I love English and I choose to stick with it!
Recalling when in sixth grade, I always considered English as a hobby, nothing more or less. However, about 3 months later, things started to change when I was lucky to be selected for the English gifted students team. Since then, I have been learning English more seriously and methodically. After 4 years as a secondary school student, my most memorable challenge was the provincial excellent contest in grade 9 – the most important exam for all middle school good students selection teams. At that time, due to a sudden outbreak of Covid 19, my study was also a bit affected negatively. I could not understand the lesson much and missed deadlines because of the lack of communication with the teacher, which sometimes led to my falling behind other teammates and feeling peer pressure. But thanks for not giving up, I finally got a chance to be chosen in the team to compete and won the third prize that year.
In high school, I chose to study at a non-specialized school near my home. Many people say that I was wrong because it would be better to study in a specialized school if I chose English as my major in high school. However, surely after all these years, I have never regretted it. In 10th grade, due to my achievements from middle school, I continued to be selected in the school’s English gifted student team. I met Mrs Thao and my friends Ha Mi, Ho Thuc… We had so much fun working and learning together throughout the years. I still remember those arguments over a Reading assignment, those break times when we danced and chit-chatted with each other.
Besides, learning in a gifted student team also brought in a lot of pressure. Being once participated in the provincial excellent contest, I was set high expectations by my teachers and even myself. As a result, not only did I have to expand my vocabulary by learning advanced collocations and idioms every day but also maintain a consistent score on my tests. Sometimes getting more than 5 wrong answers could make me sit silently for the whole time in class. Moreover, I also needed to balance English and other subjects including Maths, Literature… For this matter, I found some really good learning methods like Active Recall or Spaced Repetition (memorization), and Feynman Technique (learning to understand deeply) and started to get in the habit of studying with a scheduled timetable.
Then came the last month – we called it “the sprint period”, we seemed to focus all our efforts on the gifted team. Sometimes some of our classmates even jokingly asked: “Aren’t you afraid of being poisoned by English?”. Then also thanks to the journey, I got to know more “brothers” from other teams, sometimes eating snacks in the cafeteria and sometimes gathering around to chit-chat about everything on earth. So much fun!
Time passed so fast and it was time for the real contest, carrying the words “ranked first in the team”, I was both nervous and proud at the same time. For a 10th grader at that time, I really just told myself not to worry about anything and focus on what I was doing. Starting to do the test, I only have two words: focus and carefulness. In the end, “Phew” – relieved from the pressure, the responsibilities…
On the day the results were officially announced, in the bustling corridor, all the students rushed to see the exam results. Some voice suddenly said:
– Hey, we got the second prize! Aaaaah.
Some of us burst into tears of regret:
– A consolation prize, we could try harder…
Suddenly, someone told me “Hey Nhi, you won the first prize!”- I checked the result back and forth, trying to figure out what was happening. Going back to class was even more fun, about 13 students in class 35 took the exam, but the remaining 22 students were even more excited and worried. We were happy and sad together and sympathized with each other… Not only students, but teachers were also the ones who waited for the results the most. Some had to stop in the middle of the lesson, some others even dropped the water bottle he was drinking. The hallway was so busy!
That afternoon, an afternoon full of emotions, joy and regret for all of us… Thank you for the teachers, friends and countless efforts.
Be the twinkling stars,
Nhi Bui