The 31-year-old mother graduated valedictorian with a master's degree in the UK

After many years as an official, Ha Thien decided to change direction, leave her children for 6 months to study abroad, and become the valedictorian with a master's degree in Teaching English at Nottingham Trent University.

Nguyen Phuoc Ha Thien, born in 1992 in Da Nang, received a diploma in the UK at the end of 2022, with the highest grade point average - 13.7/14. In addition, Thien also won the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Nottingham Institute for Language and Intercultural Communication.

Having studied and worked in the city's project management field for 7 years, Thien entered the course without having a background in pedagogy as well as in-depth knowledge of linguistics. As a result, she said the valedictorian achievement was "beyond expectations".

Nguyen Phuoc Ha Thien on graduation day at Nottingham Trent University, UK, December 2022. Photo: Character provided

Being allowed to study English by her parents since 5th grade, Thien often comes to Da Nang airport by herself, asking permission to enter the check-in lobby to talk and interact with international tourists.

In 2007, Ha Thien passed the English class of Le Quy Don High School for the Gifted and won the first prize in the city's excellent student contest for three years in a row. She also won second place in the 2010 national competition.

Ha Thien then received a full scholarship to study abroad for 4 years at Lancaster University, UK in 2011, under the Project on Developing High-Quality Human Resources (Project 922) of Da Nang City. After graduating with an excellent degree in Project Management, Thien returned to work at the City Hi-Tech Park Management Board. Outside of work, she teaches some English classes with her friends.

After 7 years of work, realizing that she is still passionate and has the best ability to develop in the field of foreign language teaching, Thien decided to change direction.

But despite graduating from a university in the UK, and having experience in teaching IELTS and SAT, Ha Thien said that she almost had to start from zero because she did not have a formal degree in this field. When looking for opportunities to study for a master's degree abroad, Thien's biggest concern is her 14-month-old son.

At that time, Thien was encouraged by her husband and family, who thought that teaching English was very suitable for her, having a formal degree was the way to pursue this long-term path.

"Moreover, Ms. Huong, director of the Vietnam - English Training Institute, University of Danang, also advised me to go to school. She did a doctorate when her children were young, this is my motivation to try." Ha Thien recalls.

Finally, Thien decided to pursue a master's program in Teaching English (MA TESOL) between the University of Danang and Nottingham Trent University. According to Ha Thien, the program has one term in Da Nang and two terms in the UK, the tuition fee is nearly 9,000 euros (about 225 million VND) so she only has to be away from home for 6 months, while the cost is half cheaper than going abroad. all the time.

Thien said that because the master's program in the UK lasts one year, instead of two years like in many other countries, the amount of knowledge and exercises is very heavy. With each exercise, students usually have to read at least 40-50 books and documents to have enough material to achieve good results.

Thanks to her love of reading from a young age, Thien did not face many difficulties. To write an essay for each subject, Ha Thien follows 8 steps: General research, topic selection, more specific research on the selected topic, general outline, in-depth research on each small idea. , detailed outline, writing and editing. As a result, most of her essays get perfect marks.

Thien's master's thesis is titled "Study on the accuracy of the content of the IELTS listening test through the vocabulary string tool". Thien said the topic belongs to the field of Corpus linguistics.

In this study, lexical sequences were automatically extracted by computer software, and then analyzed according to their distribution, structure and function characteristics. Research shows that the IELTS listening test uses fewer sequences of words than real-life languages, and the usage of words also varies.

According to Ha Thien, the results of the thesis help to assess students' English listening comprehension ability for university study purposes. This thesis has been excellently graded by the board, nominated to represent Nottingham Trent University to participate in the Graduate Thesis Award 2022-2023 organized by the British Council.

Nguyen Phuoc Ha Thien wears a graduation gown at Nottingham Trent University, England, in December 2022. Photo: Character provided

Sam Barclays, a senior lecturer at Nottingham Trent University, rated Thien as an excellent student, friendly and ready to help everyone. "Most importantly, Thien is very serious and passionate about learning. She always asks questions, gives critical opinions and applies theory into practice," said Mr. Sam Barclays.

Thien said that she tried to complete many tasks as quickly as possible, with the desire to return to her children soon. The young mother arranges work scientifically, sets discipline for herself, from small things like getting up on time, eating right. Thien calls home every day to see her child, talk to her grandmother about her child's activities and eating.

Returning to Vietnam, Thien wishes to apply modern language teaching methods in her work, such as teaching communicative languages, teaching task-based languages, organizing flipped classrooms...

For Thien, success does not come from an outstanding mind, but from a strict and responsible attitude towards yourself. "Without discipline, I would not have been able to go long on the road to conquering the goals," Thien said.