A little over a year ago, Thuong Huong was very different because her mother prevented her from studying abroad. Now, she has graduated with a first-class degree in English at Nottingham Trent University, England.
Nguyen Thuy Hong, born in 1995, is a former student of the English specialized class at Ha Long High School for the Gifted (Quang Ninh). In April 2017, Hong graduated with a bachelor's degree in Law from Hanoi Law University.
After graduating, Hong worked for more than 5 months at the Procuracy but realized that the environment was not really suitable for her personality so she decided to change fields. As an English teacher, Hong received many positive feedbacks from parents and students, and won awards for excellent teachers.
At the same time, Hong volunteered to teach English to ethnic minority students in the mountainous areas of Dak Lak province and received the 2023 dedicated volunteer teacher award from the non-profit organization Vietnam Language Bridge.
The more she teaches foreign languages, the more Hong realizes that this is her ideal life. After 5 years of teaching, Hong has attended many courses to improve her teaching skills. However, the young teacher still has many aspirations from being trained abroad.
Thuy Hong (right) with Dr. Amy Wang, Head of the TESOL Master's Program at Nottingham Trent University.
At the time she decided to study in the UK, Hong was married and had a young child. “Going to school wasn’t bad, but perhaps a year ago it was a big challenge for me and my family,” Hong recalls.
"A child like that dares to leave me to study far away, I don't understand you, don't know how to love your child!", "You can't keep the family by studying far away. Find a way to study in the country, I don't agree", Hong clearly remembers her mother and father-in-law's reactions after announcing her decision to study abroad. Her husband was the only one who supported her decision to study abroad because he understood that this was necessary if his wife wanted to develop her career.
When you are young, it seems that going to school is compulsory and even your family will support you if you want to pursue higher education, but for Hong, a mother of a 3-year-old baby, with a husband and his family, things are no longer simple. All Hong does is silently try to prove that love is not only being with her husband and children every day, a mother has many ways to show love and responsibility.
In July 2023, Thuy Hong successfully applied to the master's program in TESOL at Nottingham Trent University. This is a privileged program of the school with the Vietnam - UK Research and Training Institute (a joint program between Vietnam and the UK, so students receive a privilege of 50% tuition reduction).
Before entering Nottingham Trent University, Hong received a 30% offer from Huddersfield University and Sheffield Hallam University. To be admitted to a master's degree, the 9X must meet language proficiency requirements (IELTS above 6.5, no skill below 6.0), GPA of 7.0 or higher and teaching experience.
According to the young teacher, the hardest part of conquering the school is writing a motivational letter (Statement of Purpose) to prove to the Selection Board her learning goals as well as her ability to apply knowledge after the course. During this process, she found that she had to question herself a lot to know her goals and the path she wanted to take.
Receiving 50% tuition support from the school, Hong tried to prepare the remaining 50% of her finances, including tuition, accommodation and travel when studying abroad without support from her family. Without touching the joint savings of the couple, Hong had most of her finances for studying for a master's degree in the UK thanks to her founding English classes with an orientation according to Cambridge exam standards and supporting secondary school students.
Before that, Hong worked at an English center for 3 years. For 2 years, she maintained the discipline of saving 50% of her income, investing in stocks and gold to accumulate more profits. In September 2023, Hong went to England to study, choosing to live and study in the city of Notting ham, where the cost of living is not too expensive.
Hong participates in “Personal Tutoring 1:1,” a program where students can access and maximize help from instructors.
Achieving a master's degree with honors in the UK was a long and arduous process, but Hong did not feel too pressured because she enjoyed the journey.
“I am excited about the discussion hours in class with teachers and friends. Besides, the library is open 24/7, which is great to help me concentrate as much as possible,” Hong said. On the days when I need to concentrate the most, Hong starts studying from 7am to almost 12am.
In the UK, people often prepare their own water bottles in their bags, because if they forget, it will be difficult to drink water. That day, Hong accidentally did not screw it on tightly, so the water bottle spilled and the laptop was completely soaked. That was also the peak 4-week period of preparing to submit essays for the 3 final subjects in May 2024. Extremely panicked because the data could not be retrieved, the repair shop in the UK reported that it would cost 9 million to fix the machine.
“As a poor student, I hesitated and decided to bring my laptop back to Vietnam to repair to save money,” Hong said. She calmly arranged her time scientifically, speeding up to redo all the lost writing. So, in nearly a month, the school library’s desktop computer helped the Vietnamese girl complete her subjects very well. Of which, one subject was rated excellent, the other two were rated good.
According to Hong, at the master's level, the amount of reading of research, books, and documents before each class is very large. Candidates should clearly define the goal when reading documents to solve what questions. In addition, the skills of reading scientific articles are also shared by many seniors on youtube.
Because the master’s degree in the UK is only 1 year with 180 credits, the study intensity and deadlines are extremely stressful. Therefore, students need to have the skills to plan and arrange their time to balance between studying and playing.
In addition to studying, Hong balances her time for cultural exploration and travel. “Being fortunate enough to experience life in developed countries like France, Italy, and Switzerland helps this Quang Ninh native girl to be more and more motivated to study and strive harder,” Hong confided.
Mentally, Hong practices self-confidence, finds inspiration in studying and researching, and focuses on her most important work instead of endlessly fantasizing. In particular, although she is not passionate about sports, Hong still tries to exercise physically by walking as much as possible, cooking meals with lots of green vegetables and nutrients to have good health to serve her studies in the foggy country.
Hong with his family, Dr Samuel Barclay (left) and Dr Amy Wang (right), senior lecturers at Nottingham Trent University.
“Working with Thuy Hong, I was impressed by her strong, dynamic and forward-looking personality. Hong has the intelligence, skills and strong will to go further in the field of language education,” Dr. Le Thi Giang, lecturer at Hanoi Law University, wrote in her recommendation letter.
In the near future, Hong plans to return to Vietnam to develop a more systematic English teaching program in her classes. Hong also hopes to train teachers with teaching and language skills to work more effectively with parents and students.
Source: https://vtcnews.vn/tung-bi-cam-du-hoc-ba-me-mot-con-tot-nghiep-thac-si-loai-gioi-tai-anh-ar917453.html
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