Jason Ke, G11, RDF International School

I grew up loving cars. When I was younger, my father, who was an automotive enthusiast, had a significant influence on me. He introduced me to the BBC’s “Top Gear,” an automotive show that I really like watching.

My parents chose to enroll me in international education when I was in the fourth grade and they found a private school for me. English became my biggest challenge as soon as I started at my new school. In public schools, English is only one of the subjects, and lessons are generally taught in Chinese.

In class, I worked hard; after class, I worked equally hard.

However, my progress was going really slow, and I ended up exhausted day after day. My favorite pastime was watching “Top Gear.” I would watch it regularly on my dad’s desktop as a pastime.

Today, “Top Gear” has grown from a modest, hangar-based show to a global success. With millions of followers, the show’s presenters are among the most successful broadcasters on the planet.

As “Top Gear” is being shown on BBC 1, the presenters speak standard English at a regular speed. This is important. It turns out that watching “Top Gear,” an all-English TV show, has consistently helped me learn English in addition to bringing me delight and relaxation.

After some time, I was able to understand every line in every episode. The stress of learning English disappeared. I was learning English when I went to school, in language classes after school, and even while I was just relaxing. My linguistic abilities increased dramatically.

Even today, I am still benefitting from my hobby of watching “Top Gear.”

After seven years of watching the program, my English listening has improved a lot. Meanwhile, it continues to motivate me to keep on learning, and builds my confidence in using English.