Being a helper on the Toastmaster programme reminded this Linguistics major of the importance of listening. Reading a book about Anne Frank in Secondary 4 deepened her knowledge of the history of Europe.

An ESL class in primary school taught this Actuarial Science major grammar and writing, idioms and poetry. She was eager to read children’s book series. Teachers encouraged her to read newspapers and magazines.

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.

The accent and teaching style of a NET is more appealing. You can learn through watching movies.

A teacher required this student to speak only English in class. Being able to understand Shakespeare after 700 years surprised this English Literature major. He likes Percy Shelley’s Ode to the West Wind.

An exchange to New Zealand was the most effective way to learn English for this Arts major. He read The Call of the Wild for a book report competition.

Being an English ambassador gave this student more access to his school’s NET who made him more aware of the language. He says NETs focus on communication and subject teachers more on areas such as grammar. He has read TIME and Reader’s Digest.

Kindergarten storybooks started this Management major’s English learning. She joined speech competitions in primary school and became an English ambassador in secondary. She watched TED, VoiceTube and YouTube.

An exchange to Canada gave this Physics major a rare chance to make a 15-minute presentation. The Art of Thinking Clearly raised his awareness of biases that cloud our judgement.

Learning English involved reading textbooks for this IT Management major. Her school also gave her newspapers to read.

Understanding exchange students in the university hostel took some time for this Art major. She read The Book Thief after choosing randomly while shopping.

Being an English ambassador and having a good teacher made secondary interesting for this Hotel Management major. She skim read Tuesdays with Morrie for a book report.

While studying in Canada, this Accounting major used English when the teacher was present and reverted to Chinese later. She usually reads materials online and likes watching YouTube.

Watching movies with English subtitles contributed to this Public Policy major’s learning experience. She enjoys reading short stories and her favourites include the Elbow Room collection, stories by Alice Walker and Raymond Carver.

This Computing major’s secondary school teacher used movies and popular songs to let students learn new vocabulary, expressions and sentences. Through fiction, she discovered authors use different expressions to convey the same meaning.

Rewriting the Cinderella story for a school play gave this Translation major a chance to work with a supervisor from Australia. She read Harry Potter but doesn’t want to watch the movies. She discovered cultural differences in the English translations of Chinese classics.

Practising speaking with her classmates helped this History major get a level 4 in the DSE. After watching Sherlock Holmes on BBC, she tried to read the book but stopped after 8 pages.

Taking a tutorial class didn’t produce the A-level result wanted by this Engineering graduate. These days she tries to sharpen her vocabulary by reading an online article a day. She looks up unfamiliar words in the dictionary.

Overcoming a fear to speak with others is this Computer Engineering major’s biggest obstacle with English. He didn’t use the language a lot in secondary school so he watched YouTube videos about sports. He read materials on engineering.

Joining an English drama competition required this Law student to write scripts and perform on stage. She read the South China Morning Post and clipped news articles every night to prepare for A-level exams.

A trip to Australia in primary school included working on a social service project that involved a cultural exchange with locals. This Cultural Management major enjoyed reading with her friends in a school programme.

A NET encouraged this Arts major to speak more English. He is writing a term paper on children’s fantasy novels.

Using “English to understand English” was a breakthrough for this Social Policy major who had felt he was incompetent. In Form 6, he abandoned reading Chinese news in favour of the BBC which he credits for his improved English.

Chatting with native speakers and classmates from different places let this Social Science major learn the accents and slang. She prefers the book version of The Fault in Our Stars to the movie.

An English teacher helped improve this Gerontology major’s speaking skills for the DSE exam. She watched English TV to prepare for IELTS. She feels that watching TV is better than reading.

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

Kindergarten English classes included interactive word games that taught this Business major new phrases. She is able to imagine some of the scenes when reading Harry Potter.

Although she was studying French, this student’s English improved as it was the medium of instruction. She values reading in English.

A tutorial school provided writing and exam-oriented support for this Social Science major. He read passages in his tutorial notes but now he tries to avoid English materials.

Doing exercises helped prepare this Public Administration major for the DSE but he did not enjoy it. Reading articles related to his studies improved his language skills.

Choosing interesting materials for self-learning was more memorable than learning at school. This Linguistics major was impressed by the content of the book Giovanni’s Room.

A debate competition in secondary school taught this Accounting major some speaking skills. He used to read the South China Morning Post every week and found the language used in the paper too difficult for a secondary school student.

Getting his English pronunciation right earned this Finance major candy. He enjoys reading Sherlock Holmes even though he needs to refer to a dictionary for some unknown vocabulary.

Building a strong vocabulary in senior secondary helped this Chinese major to achieve a good College Entrance Exam result. He read a lot for the TOEFL exam and also took part in CET and GRE.

This Economics major enjoyed chatting with his university English teacher and also made many friends. He read a book written by Donald Trump in his exchange to the USA.

Despite having what he felt was a poor standard of English entering senior secondary, this Business major improved his exam scores by working with vocabulary books. He browses websites such as Amazon and Google, and uses Tudou and Google Translate.

Reading books is the preferred way to learn the language for this Engineering major. He usually picks titles related to psychology and self-help such as The Introvert Entrepreneur by Beth Buelow.

A speech week and related activities were held at this Nursing graduate’s secondary school before HKCEE to create an English speaking environment. She read many ghost stories in junior form.

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.

The homestay experience in New Zealand in Form Four immersed this Science major in an English speaking environment as she communicated with people while sightseeing. She remembers reading The Three Little Pigs with her family.