Ms. Na shared that the class had 23 students who achieved an IELTS score of 8.0 or higher. Notably, there was a student who achieved 8.5 on the first try, when he was still a 10th grader. That student was Phan Tuan Minh, a male student who just won third prize in the national excellent student competition. He was only 0.2 points short of winning second prize.

Tuan Minh registered for the computer-based IELTS test and achieved a score of 8.5 on his first attempt. Thanks to his good academic results such as: First prize at the provincial level in grades 9, 10, 11..., Minh received many scholarships. Minh did not attend any extra classes. Before the test day, Ms. Na only gave Minh one more session of guidance on the types of questions and wrote a sample essay for her to grade.

Minh confided that English has been his passion since he was a child. He can listen to English, speak, and listen to music all day long. Minh also made friends with students from many different countries and formed groups to talk and exchange daily. From now until the end of the year, he will continue to take the SAT so that when he enters grade 12, he can focus on other plans.

Teacher and student of English 11 class, Ha Tinh Specialized High School

Ms. Phan My Linh, the parent of an 11th grade English 1 student, said that when her child entered the 10th grade English major, her family also directed her to study all subjects, especially the subjects in the group, to prepare for the High School Graduation Exam. At the beginning of the 11th grade, her child took the IELTS practice test and achieved a score of 7.5, so she decided to continue studying to improve her score in the next exam. “My child does not go to any extra classes at any center, but mainly studies with friends and the teacher. The teacher provides materials, enthusiastically guides the children to study and solve problems on their own. When they encounter difficulties, they can text or call to discuss,” Ms. Linh said.

Support students overnight

According to Ms. Na, right from the beginning of 10th grade, she tested her students with a test to assess their abilities. The test was of course difficult and differentiated students based on the level of questions they could answer. As a result, this group of students surprised her, because some were very good, having completed 34/40 questions in just half the time (equivalent to 8.5 points). Besides, there were also students who only scored around 5.0 points.

To guide and motivate students to study, in addition to class hours, Ms. Na assigns homework, provides additional books and documents for students to refer to, and proactively complete assignments to maximize their potential. "Students have intelligent qualities, but if they are not guided and encouraged, they are not ready to start further goals, instead they have a procrastination mentality," Ms. Na said.

Ms. Na said that in recent years, students have been conscious of studying and improving their foreign language skills to gain priority admission to top universities. Some students have plans to apply for scholarships. In fact, in the previous course, there was a student who won a scholarship from a prestigious university worth nearly 7 billion VND.

After understanding each student's ability, the teacher designs lessons that provide them with a solid foundation of knowledge. Then comes the stage of practicing listening and reading more in parallel with speaking and writing. To practice speaking skills, students are divided into groups to present topics and debate and argue. For the writing part, the teacher will let students write their own work at home and she will grade and correct them so that they can learn from each lesson. Only a few students take additional speaking and writing lessons to improve their skills.

Special recognition

Ha Tinh has a special policy to recognize excellent students of the province who have international language certificates for foreign language subjects. Students who achieve 7.0 IELTS are equivalent to Third Prize, 7.5 is equivalent to Second Prize and 8.0 is equivalent to First Prize.

Every student who achieves a certain score is praised by Ms. Na in front of the class and in the parent group. In addition, she gives small gifts to students with high scores or teachers and students take each other out to eat snails for a party.

Although it is an English class in a specialized school, according to the schedule, each week students only study English for a maximum of 6-7 periods, including extra classes. This amount of time is insignificant compared to private schools.

Ms. Na's method is to motivate students to strive and is always ready to support them anytime, anywhere. There were students who called her in the middle of the night to ask her to practice speaking. The two of them practiced until 1-2 am. There were students who went to Hanoi to take part in an exam and she still made an appointment with the teacher at noon for more guidance and she was also willing to take advantage of breaks to guide and encourage them.

According to Ms. Na, not only are most students good at foreign languages, they are also good at other subjects. The teacher requires students to have a spirit of solidarity and support each other through group study, "pairs of friends progressing together". Some students make appointments to study online until midnight to progress together, without competition or jealousy.

Ha Linh