(Dan Tri) - Although he achieved IELTS 7.5 on his first attempt, what surprised Nguyen Minh Duc (10 years old, 5th grade student in Ho Chi Minh City) was his ability to self-study English at home.
Nguyen Minh Duc, a 5/7 student at Luong The Vinh Primary School, Go Vap District, Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: Huyen Nguyen).
Self-study English Nguyen Minh Duc, a 5/7 grader at Luong The Vinh Primary School (Go Vap District, Ho Chi Minh City), took the IELTS test last August with impressive results. At that time, Duc was preparing to enter grade 5 but had scored 8.0 in listening, 8.0 in speaking, 7.0 in reading and 6.5 in writing. Despite his high score, he said he had only been studying IELTS for a year. "I started studying English when I was 2-3 years old, but only focused on taking the IELTS test for a year. I was very happy when I got 7.5 and also proud of my efforts over the past year," Duc said. Talking about the reason for taking the IELTS test early, Minh Duc said he really loved the language and hoped to win a scholarship to an international school when he entered grade 6. "I really like the international learning environment, but my parents could not afford the cost, so I tried to take the IELTS test to win a scholarship according to the school's requirements, with a minimum IELTS score of 6.5," Minh Duc shared. To achieve this score, Duc always creates an English environment in his daily life, diligently reads books and watches science movies. He focuses on entertainment and exploring common knowledge about life in English instead of "plowing questions".
Minh Duc learns English by himself through life experiences (Photo: Family provided).
Ms. Lan Huong - Duc's mother - said that her son showed his love for English from a very young age. When he was only 2-3 years old, his kindergarten organized two lessons with foreign teachers every week, each lesson lasting 20 minutes. Right from the beginning, the boy showed great interest. "Maybe because when he was little, his parents often let him watch funny English programs, so when he first started to speak, Duc spoke English before Vietnamese. It wasn't until he was 28 months old that he spoke Vietnamese well," Duc's mother said. Seeing his love, the family invited a foreign teacher to tutor Duc when he was three years old. However, at that time, Duc spoke more English than Vietnamese. Because they were afraid of affecting his use of his mother tongue, his parents later decided to stop. At around three years old, Duc knew how to read English books , so his parents only bought English books for children for him. When he was 5-6 years old, his family wanted to send Duc to a center to study, but some places did not accept him because he had good listening, speaking, and reading skills but could not write. Ms. Huong said that before entering first grade, Duc could read all the books in English but could not hold a pen. Some time later, he learned to write by himself. "He almost never went to a foreign language center to study. Only when he took the IELTS test or participated in the World Scholar's Cup did Duc go to the center to learn the exam structure. At home, he studied by himself through reading books and using some English learning applications online," Ms. Lan Huong revealed.
Nguyen Minh Duc with IELTS score report, August 2023 (Photo: Family provided).
Ms. Phan Thi Chau - Principal of Luong The Vinh Primary School - said that in addition to studying outside of school, Duc also participated in an enhanced English program in class from grade 1. During the learning process, teachers focused on training him in four skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. The test content was designed according to the test format of Starters, Movers, and Flyers - three international English certificates for children aged 7-12. "Being familiar with the international standard test format, the children were not too surprised when taking the international certificates," Ms. Chau shared. Despite his good English ability, the boy said he was not subjective when studying lessons in class. "Re-studying lessons in class is still important to me because it helps to solidify my knowledge. Especially when studying in class, I had a lot of fun interacting with my friends. The teachers also organized many forms of practice so it was very interesting," the 5th grade boy shared. At the same time, he also participated in English competitions for children. In grade 4, Minh Duc and his friends at school won third prize at the English musical competition about Vietnamese history at the primary school level in Ho Chi Minh City. In July 2023, Duc won the Gold Cup for the team at the World Scholar's Cup 2023, held in Seoul, South Korea. This is an international academic competition, attracting more than 15,000 candidates aged 8-18 each year, competing in 6 fields such as science, history, or literature.
