Learn in a natural way. That is the sharing of young Bui Huong Linh Giang, an 8th grade student at Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted (HCMC), about the secret to achieving 8.0 IELTS at the age of 13. When she received the exam results around the end of September 2023, many people thought she had to "work hard" for a very long time. But in fact, Linh Giang only focused on reviewing IELTS in... the last week before the exam. Denying luck, Giang's English learning is a process. "I have been learning English since I was 4 years old. When I was little, I just studied while playing, just exploring, not in depth. It was not until 6th grade that I really focused on learning academic English. I started to learn in many ways" - Linh Giang shared.
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I am Bui Huong Linh Giang. (Photo: Thu Phuong)

For the female student of Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted, learning English is a passion and a personal hobby, so she completely immerses herself in it. In addition to online classes from the center, Giang studies English at home by reading books, newspapers, listening to music, watching YouTube and even watching comedy shows in English. Sharing her learning secrets, she said: "Learn naturally by creating your own interests". Of the 4 IELTS skills, Giang likes Writing and Listening the most. During the review process, she will increase her listening speed when doing homework to gradually get used to the pressure and reading pace of the real test. For Writing, she only focuses on writing 1-2 large essays a week before the test to remember grammar and simple vocabulary. Her secret is not to "parrot" difficult vocabulary rigidly, the important thing is to know how to apply it correctly in context and situations.
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Linh Giang received the trophy at The World Scholar's Cup (WSC) competition in Korea. (Photo: NVCC)

Unlike the common goal of many people when studying IELTS, which is to get an international certificate. For Giang, IELTS is just one of the small milestones on her journey of learning a foreign language: "My ultimate and most long-term goal when learning English is to use this language as a tool to read, understand, research foreign documents and study other subjects". Because of her passion for this foreign language in general and English in particular, Giang is currently studying German at school, studying Spanish at home and she also sets a goal of being able to communicate in basic Chinese by the age of 15. For Giang, studying independently, proactively, without pressure has nurtured her love of foreign languages ​​to grow every day. Extracurricular activities help female students practice English Because of her passion and natural learning of foreign languages, Giang does not limit herself to any learning method. The female student in Ho Chi Minh City has participated in countless extracurricular activities to practice her English. Around the same time as the IELTS exam, Giang focused entirely on the World Scholar's Cup (WSC) competition in Vietnam and Korea and won the 7th place in the national top 10 in the Writing category with more than 1,100 participants.
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Linh Giang with her "teacher" - her mother. (Photo: Thu Phuong)

In addition, to see English as “a part of life” and not “fail in the profession”, Giang also participated in many domestic and international Debate competitions with her team. At the same time, she also enjoyed the program “Tran Dai Nghia Open Model United Nations (MUN)” organized by the school, a conference simulating the United Nations… Giang shared that these extracurricular activities helped her practice her Writing and Speaking skills very effectively. Giang shared that this journey could not have been possible without her mother - her teacher. “The person who motivated me the most to learn English is my mother. Whenever I don’t understand any lesson or find it unconvincing in class, I ask my mother” - Giang proudly shared. Ms. Phan Ly Thuy Mai (38 years old) confided: “Accompanying my child's English learning journey since he was very young, I always try to be a friend to share, encourage and teach him every day. When he achieved the results he has today, I was happy but not too surprised because in each learning stage, both mother and child had a clear plan, this is just the result of a long time of persistent efforts of my child”. Currently, female student Linh Giang has completely self-studied English at home without going to any tutoring center. Her upcoming goal is to pass the high school entrance exam to enter the English specialized class and continue to study foreign languages ​​every day.
In October 2022, Bui Huong Linh Giang won a Bronze medal in English Mathematics at the American Mathematics Olympiad (AMO). In 2023, Giang won a Gold medal in English and a Bronze medal in Science at the ASMO International Science, Mathematics and English Olympiad. Giang was also in the TOP 10 out of 1,100 contestants participating in The World Scholar's Cup (WSC) in Vietnam and Korea, along with the individual Writing award.
Thu Phuong