BingJie from China

When I was a little girl growing up in Sichuan province my dream was to become an MC – a Master of Ceremonies – hosting events, meetings and even weddings. It is a cool job!

But when I left school, I failed the Gaokao, which is our National College Entrance Examination. This meant that I could only go into college and couldn’t get a Bachelor’s degree. That was a very dark time because my whole family was very disappointed for me.

After graduating from college in pre-school education I worked in a nursery. It was my first job. It was very hard work and it wasn’t very well paid.

I can actually say that English literally saved me from that dark time. I went to sign up at a language centre six years ago to improve my English. The tuition costs were really high, more than half of my salary. So I had to get a loan from the bank and my family. I eventually paid them back with my salary.

I had a hunch that English would be a good skill to learn – and my hunch proved correct! Chengdu where I live was growing rapidly and now there’s a big demand for people who speak English. I thought English would help me become a bilingual MC, particularly as lots of foreign companies opened branches in Chengdu, and people who are fluent in both Mandarin and English were in demand.

English has given me confidence I can use in my daily life and in my work.

My teacher at the language centre has been my role model for a long time. He pushed me to get a business English qualification as he said it would be better than taking a Bachelor’s degree.

Preparing for the business English exam was a very different experience for me. I was able to develop real-life communication skills. I’ve not just acquired a skill, and now I feel that I have lots of opportunities – I can be a bilingual MC but also an English teacher or a Mandarin teacher as well.

Through my studies I also got the chance to go to Cambridge, winning a competition after sharing my story on social media. People voted for me and I won!

It was the first time I went to Europe – before my friends thought it wouldn’t happen, that only people from rich families could go abroad, but I always believed that I would win it and I was right.

Now my parents are very proud. They never posted anything about me in their social media before but after I went to Cambridge and there were articles about me, they reposted them and shared with my family. They realised it was a very big deal!

Now I’m looking at different options – I’m thinking of starting my own channel to teach English songs on social media, as well as doing more studies. In the future I’ll be a bilingual MC and aim to be an English teacher!

English has given me confidence I can use in my daily life and in my work.