A fourth grader with the Gold medal at the 2023 World Scholar's Cup competition, held in Seoul, South Korea in July. (Photo: Family provided).
Excitedly talking about studying history and science in an English environment, Duc said: "This is very interesting because I can both learn a foreign language and learn more knowledge in life. I really like learning to speak and write because there is a lot of vast and extensive knowledge." The IELTS test requires a lot of academic knowledge and experience, so the male student spent a lot of time reading books. He believes that reading books is not only about doing well on the test but more importantly, learning the author's knowledge and writing style. Duc also constantly searches for new English resources. In addition to the books his mother bought, he discovered children's books and newspapers in English online. Duc often watches knowledge videos, especially about history. Through that, the male student learned a lot of difficult vocabulary about the topics. Duc said that he was able to watch movies without subtitles 2-3 years ago. In addition, he also regularly practices dubbing movies in English by choosing short clips from his favorite movies and practicing speaking in the character's voice. At home, Duc and his sister also talk in English at home to form good reflexes and speak fluently. Every day, the boy will spend 2-3 hours learning English and an equivalent amount of time on other subjects. "If I'm good at English, I will be limited in some other subjects. I realize that my literature subject is a bit difficult. I think no one is perfect, but I will also spend more time on other subjects to be more comprehensive," Duc said. Principal of Luong The Vinh Primary School Phan Thi Chau commented that the boy is very intelligent and learns quickly. In addition to English, Duc also has good achievements in other subjects, especially math. Comprehensive development, not just English The family always tries to create conditions for the boy to develop comprehensively, not just in English. According to Ms. Huong, studying and taking the IELTS test also comes from the desire for her child to learn knowledge, to win a scholarship to the international school that she loves, and not to be pressured by adults. Until now, Duc's writing ability is still difficult because he is self-taught. "Duc likes to explore and learn, likes to read books, so when given a model, it is very bad. When given a topic 10 times, Duc will have 10 different answers, not following a model," Duc's mother said. Every summer, her mother will give him a test to see how capable he is. Sometimes his test scores are high, but sometimes his scores are low. The result in first grade was Flyers 15 shields.
Duc plays and teaches English to children at SOS Children's Village (Photo: Family provided).
When his sister, an 8th grader majoring in English at Tran Dai Nghia High School, took the IELTS exam, Duc saw her studying and wanted to follow her. "I never thought I would let my child take the IELTS exam at this age. But because my sister took the exam, I followed her lead and she wanted to go to an international school, so she set her own goal of taking the IELTS exam to win a scholarship, and the family did not pressure her. The family also did not encourage children to rush to prepare for the IELTS exam early, but it had to depend on their abilities and interests," the mother said. According to her, IELTS has quite high requirements for political and social knowledge. There were questions that even the 10-year-old boy did not fully understand, but he applied the knowledge he had read to do the test. "I let my child take the IELTS test partly because I saw that he has a wide range of social knowledge, so I tested him to see how far his knowledge can go. In my opinion, social knowledge is more important than English ability. Therefore, if someone keeps improving their English, when taking a certificate exam, it will only take 2-3 months to practice the test format," Ms. Lan Huong shared.
The family wants Duc to develop comprehensively, not focusing on any particular field. In the photo, he participates in a race (Photo: Family provided).
In addition to enrolling Duc in creative writing and public speaking classes, his mother tries to take him to many places to broaden his knowledge about life. She also requires Duc to spend time playing a sport every day. Sharing his plans for the future, Duc said he will continue to study English as he has always done, as a hobby. The male student hopes to win a scholarship to an international secondary school next year and aims to achieve IELTS 8.0-8.5 in the next 2 years. "I will try to improve my reading and writing skills to achieve IELTS 8.0-8.5 in the next 2 years when the certificate expires," Nguyen Minh Duc shared.Dantri.com.vn
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