A student prepared for the DSE by reading BBC online news in English.

A student recalls how her NET tested her speaking skills by giving her only a few minutes to prepare for a presentation. Another teacher encouraged her to read BBC English news websites.

A student learns English through news websites.

Preparing for IELTS was very tiring – working hard every day. English teachers focus on basic language skills and have little time to read more than news websites such as the BBC and The New York Times.

Listening to the BBC and reading online and printed newspapers were part of this student’s A-level preparations. He used a dictionary to check new vocabulary.

This student uses English for communication and learning in university. Rating his English as weak, he reads online newspapers to improve.

This Translation major tried hard to learn English from teachers and her sister in secondary school. She watches YouTube channels, English movies and TV dramas. She has friends form different countries.

Group reading of the South China Morning Post and Young Post along with subsequent teacher-led discussions in secondary school contributed to this Nurse’s vocabulary and grammar. These days she reads online news and uses English in the workplace.

Playing cards with an American tutor in a village primary school was how this student learnt English in an informal way. She reads articles and online news in English for research purposes.

The university environment is a better place to learn English for this Business major. He credits the reading material and interacting with others. He reads websites related to his major.

A new teaching style helped this Science major achieve a good result in DSE English. He loved Animal Farm but now enjoys reading sports news on the Internet.

Despite being afraid of NETs in primary school, this Tourism major worked more closely with them in secondary and now feels there are no barriers to intercultural communication.

Primary school was more fun than secondary for this Fashion major because there were games instead of focusing on exams and the SBA. She reads Cosmopolitan magazine online.

Primary school English classes were fun for this Hotel Management major because she played games and received candy. She had to read the newspaper aloud every morning during secondary school.

Requiring students to speak with teachers in English only provided a natural learning environment for this Occupational Therapy major. She also communicated with her classmates on social media using the language. She likes novels such as Gone Girl, Before I Go to Sleep, and Harry Potter.

Preparing for English speech competitions was very meaningful for this Civil Engineering major. He also thinks watching movies is a good way to learn. He finds English novels difficult and boring.

Being able to talk and interact with NETs in class motivated this Optometry major to learn English. He found Lord of the Flies inspiring and also reads sports news on the Internet.

There were not many opportunities for this Engineering major to speak English during secondary school as teachers focused on exams. She also reads about fashion and news from social media sites.

Meeting lots of people in Hong Kong and speaking to them in English improved this Engineering major’s language skills. He reads finance news on the BBC website. He reads a bible given to him by a church and started Les Miserable after watching the movie.

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.

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 course at Oxford University enabled this System Engineering major to learn English in a more casual way. The trip included visits to museums. He likes to read articles in Business Insider via Facebook.

A family trip to England gave this student a chance to communicate more with native speakers. He reads the BBC news every day and also self-enrichment books. English is also used in his university courses.

This Chinese major finds it interesting to talk to foreign students in her college. She reads BBC news.

This Maths major thinks she had a typical learning experience in school. She took courses outside school. She usually reads news online.

The need to pass IELTS motivated this Computer Science major to read books and news from the Internet. She reads online news such as BBC.

Being part of the Umbrella Revolution motivated this BBA major to read more from news media like the BBC and TIME. He feels he needs someone to teach him how to read efficiently.

Watching YouTubers from the US and UK has taught this Social Science major a lot about English. She likes to read The Economist online because it is free.

An exchange to the UK let this Economics major make friends and learn about the culture in different countries. She reads the online versions of the South China Morning Post or New York Times.

Classmates in a university English course helped this Engineering major improve speaking skills. He reads online news about technology.

A teacher who randomly asked students questions made this Education major’s class pay attention. He mainly reads websites, such as TIME, South China Morning Post and Wikipedia.

Movies such as Interstellar and Harry Potter taught this Marketing major vocabulary. He reads about technology and science in BBC news.

This Computer Science major reads websites, such as Smashing Magazine and TIME. She likes reading about entertainment and photography.

Watching a video of Sudanese refugees for an SBA assignment made this Translation major realise the importance of English for essential communication. She reads TIME and The Atlantic.

Watching BBC News on YouTube teaches this Social Science major English. She reads the English version of Chinese classics on her tablet.

Foreign students spoke too fast for this Cultural Studies major. He read commentaries in the South China Morning Post to build his vocabulary as he was preparing to resit the DSE.

Reality shows like The Amazing Race exposed this Economics and Finance major to real communication between native speakers. Reading financial news and commentaries in Bloomberg and Reuters prepares him for job interviews and improves his English.

Discussion is an interactive and effective way for this Finance major to learn English. Talking to native speakers in university also helps her a lot. She read online financial news on Bloomberg and Yahoo Finance.

Preparing for TOEFL involved understanding a lot of subjects and handling all kinds of questions that will appear in the exam according to this Business major. As a debater in school, she read the BBC news to familiarise herself with world affairs.

Reading novels and doing reports in front of the class in primary school was hard but helpful for this Business major. Participating in the speech festival made her start looking at poems. She likes the writing style and meaning of Pride and Prejudice.