Pham Hai Nam (class 6G0, Newton 5 Primary - Secondary School, Thanh Oai district, Hanoi ) surpassed his level to participate in the district-level excellent student competition in English and achieved 16.1/20 points.
Pham Hai Nam - class 6G0, Newton 5 Primary and Secondary School, Thanh Oai district, Hanoi - Photo: NVCC
With this result, Nam is the only 6th grade English student from Thanh Oai district to enter the city round this year - a competition originally for 9th grade students.
Grade 6 takes the same exam as grade 9 students.
Sharing with Tuoi Tre, Hai Nam said that when he received the result of 16.1/20 points and was selected to compete in the city-level English competition with his 9th grade classmates, he was overwhelmed with happiness. Because when he finished the test, Nam thought he would only get about 12/20 points.
Recalling the 150-minute exam, Nam said the exam was quite difficult, including listening, reading comprehension, and writing. Nam said the writing part was the most "challenging" part as the question required him to write a paragraph of about 200 words and commented that experiencing many things could bring fear but could also bring sweet results. "The writing part was difficult because I had few ideas about the assigned topic, and was only confident in doing about 50%. The listening part also had some "traps", but I practiced this skill very often so I did not encounter any obstacles," Nam said.
According to Nam, at first when he was studying in the same team as his seniors, he felt behind when he couldn't keep up with the knowledge, and sometimes he felt discouraged. To shorten the gap, he didn't hesitate to ask the teachers to answer directly until he understood. In addition to studying the curriculum in class, Nam increased his practice of taking online tests and reading more English books and stories than usual.
"I took the advanced exam with the desire to gain experience and win a scholarship from the school. The first few times I took the advanced exam were very stressful because as soon as I entered the exam room, my seniors wrote very quickly, while I had no idea. There were times when I was stuck on vocabulary, didn't understand, and couldn't find the dictionary, so I was confused. After taking the advanced exam many times, I no longer felt scared when entering the exam room because I was mentally relaxed and had a lot of experience," Nam said.
Ms. Nguyen Thi Nu (Nam's mother) said that Nam showed his ability to learn English well since he was a child, speaking English very naturally. At the age of 2, he could read many words fluently in both Vietnamese and English.
"In addition to learning English, during the time affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Nam also proactively self-studied Chinese, then Russian. Hai Nam has participated in many excellent student competitions. From grade 1, he participated in the IOE English Olympiad for grade 3 at the school level and won the highest score. Grade 2 won second prize in the IOE English Olympiad for grade 3 at the district level and third prize in Hanoi city level...", said Ms. Nu.
After many times of taking the exam, I no longer feel scared when entering the exam room because I am comfortable and have a lot of experience.
PHAM HAI NAM (class 6G0, Newton 5 Primary - Secondary School, Thanh Oai district, Hanoi)
Applying AI to English Learning
Hai Nam said that his love for English is partly due to the direct influence of his mother. At home, Nam communicates in English with his mother and sister, and speaks Vietnamese with his father and grandparents to balance the two languages. Every day, Nam arranges time to spend at least 30 minutes listening to English Podcasts or reading texts, then summarizing the content and submitting it to AI for grading and asking AI to help detect mistakes.
"I have been using AI to learn English for about a year. Every day, I will also spend about 30 minutes on Discord to learn English, go to the server to talk with foreigners to improve my communication skills. Besides, I have a habit of "monologue" after watching a movie or book by recording my voice. From there, I can detect mistakes and adjust my pronunciation," Nam said.
Nam said that in the upcoming city-level excellent student competition, he aims to win third prize or higher. In grade 7, he will take the IELTS exam, hoping to get above 7.0 on his first attempt.
Ms. Le Thi Thuy Linh - homeroom teacher of class 6G0 - said that Hai Nam is a very meticulous student in his studies. Every time the teacher assigns homework, he immediately completes it, without waiting until the deadline to submit it.
According to Ms. Linh, Nam is not only good at English but also good at all subjects. In math, Nam is also on the school's excellent student team and is about to take the district-level exam in March 2025. However, because Nam is taking the English advanced exam and focusing on studying for the city round, he has to temporarily take a break from the math team.
"I plan to encourage Hai Nam to return to the 6th grade math team after the city-wide English competition, so that he can make up for the competition in March 2025," said Ms. Linh.
In 2023, Nam won second prize in the Vioedu math competition in Thanh Oai district and won a silver medal in the AMO international math competition, Singapore and Asia math competition (SASMO)...
The first year 6th graders took the same exam as 9th graders.
Ms. Le Thi Thanh Nhan, principal of Newton 5 Primary and Secondary School, said that it is not unusual for students to compete in the school's advanced student competition. According to Ms. Nhan, in previous years, Hanoi stipulated that the candidates for the city-level advanced student competition were students from grade 7 and above. However, this year is the first year the city has allowed 6th graders to compete in the advanced student competition with grade 9.
This year, the school has 15 students entering the city-level excellent student competition in the subjects of math, literature, English, information technology and natural science ; of which 6 students took the English exam, 5 students passed the exam to a higher level.
"Nam is in class 6G0, which is a specialized math class. Hai Nam is quite good at all subjects. When we send students to compete in a higher level, we are not too surprised by the results. However, when sending 6th graders to compete, we also have a more challenging spirit, not as determined as 7th, 8th, and 9th graders. When we heard that Hai Nam entered the city round, we were very happy but not too surprised because we understand their academic ability," said Ms. Nhan.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/hoc-lop-6-vuot-cap-thi-hoc-sinh-gioi-lop-9-20241229110541115.htm
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