Having won the prize in 2010, Nguyen Thi Hoang Quyen, a 12A1 – Hanoi - Amsterdam student, has once again made an impressive achievement with the first prize in the 2011-2012 National English Contest with a score of 17.15/20.

After finishing year 11 in Vietnam, Quyen went to the US with ASSIST Scholarship, and she learned 11^th grade again in an American private school called The Latin School of Chicago. However, the program last only one year so after finishing her study in Chicago, Quyen went back to Vietnam and continued grade 12^th, then she would apply to several universities in America.

Having participated in the National English Contest and won the first prize before so in year 12, Quyen set her heart on trying the best she could to bring glories to the English team of Hanoi.

Without any pressure, Quyen went in for the competition with all the knowledge she had gained for years, but she attributed her triumph mostly to luck.

She shared: “Usually my scores in the team weren’t very high. When going in for the competition, I didn't expect much but I did want to win a prize to please the teachers who had given me great opportunities to concentrate on my work in the first term of year 12. I was a bit surprised to know such good results. I think I was quite lucky.”

Quyen has an amazing speaking skill so she accomplished this year’s speaking test very well. To her, it is difficult to really master all the four skills of English.If you want to be good at writing, you have to practice writing a lot, and the same applies to listening, reading and speaking skills.

However, Quyen said she loved learning to write and that this would help her improve the ability to write personal statements to apply to universities in the US. About her experiences in learning English, Quyen said: “I think everyone has their own learning methods. To me, besides attending lessons with the English team, at home I spend time to watching movies and reading books in English. I think as long as we watch a lot of films, read books, and work hard on writing and speaking, we’ll be very good at English; and of course confidence is also important.”

Hoang Quyen at a flower market in Hanoi, 2012 Tet Holiday

Apart from English, Quyen is interested in foreign Literature, American History and the History of Arts. With the guideline “No sleep till work is done” borne in mind, Quyen always tries to finish everything she started for she doesn't want things uncompleted.

Not only is she a brilliant student, but Quyen also takes part in many clubs and forums such as the Vietnam Youth Forum – VYF or the South-East Asian Leadership Network – SEALNet. This summer she’ll continue working on some projects including VYF 2012 and SEALNet Project Vietnam 2012 in Ho Chi Minh City. In addition, Quyen’s been in the school’s Debate Club since she was a grade 10 student. When she was in grade 11 in America, Quyen was part of the Model UN and a Photography Club.

About her future plans, Quyen said: “I have intention of studying in the US. Last year I just received a scholarship from the University of Chicago and now I’m waiting for results from the others.”

Reporter : Le Duc Thuan (Dantri.com.vn)

Translator : Hoang Thanh Thao (A1 11-14)