Grade 11 trio won first prize in national English competition

PHOTO: BICH THANH

According to the results of the national high school excellent student exam for the 2024-2025 school year announced by the Ministry of Education and Training, among the 6 students from Ho Chi Minh City who won first prize in each subject, 3 students won first place in English.

They are Nguyen Tuan Phong, Tran Gia Vy and Ngo Nhat Luan, all in class 11 specializing in English 1 at Tran Dai Nghia High School for the Gifted. The trio participated in the national excellent student competition since grade 10. At that time, Ngo Nhat Luan won first prize while Nguyen Tuan Phong and Tran Gia Vy both won second prize.

Experience in improving English writing skills

Sharing the secret to achieving high rankings in the national excellent student exam for two consecutive years, the trio shared: Study naturally and independently and always access information and knowledge in English.

In fact, among the four English skills, students today are still weak in writing. Therefore, with his strengths, Ngo Nhat Luan, who won first prize in two consecutive national excellent student competitions, shared that learning English, especially writing skills, is similar to learning literature, requiring continuous practice and improvement.

Nhat Luan emphasizes that ensuring basic elements such as grammar and sentence structure are important before focusing on style and vocabulary.

The national first prize winner in English advised that reading a lot of documents and newspapers in English will help accumulate vocabulary and understanding, thereby improving writing skills.

"Using English in daily communication, instead of just for studying, will help improve your proficiency in this language. At the same time, imagining the context and audience helps guide the writing process, thereby conveying ideas more effectively. Evaluate and recognize the importance of understanding how readers receive the article, avoid writing in a general way," said Ngo Nhat Luan.

PHOTO: BICH THANH

How to speak English fluently

When it comes to improving English speaking skills, especially how to speak English more naturally and fluently, Tran Gia Vy shares the limitations he encountered in the early days of communicating in English.

Vy said: "I thought too much about how to speak English, often thinking too much about how to express myself, worrying about whether others would understand me or not? This made me unnatural when speaking English."

Therefore, when realizing his limitations, Gia Vy increased his exposure to English in real life . Vy believes that exposure to a lot of English content such as watching movies, reading books... will help him gradually get used to the pronunciation and intonation of native speakers. This will create an "imprint" in his mind, helping him speak English more naturally.

Along with Gia Vy, Nguyen Tuan Phong has been promoted in this year's national excellent student exam (in the 2023-2024 school year, Phong and Vy both ranked second). Phong also emphasized the need for continuous practice, accumulation of vocabulary and understanding, as well as using English in daily communication.

According to Tuan Phong, he often felt that he understood and did well in the readings, but the results were not as expected. From there, Phong realized that when doing the readings, he often focused on each question and tried to answer based on the information in the passage. However, the teacher wanted him to focus on receiving information objectively, without making personal judgments. He focused too much on each question, without looking at the whole passage.

Therefore, Phong shared that an objective approach when reading and answering questions will help students have a better view of the information, instead of just relying on personal thoughts. This will be an important skill when learning a foreign language.