Meet Yew Huat, the founder of Use English Today, an English language learning school focused on helping students achieve English Language proficiency in the shortest time possible. For many Mandarin-speaking beginners, learning English can feel intimidating—especially when traditional methods focus on grammar perfection and full-English immersion. At the heart of one innovative English school in Singapore is a bold philosophy: embrace mistakes, simplify the learning process, and focus on speaking confidently.
Yew Huat understands the struggles of language learners, and tailors his school curriculum specifically for Mandarin speakers using Hanyu Pinyin as a bridge to phonics, emphasising listening and speaking over memorisation and grammar. In this candid interview, we uncover the inspiration behind the method, real student success stories, and why failure may be the key to mastering a new language.
What inspired you to create English courses specifically tailored for Mandarin speakers, and what need do you identify in the market?
From the very beginning, I found that all schools believe in using only English to teach English. That is the ideal situation, but the reality is that it’s not true for pure beginners. Pure beginners are people who really cannot even read to begin with. So, if you were to do a full immersion into pure English, it’s not possible. Our courses are specifically tailored to Mandarin speakers because they have the advantage of knowing Hanyu Pinyin.
A lot of people don’t realise that Hanyu Pinyin and phonics are similar. So, for a student to qualify to be in my school, they first have to know their Hanyu Pinyin. If they don’t, then we can’t help them at all. With Hanyu Pinyin, I’m able to accelerate their reading so that they don’t need to memorise words.
Many of them, when they read English, use the same method as when they read Chinese—through the recognition of shapes. But for us in English, we use phonics to read. Hanyu Pinyin and phonics are very similar in this aspect and that is the niche, and that’s where my school comes in.
Another area where my school is different is that we de-emphasise grammar. A lot of English schools focus on accuracy and getting the grammar correct, but we de-emphasise grammar and just focus on using the language. If it’s right, great. If it’s wrong—even if you find yourself speaking poor English—just continue.
What are three unique attributes that define a student’s learning journey at your school?
One of the key points is that we require students to have Hanyu Pinyin. With Hanyu Pinyin, we’re able to teach them phonics. With our method, I’ve personally been able to teach a student who couldn’t read a single English word to be able to read almost everything in the beginner textbook in a span of 45 minutes. That is, of course, the extreme case. In a more typical scenario, about 90% of my students will be able to read within about three to nine hours. That’s the first attribute.
The second attribute is that, because we de-emphasise grammar, students become more confident and more daring. They realise that without grammar, they can still speak enough English for others to understand them. With that confidence, some of them—after finishing the three-month course—have travelled to Dubai, Thailand, and even South Africa.
I use about 80% English in class. So, the third attribute is that by the eighth lesson, most of my students are able to understand spoken English in the classroom. For most of my students, they were taught In school to always aim for perfection.
This became an obstacle to them speaking English. So, in our school, what we do is tell them: don’t worry about perfection, don’t worry about grammar, just get the language out. This approach is only applicable to the pure beginner level, which we specialise in.
These are the three main factors that create “superfans” of our school. They often bring their friends—especially those who have been failing English repeatedly—and encourage them to try our school.
In addition to your curriculum, can you share some useful tips on how to pick up a new language?
I think it’s the same as starting a business. I’ve coined my own phrase: “fail your way to success.” You’re not aiming for success immediately—you just act, knowing you’ll fail, and the more you fail, the closer you get to success. That’s what I teach my students. Don’t be afraid to look stupid.
I tell them: don’t worry about looking foolish—people don’t remember your face anyway. Laugh at your broken English. The more you embrace your broken English, the better your English will become, because you’ll get more exposure.
Another tip: focus on listening. Sometimes, when you don’t know what to say, it’s because your ears haven’t been trained enough. It’s very important to first be able to listen and understand a language—eventually, you’ll be able to speak it.
I tell them: don’t worry about looking foolish—people don’t remember your face anyway. Laugh at your broken English. The more you embrace your broken English, the better your English will become, because you’ll get more exposure.
Can you share a success story from one of your students that highlights the effectiveness of your approach?
I had a student who had been in Singapore for 10 years but only started learning English four years ago. She was previously laughed at and became very embarrassed. Four years ago, she began her learning journey and enrolled in almost every English school in Singapore. She had never been able to progress. But within a week of joining my lessons, she started reading English words.
Now, she can communicate with her husband in broken English and is very happy, because compared to the past four years, that one week made a world of difference. Now, six months later, she is travelling the world confidently using broken English.
Every time I speak with her, I tell her that her grammar is improving—and she knows it too, but she doesn’t care about grammar. That’s one of many success stories I have.
UET aims for a perfect score of five out of five on Google reviews and seeks to resolve any that fall below that. What’s the thought behind this resolution?
I copied this from Apple. For them, it’s all about customer service. For us, it’s the same. Many schools are very strict—they don’t allow refunds no matter what, and that creates problems. For us, we make our refund policy very clear. Sometimes, when we see a student struggling to pay, we allow refunds if they’re not happy with the course.
Also, we’re not fussy or petty about timing. If students need a bit more time, we extend lessons at our own cost to ensure they benefit. We also ensure our sales staff are not pushy. We allow potential students to walk away and think about it. When they come in and speak to our team, they should leave feeling like they’ve had a good experience—not like they were forced to sign up.
Also, most students need a prompt to leave reviews. So, we ask politely: “If you’re happy, would you mind leaving us a five-star review?” We do need to nudge them a little.
What are your future plans for expanding or enhancing your English courses to better serve Mandarin speakers?
We are planning activities to create a community of English learners. We’ve held fine dining lessons. We are also planning excursions—to the airport, zoo and the S.E.A. Aquarium for example—so that they can practise speaking English in real-life environments.
We organise trips to the supermarket to help them learn common items used in Singapore and how to communicate with the cashier. Although they can use Mandarin, we encourage them to speak a bit of English.
In your opinion, what do you think makes a good entrepreneur?
Same as with learning a language—every failure brings you closer to success. Grit is important too. I got scammed out of my life savings trying to build this business. I made some bad decisions, but looking back, they were unavoidable. If I hadn’t taken that risk, I wouldn’t have this English school today.
When I got scammed, I gave myself three days to cry. After that, I had no time to feel sad—I have a wife and two kids to support. I dusted myself off and started rebuilding. And I realised that every time I failed after that, I failed from a better level. The first time I got scammed, it was a small amount. The second time, a larger one. But each time, I was able to recover faster. Today, I’m more careful about how I manage my money, and I always keep a reserve that I won’t touch. So, grit and failure are key.
Can you share a key takeaway lesson from the scam you mentioned?
Never trust a person who is too well-dressed. That’s why they’re called con men. He wore luxury watches and had a branded wallet. He used branded pens. He was very confident. And he always talked about money—how much he had, how much he could invest. That should have been my red flag. Now, when someone talks too much about money, my alarm bells begin to sound.
What’s your vision for Singapore in the next five years?
I don’t really have a national vision—I’m very focused on making Singapore a hub in Southeast Asia for language learning. There are many English schools here, and I hope to contribute to that. Politically, this might be unpopular, but I believe we need foreigners to boost our economy. Many people feel foreigners take jobs away, but I think they help productivity and improve lives. Without foreigners, my business wouldn’t exist.
Connect with Yew Huat : UseEnglishToday.
