A student explains how her parents sent her to a tutorial school where she enjoyed learning English because she they played games and sang. Her most memorable book is Twilight.

A student who is ‘crazy about rock music’ learnt more vocabulary while looking for the meaning of lyrics. She thinks the English version of Harry Potter is better than the Chinese translation.

English songs, poems and drama are an alternative to grammar and “technical English.” Watching movies such as Harry Potter and The Hunger Games will get you interested in reading the original books.

Watching movies, listening to music, and reading books are recommended by this student who also read the Life of Pi.

Listening to songs and writing down the lyrics helped this student build her vocabulary. She also enjoys reading English language horror stories because the complex language sometimes hides the gore.

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.

Reading and listening to songs have been used by this student to improve her level of English. She moved to Hong Kong from the Mainland for secondary school and found it “totally different.”

Listening to songs and writing their lyrics might helped this TESOL major prepare for secondary school exams. She read a book titled Emma in primary school.

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.

Songs from artists such as the Beatles and Bee Gees help this student with his listening skills. He uses a dictionary to find the meaning of new words. He sometimes uses English when he teaches the violin.

Tutors in a summer camp showed this student how to learn English through reading, music, and movies. Although she hates English, her parents helped her read A Christmas Carol.

Listening to Katy Perry’s Firework in secondary school made this student realise that music and videos are effective ways to learn English. He read Martin Luther King’s speech, I Have a Dream but prefers the Internet and YouTube for learning English.

Activities using songs, films, and stories interested this Liberal Studies teaching major. It improved her pronunciation. She likes the magic of Harry Potter and mystery of Sherlock Holmes.

English drama education in secondary school enabled this student to learn English by repeating a script. He also sings some songs in English because he loves the melody. He reads for academic purposes.

Watching a professional drama organised by her secondary school English teacher interested this student. She worked hard to pass IELTS. She felt there was too much drilling during her school years. She likes films and songs in English.

Songs and lyrics help this student build her vocabulary. She will read a book if the movie version is interesting. DSE students should immerse themselves in English activities.

A British Council course with NETs led to a rapid improvement in this student’s level of English. He also uses English while playing rugby. He likes to understand the lyrics to songs by Bruno Mars, Jason Mraz, and Maroon 5.

Movies and games during British Council tutorials made learning English fun for this student. She especially liked watching Mr Bean. She also likes listening to songs. She has read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

A trip to England exposed this student to different speaking tones. She also found some people spoke too fast. She read English newspapers in secondary school. She prefers English language movies to books, but is interested in song lyrics.

A visual arts major prefers to independently learn English by listening to music instead of what he describes as boring teaching. He likes reading novels and sci-fi. His favourite book is Harry Potter.

This Engineering major felt past papers instead of tutorial classes would have better prepared him for A-levels. A secondary school teacher advised him to use lyrics to improve his vocabulary. He likes Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Katy Perry and Bruno Mars.

One-on-one speaking drills with a school teacher helped this Nursing major to prepare for the DSE. Divergent is the first English book she read. She teaches herself to play the Ukulele with online sources and most of them happen to be in English.

A camp in secondary school organised by students from the University of Cambridge motivated this Chemistry major to learn English through drama and songs. A struggling reader at first, she managed to conquer English novels after going through the first two Harry Potter books with the help of a dictionary.

Getting a good grade on the DSE is about knowing the right formula according to this Product Design major. Apart from learning the formula from her teacher, she prepared by watching YouTube videos and listening to music at home.

Accepting feedback from others helped this Fashion & Textile graduate improve her English pronunciation. She prefers reading on the Internet. The Man in the Iron Mask is the only English novel she has read. She likes to listen to music and studies the lyrics and recommends others to do the same.

English classes at school did not impress this Biology major because she did not get the opportunity to speak. She rarely reads English books but learns the language through YouTube and songs.

After listening to heavy metal, this Engineering major finds reading newspapers and books easier due to his expanded vocabulary. He says other students can learn from listening to music.

A university exchange in New York allowed this Media and Communication major to meet one of her favourite authors, Jodi Picoult. She has read Wild by Cheryl Strayed. She likes TV dramas, movies, rap music and popular magazines.

Despite winning a competition singing an English song, this Management major does not think her interest in music helps her learning. She likes to read fashion magazines.

Studying phonics and taking part in English singing and speech competitions became a habit for this student who now likes western pop music. She uses social media to find interesting articles to read.

Tutors in the university English language centre helped this Information Management major proofread her papers. Some suggested she improve by watching movies and reading newspapers. She also thinks listening to songs helps.

Tutors at a primary school camp used games to encourage this Environmental Policy major to speak English. He credits his secondary school English teacher for making him fall in love with the language. Reading journal articles is difficult.

Watching movies like Whiplash and listening to songs by Alanis Morissette helped this Nutritional Science major to build her vocabulary in secondary school. She finds English easy to learn but difficult to master. She uses Wikipedia and the dictionary.

Writing and acting in a secondary school drama was hard for this China Studies major. She has started many books but not finished them and did book reports by skimming. She finds it difficult to grasp analects and Confucius when taught in English.

Taking part in an English language competition during his bachelor studies motivated this student to practise a lot and seek help from mentors and peers. He finds inspiration in song lyrics such as Katy Perry’s Fireworks.

Listening to music by Westlife motivated this student to find out the meaning of the lyrics. He reads manuals on the Internet to learn about skills for online games.

Listening to pop music and using the Internet to understand new vocabulary encouraged this student to learn more English in university. Most of her course material is in English.

Songs and lyrics boosted this student’s motivation to learn in secondary school. She read One Thousand and One Nights.

Listening to English music is a good learning experience for this Communications major. She has bought a lot of English books but finds them too long to read.

This Management major listens to English music.