A student who sat the DSE exam independently because he did not achieve a high enough grade in A-level English. He read course material at university and the Tiger Post newspaper in secondary school.

A student brushed up on her English by watching movies and listening to songs during a gap year. She feels a CMI secondary school was more relaxing because most subjects were in her mother tongue.

Debating skills helped an English Teaching major with the spoken component of the DSE. She prefers news media such as the South China Morning Post and TIME magazine to fiction. She feels writing is more important than reading.

An American visitor corrected this student’s table manners and grammar during a family meal. She also describes the book Annie John as creepy. She feels songs and videos will help children learn English.

Though he started learning English in kindergarten, this student’s best experience was talking to foreigners while fundraising in Tsim Sha Tsui. He has improved communication through analysing his mistakes.

Drama classes and competitions in primary and second school were good platforms for this student to practise English. She likes reading Hunger Games, and adventure books by Darren Shan and J.K. Rowling. Movies are also good for learning English.

University tutors have motivated this student to become a more active reader and speaker. He read Harry Potter before watching the movie and noticed differences from the text. He likes science fiction but is now reading more academic essays.

Interacting with foreigners, including a secondary school teacher and fellow university students, has motivated this student. His teacher used movies while his university friends taught him slang. He has read a book about North Korea and he likes books on politics and economics.

This student enjoyed an interactive drama performance with foreign actors while in secondary school. She uses the Internet to read about different attitudes to horoscope.

Watching movies motivates this student to read the book version. That’s why she read The Hunger Games and The Lord of the Rings.

Talking with foreign workmates from England and the US made this student more aware of listening and speaking skills. He took tutorials to improve his vocabulary for the A-level exams. [4CK054]  ...

A family trip to New Zealand as a 15 year old let this student learn more about the use of English there and the peoples’ culture. His secondary school teacher encouraged him to read Tuesdays with Morrie for a book sharing competition in which he won second runner-up.

Working in an international company caused this student to panic because he had to use English to communicate with colleagues. He read Harry Potter books given to him by his uncle and also funny websites.

Books with grammar exercises were bought for this student by her mother to help her build a good foundation when she was in primary school. She also attended a phonics course. She likes Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.

Writing book reports for his aunty, who is an English teacher, was useful for this student. Harry Potter is his favourite book but he seldom reads these days.

Primary school was the most important period of English learning for this student. She consolidated her knowledge in secondary school and uses English for gaining other knowledge during university.

Exposure to English was limited during this student’s kindergarten and primary years. It changed when she studied in an EMI secondary school which had extra-curricular English activities.

This student developed a system to remember the spelling of a word through pronunciation. She watched variety shows to increase her vocabulary and sense of the language.

Learning English through paper work is more practical for this student but she feels real life experiences are better. She worked on past papers to prepare for public exams.

Despite learning English for many years, this student does not feel her language skills are very good. She feels that because she lives in Hong Kong, there are few chances to speak English outside of school.

English is a global language but this student notes that it is not easy to learn.

This student has a philosophical view of how he learnt English.

Practising English has been limited to the classroom for this student. He feels that it would be better to have more interactive opportunities that could help in the workplace rather than academia.

English is more than learning vocabulary and doing tests for this student. You need to interact with others to have “practical experience.” Her English improved after working in a tutorial centre.

This English major feels it’s important to master the language. She no longer sees English as a tool.

Starting in an EMI secondary school was difficult for this student because she felt her English was bad. She worked hard and improved a lot in one year’s time.

Copying a grammar book by hand taught this Social Work major important grammar items and sentence structure. Her English teacher motivated her to read English books by showing excerpts from movies.

Having been a part-time tutor improved this social worker’s English grammar skills. She read a lot of course material to finish her university assignments.

Studying in the UK at 14 years old was stressful at first because this student didn’t have the vocabulary to ask simple questions. Holes was the first children’s literature she completed.

English is used by this animal trainer to communicate with vets in the workplace. She reads papers related to her work in English. She prefers the film version of One Day and read part of Eat, Pray, Love.

Having worked as a bank teller meant this Engineering major had to use English with foreign clients. Most of his reading centred on reference books.

An art historian learnt a lot of new terminology related to the treatment of her cancer. She felt that The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho had a big influence on her and taught her some life lessons.

Attending tutorials with a native speaker gave this English graduate more confidence with the language. She became interested in Roald Dahl books because her students had to read them.

A Sustainability for Education major remembers role-playing exercises about environmental protection during secondary school English. She watched the movie Millions and then bought the book. E-books are good because you can preview before buying.

Doing a poetry reading in a speech festival helped this student with the DSE speech examination. Despite this experience, she does not read much, just CNN.

A form teacher, classmates, and listening to Westlife helped this student win an award for best pronunciation in a secondary school drama show. He likes E-books and reads academic journals and also plays the guitar.

An IT graduate was confused by an all English teaching environment in kindergarten or primary school. He used the South China Morning Post for news cuttings. These days English is used in his working life.

The Umbrella Revolution inspired this Science major to read more about politics. He had previously listened to the BBC to improve his English communication skills.

Camping with students from other countries was a primary school highlight for this student. She has used English while volunteering on the Mainland and in her part-time job with the MTR.

A Hong Kong-born student learnt vocabulary through games in primary school on the Mainland. She returned to Hong Kong in secondary school. She says Hong Kong schools treasure English.