The ELC classes in university provided this Construction major with many opportunities to speak English. The lecture notes were challenging for him because he rarely reads in English.

Participating in a storytelling competition challenged this Maths major as he had to retell one of the Harry Potter stories in front of a large audience. He read the South China Morning Post and the Standard. He prefers using English to teach mathematics.

An English learning programme in the UK gave this Computer Science major a chance to speak with the local people. He sometimes reads magazines in the library. He gave up after reading one chapter of the Great Gatsby.

Joining a competition in Toronto allowed this Finance major to talk with the locals, which helped improve his English. He enjoys newspapers. He also read Harry Potter.

A learning programme at a friend’s church involved chatting with foreigners. This Social Work major read storybooks including Romeo and Juliet in class.

Talking with foreign friends and participating in a UK study trip helped improve this Engineering student’s English. He believes speech proficiency is more important than reading.

Communicating with people from around the world during a trip to the UK gave this Criminology major a chance to practise her spoken English. She read The Carnival Ghost for the SBA but did not enjoy it. She prefers non-fiction text about topics she finds interesting.

Practising her speaking skills with people from different backgrounds in a tutorial centre helped this Social Science major improve her English. She does not like reading and finishing a book on Mother Teresa did not raise her interest at all.

Travelling alone to the US pushed this Creative Media major to use English every day which helped improve her speaking and listening skills. She read books like the Chicken Soup series by Jack Canfield to comfort herself and relax.

Going on a study tour to the UK encouraged this English major to speak English in front of others and it strengthened her language skills. She enjoyed reading American Born Chinese, a graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang.

Joining a study tour to Reading UK exposed this Accounting major to an English speaking environment and made her feel more comfortable using the language. She chose to read about Elvis Presley for the reading scheme at school because it was the thinnest book.

English was used all around this Accounting and Finance major as her father studied in the US, her family friends went to international schools, and the language is also used in her church. The first book she read voluntarily was The Fault in Our Stars by John Green which she found to be heart quenching.

Speaking English with her family’s domestic helper and listening to songs helped this Linguistics major acquire the language. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green is her favourite book. She also reads the Seventeen magazine.

Practising English with other students attending his tutorial school strengthened the speaking skills of this Biochemistry major. Reading the Bible broadened his horizons.

Doing an internship in New York immersed this Business major in an English speaking environment. She appreciates the diversity of the genres and phrases in the articles used to prepare for the DSE reading paper.

Discussing soap operas such as Gossip Girl, House and Three Rivers with fellow students helped train this Accounting major’s spoken English. She had to read newspaper articles every morning during secondary school.

English was used every day while this Comparative Education major was an exchange student in the US. Reading for the TOEFL exam was challenging for her.

Frequent contact with the foreign teacher of a speaking class improved this Economics major’s English. He read about financial crises and learnt from it although it was boring.

Reciting a poem for the Speech Festival was difficult but it was fun to be able to understand the meaning behind it. This Business major was confused with some of the terms when he first started reading university texts.

Interacting with tourists and foreigners in the city enabled this Actuarial Science major to improve her English during primary school. She read The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins which contained many unfamiliar words.

During a short trip to the US, this Actuarial Science major practised English with his host family. He skimmed through his psychology textbook to pick up the important bits.

Studying in the UK for two weeks made this Science major speak English with people around her. She prefers reading song lyrics to books.

During a one-week school trip to Canada, this Business major used English to speak with foreigners for the first time. She was forced to read long English texts during class.

During her study tour to New York, this Politics major got to meet so many foreigners and was exposed to different accents for the first time. She faced difficulties using English to study other subjects which made her hate the language.

Going on an exchange to Edinburgh for half a year required this Business major to use the language for daily communication. The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom was the first English book he completed.

Working in a British company made this Business major notice his strong accent, after which he tried to improve his language skills. He read many books with business cases for his major.

Attending a conference with students from other countries gave this Business major a chance to practise his spoken English. He likes reading novels such as Percy Jackson and Harry Potter.

An international English camp helped this Science major improve his language skills and make new friends. After reading books about meteorology, he fell in love with the topic.

Talking with NETs and other foreigners was a good way for this Science major to practise his English and improve his pronunciation. He likes to read novels and science books.

Joining an outdoor learning programme in Australia improved this Accounting major’s English significantly even though the purpose of the activities wasn’t on the language. Her parents forced her to read one book per day in primary school. The unpleasant experience turned out to be something she is now thankful for.

Talking and reading with an American teacher during tutorial lessons was fun and useful. This Economics major read The Little Prince twice.

Going on an exchange to Canada gave this Law student a chance to be immersed in an English speaking environment. She initially found reading English novels to be very difficult in secondary school.

Going on a study tour to England put this Nursing major in touch with people from many nations. She read The Witches and watched the movie in her literature class.

Organising an information booth gave this Mechanical Engineering major a chance to explain the sports culture in Hong Kong to foreigners. He had to read a long piece of text on environmental conservation in secondary school.

In Form Three, this Social Science major spoke with foreigners in English for this first time when they visited her school. Her favourite author is Dan Brown and she read The Da Vinci Code.

Going on an exchange to the US gave this Science major an opportunity to learn the culture and talk with his American room-mate. Although he found reading newspapers such as the South China Morning Post useful, he didn’t enjoy having to do it every day.

Going on an exchange to the UK required this Human Resources major to use English and gestures to communicate. She read Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator by Roald Dahl when she was seven.

Chatting with his cousins in Canada allowed this Science major to learn informal English. He read One Piece, Yu-Gi-Oh and Inuyasha comics in English.

An exchange to London gave this Design major the opportunity to meet and speak with people from different countries. A teacher from secondary school used drama to ignite her interest in reading A Christmas Carol.

A volunteer activity required this Social Work major to speak English for the entire day. It was a challenging experience but had taught him new vocabulary. A secondary school teacher encouraged her to read the South China Morning Post.