French major girl graduated with honors with master's degree in English

Hanoi From a student majoring in French, Huong Thao spent 10 years self-studying English, then won a scholarship to study abroad and graduated with honors from university in the UK.

Nguyen Thi Huong Thao graduated with honors from the Master of Teaching English as a Second Language (TESOL) course at the University of Westminster, London, in September 2023. She also visited 41 countries and territories during her studies abroad.

Originally a French native, the former student of Hoang Van Thu High School for the Gifted, Hoa Binh, sees this as the result of a series of days of trying, setting goals and completing them.

Thao graduated with a master's degree in English teaching in September 2023. Photo: Provided by the character

In 2008, after graduating from the Foreign Trade University, Thao won a full Evariste Galois scholarship from the French government to study for a master's degree in Development Economics at the School for Advanced Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS), part of the Grande Ecole system, in Paris. After returning home after two years of study, Thao worked for a bank in Hanoi.

During her time working, Thao realized that the working environment still needed English. She had to be good at English if she wanted to develop and have many opportunities to work for foreign banks. Therefore, Thao took advantage of self-studying during breaks, after work or whenever she had free time, with the goal of improving all four skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. She followed the curriculum of teaching Business English (Market Leader), Communication English (Streamline) and set a goal of completing a course in three months.

At work, Thao forms study groups and organizes related activities for her colleagues to practice. She also joins many clubs with foreigners to improve her speaking skills. Every day, she spends 1-2 hours jogging, listening to English songs or the BBC 6 Minutes program while running. Instead of reading books in Vietnamese, Thao switches to English.

As her English improved, she started studying IELTS and had the opportunity to teach three sessions a week outside of work. In 2014, after giving birth and quitting her job at the bank, Thao switched to teaching IELTS and conversational English.

"I admire Thao for her ability, self-study spirit, diligence and perseverance. When she switched to teaching languages, she really shined," said Tran Quoc Tuan, Thao's former superior at the bank, adding that she not only studied, but also enthusiastically shared her knowledge with those around her to help them progress together.

With the desire to study abroad and explore the world, in 2022, Thao learned about GREAT, a scholarship program of the British government in collaboration with universities in this country.

"I feel like the scholarship is for me," Thao said.

Knowing that Thao intended to study abroad, her relatives advised her to consider between going to school at this age and teaching to earn money. However, with Thao's determination and love of learning, everyone finally supported her. She said she was lucky that her husband always respected her dream and was willing to take care of the children so that she could go to school with peace of mind.

In her essay, she used the word "gritty" to describe herself. From someone who didn't know English, it took her 10 years to study and by 2020, Thao achieved IELTS 8.0, in which Listening was always at 8.5-9.

Thao's story revolves around "a mother, a teacher, a runner, and a dreamer". As a mother, she is proud to have raised a bilingual son who has won many awards and medals in academic competitions. As a teacher and sports enthusiast, she spends time understanding the difficulties of her students to help them have a personalized learning path. By participating and winning many sporting events, she proves to her students that perseverance and determination are important factors for success.

Thao aspires to become an inspirational and influential English teacher. Winning the scholarship will help her gain a solid understanding of language teaching and advanced teaching methods.

Thao arrives in Copenhagen, Denmark, July 2023. Photo: Character provided

According to Ms. Le Hien, Manager of Education Services at the British Council, the GREAT scholarship offers many specialized courses at British universities, for candidates in 15 countries.

"Thao is the only Vietnamese candidate to receive a scholarship from Westminster University," said Ms. Hien.

Thanks to the habit of listening to English with different regional accents every day, Thao does not face any language barriers. She also has many foreign friends and has studied abroad, so she can easily integrate into the new environment.

From the beginning of the year, students receive a reading list, assignment topics, and deadlines. Students mostly do their own research and only come to school a few times or study online. This gives Thao the flexibility to travel and experience. During the first two months, Thao explored a city in England every week, then returned to focus on her assignments to continue traveling to other countries in Europe, Africa, Canada, and the US.

Thao said that after each trip, she always arranges to study at home, spending a few hours each day reading documents and studying high-scoring assignments from previous courses to learn how to do them, instead of trying to figure it out on her own. On days when she has to go to school, she goes to school early to have the opportunity to ask questions about homework and seek advice from teachers.

"Actively interacting helps teachers have a good impression of your learning spirit. Actively communicating also helps you complete your assignments well and get high scores," Thao shared.

Thao's thesis is about Vietnamese people's motivation and attitudes when learning English. The thesis evaluation board's feedback said "this is an excellent thesis, written and presented coherently and easily understood. The research questions are clear and have a lot of data".

After graduation, Thao plans to participate in study abroad seminars as a speaker, then return to teaching. She also plans to learn Spanish to go to South America and pursue a doctorate in the future.

"Everyone has a mission. When you want to do something, you just need to set a goal, be determined and persistent to achieve it," Thao said.

Dawn

Source: https://vnexpress.net/co-gai-chuyen-tieng-phap-tot-nghiep-xuat-sac-thac-si-anh-4715788.html