Hello!
I’m Sophia from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. I studied ESL for 4 months in A&J Academy. I came to the Philippines to study English because I wanted to have new experiences and know about new cultures around the world. The most important thing was to improve my English skills and gain more achievements in my career.
Initially, I chose A&J Academy because the tuition fee is cheaper than other schools. Baguio has a pleasant weather for studying. So, it was perfect for me to focus on studying English. I had international friends, teachers and native speakers to practice English with.
Mr Henry – our Vietnamese student manager – was always there to guide new students and take care of us when we were studying here. He is also a good person and a responsible man.
About the teachers, I could feel their love for teaching. My course was POWER ESL, which gave me 4 man-to-man classes, 4 group classes, 1 dictation test and 1 vocabulary test a day. In here, you will have many foreign friends who come from Japan, Korea, Taiwan, China and Phillipines, and they will help you become confident in communicating. After 2 weeks, I could already talk about a lot of things with my friends and it got easier to use English every day. And also, I got used to going out without worrying about my speaking and listening skills. Then, I realised that we have to be confident in communicating with other people in English language in spite of our grammar errors. It will help us to improve our
communication skills day by day.
I was satisfied with the accommodation and facilities. They are quite wide and there is plenty of fresh air. The helpers cleaned my room three times a week. They always did my laundry every Tuesday and Friday. I just focused on studying. In the academy, we had a small area for the gym. It had dumbbells, running machines, and I could excersie after my classes. Additionally, all of the students are allowed to use the classrooms for studying. We can use them any time, so it is a good space for study. No one disturbed me when I was studying there every night.
Finally, I think the tuition fee here is cheaper than Vietnam. I never regretted my decision. Even though, I studied English in Vietnam for 2 years at two famous language centers, I only used English during my classes, and I didn’t have an opportunity to use English in my working environment and daily life. It didn’t have any effect on me but I think I wasted my time and money. After 4 months of studying in A&J, I was proud of my decision to go to the Philippines to study English. Recently, I felt that my English skill was rapidly improving, and I don’t feel shy to speak English anymore. I learned a lot of experiences about different cultures, people, tourist spots of the Philippines and other countries. So, I enjoyed spending money on food, and going out with friends.
