Last week, I had a deep conversation with a DSE English tutor—Ms. Agnes Chan.
She's always been curious about what I actually do. So I told her: "I teach Cantonese-speaking people how to jibber jabber in English for a living."
She looked at me and went, "FOR REAL? So you're telling me to just go out and talk rubbish?"
I said, "YES. Exactly that."
Agnes paused for a moment, then nodded. "That's exactly what the current English system is missing."
Here's the thing. A lot of you can read and write English just fine. Some of you can even write like Shakespeare—all that fancy vocab and everything.
But the moment you have to speak? Many of you freeze. Completely.
Some blame their pronunciation. Some think they just don't have those natural, casual, everyday words for something so simple.
But here's what most people don't realize: you've had very limited exposure to multiculturalism.
And this goes way deeper than language. It's about how open we are to different cultures.
I've seen people with a thick Chinglish accent and tiny vocabulary—but they feel totally comfortable around people from different backgrounds. They have a much wider worldview.
That's what I want for every Hong Kong person. Real global citizens.
Last week inside my THINK and SPEAK like a native program, I pushed my students way out of their comfort zone. They had to:
- Join an international social club (Hong Kong has LOADS)
- Find a pen pal from the groups I recommended
- Use some killer AI tech to practice casual chat every single day
And guess what? So many of them had their first real international experiences—way more interesting than they ever imagined.
Some even told me, "I didn't realize how much I've been missing out on in this city until that meet-up."
Look, I can teach you all the hard skills and mindsets to THINK and SPEAK like a native. But you'll never get there if you don't step outside.
So, do you want to be a real global citizen?
If yes, just shoot me "YES" and I'll send you a $500 coupon for my THINK and SPEAK like a native program. (Doors open Wednesday!)
Let's grow together,
Ms. Truda
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