Male student majoring in Math won first prize in national English competition

Majoring in Mathematics, Tien Hai won the national English prize three times and was also the first student in Gia Lai province to win first prize in this subject.

Duong Tien Hai, 18 years old, is currently a student in class 12C3A specializing in Mathematics at Hung Vuong High School for the Gifted, Gia Lai. Two years ago, Hai was the first 10th grader in the province to win a prize in the national excellent student competition, with second prize. In grade 11, the male student continued to maintain this achievement. In both times, Hai was only 0.2-0.5 points away from the first prize. Therefore, in the third exam, Hai did not dare to have high expectations.

"I only aimed for second prize because I thought it would be very difficult to win, especially when competing with friends in the central city," Hai shared.

Upon receiving the news of winning first prize on the afternoon of January 25, Hai jumped up and ran three laps around his house. The male student is the first Gia Lai student to win first prize in English in the national excellent student competition, ever.

Tien Hai, a student at Hung Vuong High School for the Gifted, Gia Lai. Photo: Provided by the character — Tien Hai, a student at Hung Vuong High School for the Gifted, Gia Lai. Photo: *Provided by the character*

Hai said his journey to English was quite natural. Since second grade, he had been taking extra classes in this subject, but he did not stand out because he only learned vocabulary and grammar according to the teacher's lesson plan. It was not until the summer of fifth grade that Hai had a breakthrough thanks to the new TV his parents bought when they moved house.

"My TV's Youtube channel was located in the US at that time, I didn't know how to switch it to Vietnam. I just left it like that and watched a lot of Minecraft game videos in English," Hai said, feeling that the language absorption speed was much faster during the summer months.

The biggest step forward was when Hai started reading Japanese comics online in 6th grade. Hai found that the Vietnamese version was very slow, often having to wait weeks for a new volume. Therefore, Hai switched to reading the English version because this language was updated faster.

"While reading, I learned how to use vocabulary and grammar in context. In the comments that readers wrote, I also learned many ways to use words in a timely manner," Hai recalled, adding that reading English stories has become a habit that he still has. Some days, the male student spends nearly 10 hours reading.

Because of his English background, Tien Hai intended to take the English major exam in grade 10. However, he switched to studying Math in grade 8 according to his family's wishes.

However, Hai considered himself an amateur in the Math class, so it was difficult for him to get into the advanced rounds. Therefore, from the beginning of 10th grade, Hai set a goal of taking the national excellent student exam in English, which is also his strength. The male student said that he had learned most of the basic grammar and vocabulary topics in previous years, so it did not take him much time to catch up with reviewing for the advanced exams.

To study well, in addition to the habit of reading stories, Hai watches news about environmental topics, climate change... in foreign newspapers, such as The Guardian, Reuters. Hai realizes that reading newspapers is not only to collect words and writing styles, but also an effective way to gather knowledge.

"I believe that when you read a lot and understand the problem, factors like words and grammar will automatically follow," Hai said.

The student also listens to podcasts, watches music channels and reports on YouTube to familiarize himself with different English accents such as Indian and Russian.

"The channels always have a lot of different voices and noise, so I learned how to listen like in real life. It's very suitable for the national exam because the exam has a lot of listening parts mixed with noise like that," Hai said.

The male student was most impressed with the Knowing Better channel, which specializes in explaining phenomena around life for about an hour. Hai often spends his lunch time watching, practicing understanding ideas and thinking logically, finding the layout of the video. This helps Hai learn how to concentrate and understand the content of a long listening passage.

Despite achieving high scores, Hai is not very confident in his Speaking and Writing skills. He said that sometimes he still makes some basic mistakes, such as missing an "s" or conjugating verbs incorrectly, so he tries to improve his neatness. Hai self-studied these two skills by imitating writing styles through story pages, YouTubers, and podcasts he often listens to.

Mr. Mai Ngoc Linh, homeroom teacher of class 12C3A, said the male student is one of the three most outstanding students of the school in the past 5 years.

"In addition to maintaining an average score of about 9.8/10 for three years, Hai is also the deputy secretary of the class, works responsibly, and is trusted by his classmates," said Mr. Linh.

Last year, Hai participated in the Road to Olympia 2023 competition and won first prize in week two, month 1, quarter 2. Currently, the male student participates in the school's Olympia club, in charge of creating questions for students to practice.

Regarding his future plans after graduating from high school, Hai said he has no plans to study abroad. He wants to use his national first prize to apply for admission to the International Relations major at the Diplomatic Academy this year.

Doan Hung

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