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.

Playing games with a foreigner during English Week in secondary school was fun and interesting for this student. He prefers group learning. He bought the book Dracula at a book festival and used it for a book report in the DSE.

A postgraduate student praises his middle school teachers and explains he continues to learn English through online open courses and Wikipedia and that all master’s classes are in English.

English Week activities provided a rare chance for this Maths Education major to use the language. He read The Hunger Games as it was a recommended book in secondary school.

The desire to study in Hong Kong motivated this Social Science major to study English hard for his Gaokao. Reading A Tale of Two Cities allowed him to feel the beauty of English.

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.

Catching up to her secondary school classmates in English learning meant this Corporate Communications major had to memorise new vocabulary. She developed a ‘feeling’ for the language which is extremely important. She frequently uses the dictionary while doing university readings.

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.

Preparing for the GRE test required this Urban Management major to memorise mathematical jargon and read different types of articles. A teacher from primary school asked her to write diaries. She thinks it is easier to understand history books in English than in Chinese.

Taking a course about English literature exposed this Engineering major to different styles of writing. He read Pride and Prejudice, Frankenstein and The Joy Luck Club in that course.

Learning grammar in Form One was made easier by a good teacher for this Chemistry major. A movie shown in class motivated him to read the related book. He likes Harry Potter.

Classes are challenging but practical for this Finance major as he learnt some skills on improving his English. He likes reading articles on the Business Insider.

Performing a dramatic interpretation of the Yellow Wallpaper in class allowed this English for Communication major to use the language in a fun way. She read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Lamb to the Slaughter, and other books with her classmates and shared thoughts on them.

An intensive eight-day course during junior high required this Economics major to read 60 pages of The Call of the Wild and memorise 20 new words daily. It was the first English novel he completed.

Despite practising speaking with a private tutor, this Chinese Literature major recorded a poor result in IELTS. She read a book before sleep every night last year.

The ABC song and writing after-school form this student’s earliest memories of learning English. The student started learning grammar in Primary 3 and could write sentences by Primary 6.

A preschool playgroup attended by this English major included playing scrabble and storytelling. Her secondary school had a reading time and book sharing sessions in assemblies.

This Creative Media major who is not fond of formal education, learnt from movies and reading books. Spending her childhood in books, her all-time favourite is Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar. She also read young adult novels such as The Mortal Instruments and The Hunger Games.

Interacting with a NET was a valuable experience for this Accounting graduate. A friend recommended she read Fifty Shades of Grey.

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.

Joining debate competitions taught this Creative Media major how to be persuasive and how to communicate with his teammates. He recommends the book What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20 by Tina Seelig.

Attending weekly lessons and advanced classes was part of this Language major’s secondary education. Travelling abroad required her to use English. She code-switched when speaking to her father.

Extra-curricular tutorials in secondary school taught this Architecture major phonetics. The readings for her major are difficult because they relate to philosophy. She spends more time to digest the materials and uses the dictionary to overcome the challenge.

Speech competitions have contributed to this Social Work major’s English learning. She also learnt songs in kindergarten and joined a choir in primary school.

Producing a film involved scriptwriting and acting for this ECE major. She says books from England and Hong Kong are different. She also reads some of the books in the tutorial centre where she works part-time.

English classes in secondary school involved singing songs for this Engineering major. She had to read a poem by Walt Whitman for a NET.

Foreign tutors introduced this Creative Media to Scrabble when they visited his primary school. He likes drawing and reads books and online articles about art.

A homestay experience in Australia that involved attending (secondary) school there helped this student improve her fluency. She read Narnia during secondary school and also watched the movie version.

The university’s English Corner provided this Business Administration major opportunities to chat and play games with foreigners. She reads magazines and fashion books.

Due to the limited time in class, this Engineering major watched romance and war movies on his own to learn daily English. He read children’s literature such as Tracy Beaker by Jacqueline Wilson.

Joining the Big Mouth Corner at university provided a chance for this Investment Science major to speak English and meet foreign students. She finished reading Tuesdays with Morrie but prefers Chinese books which are less time-consuming.

Secondary school English classes were more interesting for this Engineering major because the teacher used games and activities. He read Harry Potter.

A secondary school NET taught Shakespeare’s Macbeth to this European Studies major and encouraged her to write and speak. She read the whole Twilight series in about a week.

A secondary school teacher encouraged this Marketing major to speak English through fun activities. He read newspapers with the help of a dictionary because he didn’t understand half of the words and kept a vocabulary book to prepare for the reading component of IELTS.

A violin major overcame her fear while travelling alone to the US during junior secondary. She had to use English to survive. She prefers non-fiction books like My Happiness Project and Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus.

In senior secondary, this student formed a group with classmates and employed a foreign tutor to have lessons using Skype. He thinks reading is boring and prefers to learn English through movies.

Shopping for books is an activity friends can do according to this Environmental Science major. If there’s a choice, he prefers to read in Chinese because he does not like using the dictionary for English books.

A NET facilitated interactive group learning through games and videos. This English major feels that some books have exaggerated plots and are only written to make money.

The BBC website and movies like X-Men supplemented learning through textbooks for this Science major. Reading English books is difficult because there are many words he doesn’t understand. He practises spoken English for job interviews.

Playing computer games with an overseas friend lets this History major speak English. Reading newspapers broadens his vocabulary. He prefers local news with which he is more familiar.