Female student won first prize for excellent student, traveled 17km to teach charity every week

Phan Khanh An is studying in the 11th grade of English at Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted. In the recent national high school competition, An advanced her level and won first prize. Before that, she also won first prize at the city level. However, An does not consider this a special achievement because her class has 9 members participating in the team and all 9 won prizes, with 3 first prizes.

An said there is no secret to winning a national prize other than practicing a lot, practicing a lot and being able to withstand pressure.

An got used to the pressure when he was in middle school. During the 10th grade entrance exam preparation period, he registered for 3 specialized schools including Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted, Foreign Language High School for the Gifted and University of Education High School for the Gifted.

The female student confided that it was a difficult and stressful period. In return, she received a worthy result of passing all three schools.

Therefore, when selected for the national English team, An was no stranger to high study intensity. Students on the team are allowed to take time off from school to focus on the team. Every day, An studies for 6 hours at the team and practices 1 hour at home.

But even when I need to focus all my energy on exams, I still maintain my volunteer teaching job.

Nữ sinh giành giải Nhất học sinh giỏi đi 17km dạy học từ thiện hàng tuần - 1 — Portrait of Phan Khanh An - 11th grade English student at Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted (Photo: Hoang Hong).

A year ago, An joined Rainbow Class - a non-profit project providing education to disadvantaged students in Hanoi and the North. An was assigned to tutor a 4th grade student at Vinh Hung Primary School who was in difficult circumstances.

An’s student lives with her mother in a shabby rented house. Her brother is one year older than An but had to drop out of school to make a living. An’s house is 17km away from her. Every week, An takes the bus to her rented house to teach.

Despite the great geographical distance and stressful periods at school, An still tries to arrange for the two sisters to study together regularly every week for over a year.

An said about her motivation: "Because she always tried to study with me even though she didn't like English.

Starting out as a boy who only liked to study science subjects, after a year of studying with me, he has developed a better liking for English and is no longer afraid to study like before.

In extremely difficult and deprived circumstances, she is really determined. Her mother is a poor woman but she wants her child to study higher, to change his life by pursuing education. And she does not want to let her mother down.

I hope that in the future, if I no longer have the conditions to teach her, she will still maintain her learning inspiration to learn foreign languages on her own."

An's little boy is now in 5th grade and An has also entered the second semester of 11th grade. An confided that the greatest gift he received after 1 year of volunteer teaching is to appreciate more the life he has and the constant joy in his heart for contributing to breathing life into the English letters so that a child can love learning.

That love for An is greater than her grades at school.

In grade 12, An plans to stop taking the national excellent student exam and focus on applying for a scholarship to study abroad. The first prize winner of the national excellent student exam in English jokingly said "still don't know what IELTS is". Therefore, An's immediate plan is to study for the IELTS exam.

At the same time, I will still apply to domestic universities.

An will pursue law following her family's tradition. Her dream is to become a lawyer or a social activist who protects the interests of disadvantaged groups.

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