Memorising ‘tons’ of vocabulary provided by tutors during secondary school was important for this student’s English writing and reading. He enjoys news articles from The Economist and TIME.

A brilliant secondary school English teacher explained the use of Shakespeare in Chinese writing and prepared this Environmental Science major and her classmates for exams with drills and news clippings. Agatha Christie’s famous detective character Hercule Poirot is funny and made her think about life.

A harsh learning experience involved learning pages of phrasal verbs because this Medical student’s English was not up to standard in Form 1. Even though the Hunger Games was a required reading in secondary school he completed it out of pure interest.

Even though learning English may not be interesting, this Cultural Studies major appreciates the focus on preparing for exams as it provides a foundation for future learning. She likes reading Sophia Kinsella and TV dramas such as The Vampire Diaries and Gossip Girl.

Preparing for public exams by doing past papers gave this student more pressure. She enjoyed the reading tutorials with a foreign teacher during her primary school years.

To prepare for the A-levels, this Humanities major read the South China Morning Post and did past papers. He also watched TV series without subtitles. He likes the Harry Potter series.

Mini games during the university English class helped this Chemistry major memorise vocabulary and sentence patterns. He reads articles related to science or his hobbies like basketball. He finds NBA magazines in the library.

This Visual Arts major thinks her high school spent too much time on grammar and vocabulary exercises. She doesn’t read English books because of her lack of vocabulary. She uses a Kindle to read learning materials.

This Translation major’s class had to remember words on the blackboard in 10 minutes, and then their teacher would test them. She was entertained by a storyteller during a Christmas promotion in a shopping mall.

This Marketing major began her English learning in kindergarten with A B C. She read about the Umbrella Revolution in the South China Morning Post.

The quality of the exercises in a tutorial school helped this Business Administration major better prepare for the DSE. He likes to read about Hong Kong issues in the South China Morning Post.

Writing and rewriting new words helped this Business major build his vocabulary. He liked the A to Z Mysteries, so he bought the whole series.

Doing many exercises in class was useful for exams but not for the daily life according to this Psychology major. Reading Harry Potter in primary school was rewarding.

Memorising texts helped this Chemical Engineering major remember sentences that can be used in communication. He mostly reads textbooks.

Working on grammar and vocabulary in a tutorial class was different to being spoon-fed in school and helped this Social Science major get a good exam result.

Secondary school English classes lacked speaking opportunities and focused on preparing for exams and reading and writing exercises for this Sociology major. He only read textbooks provided by the school.

An IELTS class taught this Economics major exam skills by letting him do past papers. He only reads textbooks. He doesn’t read other things because it takes him a lot of time to check the dictionary.

Exercises given by a supportive teacher enhanced this Business major’s English. He used different skills to analyse the reading passages in the DSE.

To prepare for IELTS, this History major watched movies and TV series and also did test papers. He reads about Japanese history in English.

Watching and discussing movies taught this Quantitative Finance major speaking and listening. Secondary school English classes in the UK focused on practising for exams. Reading newspapers and writing reports let her learn vocabulary and writing style. She reads for her university classes.

Vocabulary provided by a teacher helped this Chinese major in his writing exams. Reading the whole series of The Chronicles of Narnia is an achievement. He had to take guesses at the meanings of difficult words and found the movies helped understand the books.

Dictation in tutorial classes helped expand this Information Engineering major’s vocabulary. He likes detective stories and his favourite is Sherlock Holmes.

Past papers were a daily routine during this Japanese Studies major’s high school life. She doesn’t like reading but has to get through a lot of passages for university.

This Business major did a lot of test papers to prepare for the Gaokao. At first, she was worried about the many readings in a general education course but then she realised that she could understand them.

Learning exam skills for the DSE didn’t enhance this Journalism major’s English level. She learnt about different topics and expanded her vocabulary by reading the SCMP before taking the DSE.

An English teacher arranged intensive training to prepare this student for the public exams. She is still looking for a book she started reading at a fair.

In senior secondary, this Politics major built his vocabulary and did past papers. He watches movies and TV dramas. He also browses social media.

Senior secondary education provided this Social Work major with past paper training. She also attended tutorial classes in Form 5 and 6.

Watching English news and doing past papers helped this Sociology major prepare for the public exam. He read autobiographies in university.

In secondary school, this Sociology major learnt English through watching movies and documentaries, performing drama, reading literature and scripts, and practising with past papers.

Focus was on dictation, grammar and usage in primary and secondary school. Attending university required this student to complete her assignments and communicate with others in English.

Senior secondary education focused on past paper training for this Social Science major. She took the IELTS exam in both senior secondary and university. She read books and watched movies.

Apart from attending tutorial classes, this Social Work major prepared for the public exams by doing past papers in secondary school. She has used English for class and reading in university.

Participating in an English video competition in Form 3 complemented this Social Work major’s study of grammar. Education in senior secondary was exam-oriented and less interesting. University learning was practical and helpful for the future.

English was seldom used when studying in junior secondary. Past paper training was arranged in senior years. This Chinese major showed improvement with more frequent use of the language in university.

Reading short stories and learning idioms in junior secondary was interesting, whereas past paper practices in senior form was boring for this Chinese major. She has expanded her vocabulary in university.

Past papers were used to prepare this student for the DSE. Studying in university required her to write reports and essays. She learnt slang in informal settings.

This English major used simple everyday English to communicate with a domestic helper at a young age. She used the language when she was part of the English Corner committee in secondary school and during her part-time job.

ETV was used to teach aural comprehension in this Education major’s primary school. She analysed the DSE questions from past papers in senior secondary. She uses English to communicate with exchange students.

Being an English Ambassador along with other activities in secondary school boosted this Chinese major’s language skills. Watching TED allowed her to learn presentation skills and appreciate accents.