Nearly 2,000 secondary school students in Hanoi on May 30 participated in the first round of a competition designed to promote the study of the capital's history in English.

The contest aims to provide Hanoi school students the opportunity to understand more about the capital's history while at the same time improving their English language skills to celebrate 1,000th anniversary of the city, according to organisers.

The first round included tests on events, celebrities, cultural and historical sites, cuisine, costumes and traditional occupations typically associated with Hanoi .

In addition to the tests, students gave singing and dancing performances and told stories about the capital in English.

Nguyen Viet Anh of Hanoi 's Phan Dinh Phung Secondary School said, "we joined the contest to understand and improve our knowledge about our capital, its history and culture. It's a significant way to celebrate the great event. Although many people thought that teenagers would not pay much attention to common issues such as the capital's 1,000th anniversary, we're proving that it's not so."

The competition was jointly held by the Hanoi Department of Education and Training and Apollo, and sponsored by Nokia-Ovi.

About 500 students will be selected to participate in the second and third rounds in July. The final ceremony is expected to be held at the Hanoi Opera House in August with a pool of 180 million VND (about 9,500 USD) worth in prizes for the winners./.