Interviewer: Hi, first of all thank you for taking time to conduct this interview session with

me.

Interviewee: It is my pleasure, you are most welcomed la.

Interviewer: If you are ready, shall we begin?

Interviewee: Yes, anytime.

Interviewer: OK, first question, what is your first language and second language?

Interviewee: My first language is of course Chinese and my second language is English.

Interviewer: How old were you when you first started learning English?

Interviewee: Erm….. I think officially learning English will be seven years old la at primary
school, cause my kindergarten used Chinese mostly, English is like an on and off thing at
that time.

Interviewer: I see I see, can you tell me your English proficiency?

Interviewee: I took IELTS two years ago to fulfil the requirement for my course, I got band
7.5

Interviewer: That’s good, what do you think that really motivated you to improve on your
English?

Interviewee: Actually, I owe all this to my parents. My parents really gave me the best
education. They send me to extra English classes, public speaking classes, which I find
really useful to increase my confidence. Then when I was young right, they also give me
some kind of rewards like watch tv 30 minutes if I get my spelling all correct at school.

Interviewer: What else did your parents do to make you love this language?

Interviewee: They will always motivate me and emphasise the importance of learning
English. Like during weekend, we will play scrabble together or read books together. Then,
my mother doesn’t really speak English, so she will always emphasise the struggles she
faces on daily basis. But this one I only realise during my high school la, you know English,
international language, we need that to survive. Last time, my father will also talk to me in
English, which I think is really helpful la, cause it is like outside classroom already, but I still
using the language.

Interviewer: What did your teacher do that you find it helpful?

Interviewee: Yes, my English tuition was really good. The teacher will use like podcasts,
newspapers those to teach. Can’t deny, some words in newspapers are very difficult, but it is
really good in expanding my vocabulary, and it also helps me to develop a habit of reading
newspaper. Podcasts those to develop listening skill lo, and we can listen how angmo talk
English, their pronunciation and stuff. And then the teacher will also give us to do a lot of
group discussion thing, then we can discuss stuff and talk in English together. The teacher
will give feedback also, what we did that was good, what was bad like that.

Interviewer: What did you do to make yourself a proficient English user?

Interviewee: Like I said, it’s a necessity to survive. I am pretty sure if I want to leave this
country, speaking good English is like the first criterion. And actually I did put a lot of effort to
improve, I can’t speak this fluent before this, I joined those public speaking class, that really
improves on my pronunciation and confidence in using English. Then again, my parents are
never stingy in giving me every book that I want to read. My room is full of reading materials,
and they encourage me to read since young, reading helps a lot also.

Interviewer: I think that is all for our interview today. Thank you.