Valedictorian of Literature likes to debate

The student likes to argue

Like many other teams, the Vinh City Literature team has the majority of students from Dang Thai Mai Secondary School. In that list, if talking about achievements, Nguyen Vu Truc Chi admitted that she is in the "bottom group" because she comes from a normal school, both times she competed in the city's excellent student competition, the highest prize was only 3rd prize, ranked 6th, 8th and the average score was only 13.5 points.

Luckily selected for the provincial team, Nguyen Vu Truc Chi has never been confident. Most obviously, in many of the team's tests, her results were quite modest. Truc Chi also said: "My advantage is poetry, so if there is an exercise in prose, I do not do well. Meanwhile, I like to go against the answers, so I often lose points."

Nguyen Vu Truc Chi is a 9C student at Trung Do Secondary School (Vinh city) and is the valedictorian of Literature at the Provincial Excellent Student Selection Exam with 17 points. Photo: My Ha

Truc Chi explains her love for poetry because “poetry is short, concise, easy to expand, easy to find new things”. Meanwhile, Chi says, “Prose is often long and broad. When writing, you have to constantly stick to the text, it is difficult to dig deep, difficult to be creative and difficult to find new points”.

Normally, a good student of Literature often likes literature, likes reading books and daydreaming. However, Truc Chi, came to literature as an "instinct" and she admitted that she used to not love Literature.

Talking about this rather "strange" thing, this female student shared: Since grade 7, I was chosen by teachers to compete.excellent studentsMath, English and Literature. Of the three subjects, Math and English are my favorite and my strengths. However, despite my best efforts, I failed all the exams. Meanwhile, in Literature, although I did not put much effort into it, I won the first prize of the school. It was not luck, but perhaps Literature was ingrained in my mind. I learned Literature instinctively because in my family, my grandparents and aunts were all Literature teachers.

The excellent student team of Trung Do Secondary School had 2 contestants and both won prizes. Photo: NTCC

Receiving literature by “instinct”, Truc Chi’s learning method is quite different. For example, Chi may not like reading books, but she chooses to read and understand works by “watching movies”, because the advantage of movies is that sound and images help her to satisfy her imagination. In the process of doing exercises, instead of following a pattern and available answers, Chi often gives her own ideas and perspectives.

As Chi's Literature teacher and Literature tutor at Trung Do Secondary School, Ms. Hoang Thi Hoai Hoan said: In my 27 years of teaching, Chi is a special student. She has her own personality, her own writing style, and her own way of thinking and feeling, so each of her essays is different and the examiners find it interesting and new. However, this is also Chi's limitation and if the teacher does not find a way to control it, it can lead to writing that is long-winded and rambling.

Directly teaching Truc Chi, teacher Hoai Hoan also said that Chi loves to debate and always tries to prove her point of view. That is why sometimes teachers and students can debate to find a common voice. And with a student with such a personality, teachers themselves have to renew themselves, read many books, and research works to be able to explain all the questions of students...

Teacher Hoai Hoan and student Nguyen Vu Truc Chi. Photo: My Ha

Chi's victory

The results of the Excellent Student Competition were announced more than a week ago, but Nguyen Vu Truc Chi still cannot believe her achievement. Chi said that when her teacher sent her the results and she was surprised to see that she won first prize, she stood crying in the middle of the school yard. Witnessing that moment, teacher Hoai Hoan was also moved and could not hold back her tears...

Not only did Nguyen Vu Truc Chi win first prize, she was also the valedictorian of this year’s exam – a result that Chi had never thought of. Recalling her exam, Chi said that she had no difficulty in writing 16 pages in just 150 minutes – something she normally does in other exams. However, with limited time, Chi did not seem to have time to write an outline for her essay, but had to write and organize her ideas at the same time. After completing the exam, Chi was satisfied with her results.

The valedictorian of Literature completed her 16-page exam in 150 minutes. Photo: My Ha

This year’s provincial excellent student exam has a structure that is not too unfamiliar. In it, the social discussion section requires candidates to “present their thoughts on the phenomenon of students bullying each other via social networks”. When reading this question, Chi said she paused for 5 minutes because this is not a very unfamiliar topic and during her review days she had written an article about school violence. The difficulty for Chi in this article is how to make a familiar problem unique and new. Therefore, in addition to analyzing the causes, consequences and solutions, Chi found her own way “from within her own story”.

In 8th grade, I was a victim of social media and it affected my psychology a lot. But my mother guided me and gave me the advice "don't retaliate". Instead, listen to your heart, don't fight, but handle things calmly and tolerantly.

Nguyen Vu Truc Chi

Before that, theory was always Chi's strength and she was confident in this part of the exercise. Because, although she was only in grade 9, Chi often looked for grade 12 textbooks to study the theory part thoroughly. To find solutions for this part, Chi also looked for high school graduation exam review sets, even looked for all the national excellent student exams to read, refer to and self-study.

Nguyen Vu Truc Chi's family has 3 sisters. As the eldest, Chi always tries to study hard to set an example for her younger siblings. Photo: NVCC

In the literature essay test, with the data "The details in the work are the "eyes"" and the requirement for candidates to find details in the works of the 9th grade Literature program to present their views, Chi tried to choose "strange" details to analyze and prove instead of going into familiar details. For example, when analyzing the work "Ivory Comb", Chi analyzed the detail of "the scar" instead of going into the detail of "the comb". In the work "Quiet Sa Pa", Chi went into the detail of the young man giving flowers to the girl, a detail that was not noticed...

There was something quite special about this test that Chi once thought she would not succeed because “the test was in prose, which is not Chi’s strong point”. However, before an important test, Chi knew how to control herself. Instead of just writing about what she liked, Chi would first “complete” the essay so as not to lose points regrettably. For the rest, Chi would be free to satisfy her own ideas and in this “bet”, Chi tried her best, there was nothing to regret…

Truc Chi's victory is also the greatest success of the teacher after nearly 30 years standing on the podium. Photo: My Ha

The story of a female student in a suburban school

Few people know that, after knowing they won first prize and then suddenly knowing they won second placevaledictorian, Nguyen Vu Truc Chi quietly entered the school council office and sat alone. She was only 15 years old, usually quite agile and active but in reality she was very sensitive.

Sitting in the room where she and her Literature teacher had gone through dozens of training and review sessions together, Chi said that she had come a long way and had finally asserted herself.

It seemed like a happy ending for Chi after 9 years of middle school where she always had a personal inferiority complex. 4 years ago, from being an outstanding student, Chi unexpectedly failed the entrance exam to Dang Thai Mai Middle School because she was 0.25 points short. For the past 4 years, at the suburban school, Chi has always tried hard to prove herself.

Not only good at Literature, Chi also does well in all other cultural subjects. Chi also loves Foreign Languages ​​and in addition to English, she has registered to study French and Chinese quite systematically.

The valedictorian of Literature comes from a "non-specialized" school in Vinh city. Photo: My Ha

With the first prize in the provincial excellent student competition, Chi also dreams of other higher awards in her high school years. And this time, Chi confidently chose Literature because it is a subject she knows she can do better if she tries hard!