Good evening, Thank you for giving us the time for this interview . Could you please introduce yourself?
Hello! My name is Golden. I’m 25 years old and I come from Vietnam. I’m studying the IELTS course at A&J e-EduDC for 2 months. I graduated at the University of Medical Can Tho in Vietnam last 2016. I’ve studied and practiced IELTS mock tests for 2 years, but my band score did not improve because I just studied with a local review school, which only provided 6 hours of classes per week. I also have a job working for a pharmaceutical company. Therefore, I could not concentrate in studying IELTS.
Why did you choose A&J Academy to study English? And how long will you be staying here?
My friends who studied at A&J introduced the school to me. They told me that if l go to the Philippines to study English I should choose this Academy. They improved their English a lot during their short stay at the school. I was really surprised how they did it. After that, I researched about studying English in the Philippines and A&J e-EduDC.
I choose the Philippines because my friends already studied here and gained some achievement. Some people can get a higher IELTS score after 2 or 3 months. I believe that I can also get my target band score of 6.5 after finish my course at A&J.
I also chose A&J due to its location and environment and their fees are suitable for students studying abroad. A&J provides a good place for students to study. It is near the center of the city, it takes at least 10 minutes if you travel by taxi or by jeepney. So I can also hang out, do my shopping, relax with my friends during the weekend. A&J is also near the supermarket, church, laundry shops, restaurants and traditional market. I usually go there after class time. In front of the school It has a small store where I buy load and junk food etc.
Lastly, A&J provides a good opportunity to study English with a reasonable tuition fee. I compared prices of different schools before I decided to go to the Philippines. Tuition fees of A&J is more affordable than other schools. It is very suitable for my budget. One more thing, the IELTS courses at A&J have 7 hours man to man classes, 1 hour group class with the vice president Teacher John who is a native speaker, and a free 2 hours night group class.
How do you study at A&J?
My schedule begins at 8 am with a dictation test for IELTS. Students managers will give me the answer sheet and run the audio files. I have to listen to 10 passages in the IELTS listening test and write down my answer. Then, the students manager in charge will give me the answer key to check my work. After that, we will discuss the results. I spend 30 minutes daily every morning to finish this task .
Then regular classes starts from 8:30 am and finishes at 5:20 pm. I have 7 hours man to man classes and 1 hour group class. My lessons are writing, reading, speaking and listening and I have 2 hours class time for each skill. My head teacher assigns teachers to qualified to assist me with my classes at a 4 week interval.
In the evening I have a vocabulary test for IELTS from 8 to 8:30 pm every night weekdays. I will listen to the audio files and match 70 new vocabulary words with their respective definitions in my examination sheet. When the audio files are finished, Me and the other students will check our work with the answer key in our vocabulary book for IELTS which is provided free from school.
After that, I go to the self study area and review past lessons and topics I have finished in my classes. The Vietnamese student manager also established a small group for IELTS students to practice their listening skills by using previous IELTS listening questions based from the real exam. The session starts hour every night at 9 pm and lasts for an hour. This also includes answering 1 listening mock test from the Cambridge IELTS practice books. It has been a very rewarding process for me in improving my IELTS band score. I’m getting better.
Thank you for your time with. I hope you will have good experiences and gain your target at A&J.
You are welcome.