After seeing some adults around me miss out on job opportunities due to their poor English, I decided to improve mine.

    But I found my heavy workload from school was taking up my English study time, so I decided to read English while I was eating. Some of my classmates laughed at me, saying my efforts were futile.

    Reading English while eating was odd, not to mention anti-social, so I eventually stopped due to the embarrassment.

    When I told a teacher about it, he encouraged me to start again: “Do what you think is right. Don’t be afraid of being laughed at.”

    I started again. My classmates laughed at me again, but this time I persisted.

    I think my English has improved as a result of this practice, so the moral of the story is, don’t be afraid of being mocked.