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 Titanic in primary school on the Mainland created an interest in the lyrics of the song, “My Heart Will Go On.” The student also watched Harry Potter and Twilight. She briefly looked at the Harry Potter book.

An impressive professor used songs and drama in an English class. Reading includes The Hunger Games, Reader’s Digest, and course material.

English is important for a science and web technology major who enjoys playing the piano. Her secondary school English teacher used songs for writing exercises. She thinks Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is funny.

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.

An American visitor corrected this student’s table manners and grammar during a family meal. She also describes the book Annie John as creepy. She feels songs and videos will help children learn English.

Two secondary school teachers inspired this student to learn English. One teacher used songs and English movies with subtitles while the other emphasised a lifelong need for the language.

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.

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.”

Singing and the ABC song and reading story books marked the beginning of this student’s English learning. He learnt grammar primary school, focused on exams in secondary and started to appreciate the language in university.

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.

A Form Four teacher from Canada encouraged this student to listen to English songs. She was scared of reading but in Form Two she liked Matilda because the character was magical. English is used in university studies.

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.

Learning English began with the ABC song in kindergarten for this Maths Teaching major. She did a lot of exercises to prepare for the DSE. Chinese should be used to teach primary school maths.

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.

Songs and computer games were used by this Maths Teaching major’s English teacher. She is confused about the MOI for maths as she learnt the subject in English and is now learning to be a teacher in Chinese. She finds reading difficult.

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 designer recalls an English class where he took part in a group project that involved cooking and performing a drama about it. He laments the decline of English in his workplace. He plays in a band that uses English songs but is not sure about the meaning of some of the lyrics.

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.

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.

Exercises to fill in missing song lyrics in secondary school boosted this Chinese Literature major’s listening skills. She finds liberty in choosing topics for writing assignments at university.

Linking English to Western festive cultures including food and songs gave this Engineering major fun times in junior forms. He read passages relating to lifestyle, travel and science extracted from textbooks.

Using songs such as Money Money Money and Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious to learn English in secondary school was fun for this Fashion and Textiles major. She read Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll.

An American primary school teacher developed this Electronic Engineering major’s interest in learning with audio and visual tools. It made him realise that English is for communication rather than academic purposes. He was impressed by the beauty of the language after reading the Harry Potter series.

Playing board games in class was boring while engaging in audiovisual activities is interesting. This Multimedia Design major likes to learn by watching movies such as High School Musical and Harry Potter.

After studying lyrics in secondary school, this Mechanical Engineering student fell in love with English songs. Her favourite bands are Westlife and My Chemical Romance. She prefers design books but has read some of Shakespeare’s works including Macbeth.

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.

NETs in the kindergarten and primary school of this Computing major used music to teach the language and encouraged her to speak more. She also likes reading English fiction such as Sherlock Holmes, Harry Potter and the works of Jeffrey Archer.

When the teacher played English songs during class, this Civil Engineering major learnt words that wouldn’t be found in textbooks. She has read popular books such as Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter.

It was the first time for this Engineering major to learn English through songs as her teacher played the music of Daniel Powter and the Backstreet Boys in secondary school. She also read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Harry Potter.

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.

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.

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.

A university language course that used songs changed this Chemistry major’s attitude towards learning English. She watched the movie Begin Again and learnt the British accent.

English stories and songs in class stoked this Computer Science major’s interest in learning English. She read The Ph.D. Grind.