Saying no to extra tutoring, the 6th-grade boy achieved a near-perfect TOEIC score.

Speaking about his motivation for taking the TOEIC exam, Nam Long (from Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted - Ho Chi Minh City) shared that his father always "urged" him to try his hand at every field and activity. Two years ago, when he was in 4th grade, Nam Long achieved a TOEIC score of 900/990. Now he can communicate in English fluently and confidently like a native speaker.

English is not considered a subject.

Nam Long's TOEIC score has earned him much admiration. (Photo: Provided by the interviewee)

Nam Long was introduced to basic English before he was two years old. At the age of five, his father enrolled him in lessons with a "neighbor" teacher in their apartment building. Since then, Nam Long has shown a talent for learning English. He revealed, "I loved English the first time I interacted with a foreigner."

Mr. Nguyen Binh Nam, the boy's father, was quite surprised that his 6-year-old son could already converse in English with his friends. He was the one who guided Long in learning foreign languages, encouraging his children to communicate in English with each other from a young age.

Maintaining that habit into first grade, Nam Long and his friends in the same apartment building continued to communicate in English as if they were studying at an international school. In second grade, Nam Long's father enrolled him in a language center, but he only stayed for a short time before quitting because he had already mastered the material.

The family had also tried to get Long to skip to the 4th and 5th grade classes, but the center refused. Since then, Nam Long has refused any extra tutoring.

For the past 10 years, the boy has primarily learned English through YouTube videos . Being intelligent and eager to learn, Nam Long quickly mastered English. "Learning through play, and playing through learning" is the secret to this sixth-grade student's high achievement in learning a new language.

Nam Long plans to take the IELTS exam this summer. "I hope to get a score above 7.5," Nam Long said, revealing that in two years he will be determined to achieve a perfect score of 990/990 on the TOEIC.

Nam Long is holding a book written by his father. (Photo: Provided by the interviewee)

Use English to learn programming.

Besides English, Nam Long also loves computer science. Even as a primary school student, he developed his IT skills thanks to his father's guidance. Introduced to programming by his father in the first grade, Nam Long now possesses coding skills comparable to those of working professionals.

Besides being guided by his father, the boy also regularly watched programming lectures by foreign teachers on YouTube. Long's journey of learning programming was also a time for him to improve his foreign language skills.

As soon as he could write Vietnamese, Nam Long was able to write game instructions entirely in English. Although there were still some spelling mistakes, it was something not every 6-year-old boy could do.

After three years of studying programming, Nam Long is completely confident in becoming an online programming "teacher" for some Vietnamese expats in Canada and Australia.

Besides English and computer science, this boy also shows talent in many other fields. He participates in competitions related to Math and Science and wins many awards. In addition, the 6th-grade student also has a talent for art.

In his free time, Nam Long doesn't attend extra classes; instead, he participates in sports like badminton and table tennis, or learns more about history and geography.

Nam Long hopes to study abroad when he reaches high school, and then return to continue his family's business. When asked "what is your dream?" , the 12-year-old boy gave a surprisingly mature answer. "I don't want to set any direction for myself more than a year ahead. I think that would hinder my creativity," Nam Long said.

Hieu Lam

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