensitive” to languages from Vietnamese, Literature, English and even Chinese. However, in the past, I only considered foreign languages as tools. But later, I changed my perspective on foreign languages.
At the time Nguyen Quang Thanh decided to pursue English, he was in 10th grade. Thanh was initially quite confident in himself because he had a fairly strong English vocabulary that he had accumulated since high school. In addition, he had also taken the SAT exam with quite high scores in English reading and writing.
Telling more about this, Thanh said: I did some practice tests and got full marks in many of them. Therefore, I think my basic skills are good. But compared to my English major friends, I think the thing I lost the most was that I chose the wrong path. Therefore, for a period of time, I did not have time to accumulate knowledge.
Talking about this "unusual" choice of student Nguyen Quang Thanh, teacher Dang Thi Kim Oanh - English teacher said: I am the homeroom teacher of class 11 specializing in English and teach English in class 11 specializing in IT. During the process of teaching Thanh in class, I knew he was a capable person. However, when I heard Thanh make his proposal, I was initially very surprised because it is rare for a student to "turn the corner" like that. Later, Quang Thanh made rapid progress because he was an intelligent and agile student. Moreover, he has the qualities of a natural learner, so when he switched to studying English, he had many advantages and made a breakthrough.
The "hard" journey
Before joining the England team, Quang Thanh said that what he felt was inferior to his English major classmates was the huge vocabulary they had accumulated. Meanwhile, although Quang Anh had studied English since he was only 5 years old, when he was 14-15 years old, he took the IELTS test and achieved a maximum listening score of 9.0 and a reading score of 8.5, but in the remaining two skills, writing and speaking, he only achieved 6.0 and 6.5. What Quang Anh was confident about himself was that "I learn quickly and think that I will be able to make up for the knowledge I lack".
Looking back on his journey of more than 1 year pursuing the English team, Nguyen Quang Thanh also exclaimed that "oh, it was really hard". The reason is that when he first joined, most of the English major class with 35 members were aiming to pursue the team. However, the quota for 11th graders was only 4 people. For himself at that time, Thanh shared that "I was like a fish swimming out of water". Not to mention, while the way his friends studied focused on knowledge, Thanh learned "naturally, instinctively" through movies, music...
Talking about the difference in ways of learning English, Nguyen Quang Thanh shared the concept of learning English that one of his teachers once mentioned. Accordingly, English can be learned at 4 levels, in which level 1 is to learn for social purposes, level 2 is to use in academic language, level 3 is to understand the humor of foreigners and level 4 is to understand the deepest level of English, which is poetry and novels.
Thanh also said that, at first, because he loved English and saw English as a tool, Thanh mainly learned English for "application". Meanwhile, to participate in exams, skills at level 1 and level 2 are extremely important.
Later, during the process of studying and choosing the preliminary team and the official team, thanks to the guidance and instruction of teachers and thanks to his friends, Thanh changed.
I remember when I first joined the team, we often had a game of finding words in the dictionary and reading their meanings. In the early days of playing, “I was as quiet as a clam, losing all flexibility. Or sometimes I knew the words but I couldn’t remember or visualize them. I thought I had too many gaps in my knowledge. Therefore, I had to learn from my friends by “plowing” vocabulary, relearning all the grammar structures, I even sat and pondered over a whole dictionary to supplement my vocabulary.”
Don't be afraid of change
During the journey from pursuing the national team until his name was officially on the list of 10 best students of Phan Boi Chau High School for the Gifted, Nguyen Quang Thanh said that he never got discouraged. The reason was simple: Thanh thought "I have no other way, I have started something, I have to follow through". Moreover, he also thought that "I am almost 18 years old, I have to take responsibility for my decision and if I do not try hard in an exam, it will be difficult to succeed in the future".
Thanh also considers this journey as a “personal breakthrough”, which has changed her a lot: The National Excellent Student Competition is a very academic competition. Therefore, we should not do what we love. Before, I liked English but I “rejected” academics, because I did not like rigidity. But later, I thought again, if I wanted to develop, I needed to respect the “boundaries” that had been drawn. During that process, I still studied according to the instructions and roadmap given by my teachers. At the same time, I still studied English with my own passion. Finding a balance between academics and passion helped me learn English more systematically and effectively.
Despite his outstanding efforts, Thanh was still surprised when he participated in the National Excellent Student Competition and became the only student from Phan Boi Chau High School to win First Prize in English: I think that everyone in the English team is a candidate for First Prize because in addition to hard work, perseverance, and effort, each person has their own "gift" in English and talent. But compared to my friends, perhaps I came to this competition with a lighter psychological burden. For me, this competition is just a "paving the way" for the future and if I fail, I will still try to stand firm to continue - Quang Thanh added.
With the first prize in the English competition, Nguyen Quang Thanh has initially achieved his goal. During the 2 years of pursuing the national team, Thanh said that he felt like an "outcast", but it was the difference that gave Thanh more motivation to try, helping Thanh to break through himself.
The journey to the First Prize in English at the National Excellent Student Competition in English may also open a new direction for Thanh in the future. This male student hopes that he will continue to pursue English and continue to explore English with many different meanings and to learn English as a real language.
In the national excellent student team, no matter which class they come from, whether they are 11th or 12th graders, they are all welcomed equally. The cooperation, sharing, and helping each other among the members helped the English team have a successful competition season.
As for Quang Thanh, he had an exam with many achievements and he promoted his advantages to achieve the highest score.