Student information:
– Name: Maria
– Nationality: Vietnamese
– Program: ESL-IELTS
– Duration: 8 weeks
Today, I’ll spend some times to write about my experience about WALES-school that I’ve been studying English (1 term ESL & 1 term IELTS)
For ESL, the first thing that I’m satisfied is school has entrance test then I got in the class has the same level as mine. Unlike other schools, even they did entrance test but still they can’t study in group class that match their level. So it’s very difficult for student-who got in “wrong class” (Sad). Beside, second things that I’m satisfied with is a diverse curriculum with many different levels. Therefore you can rest assure that doesn’t matter what is your level, still there is a curriculum that suitable for your ability. This is an advantage that I like because compared to other schools, sometimes their curriculum doesn’t suitable with your levels, so you have to “run after” classmate, waste of your time, effort and money (even though you already tried your best to study, the process will be very slow because you need to “go around” instead of “go straight” like others). For teachers’ skills, in my opinion, doesn’t matter which school, it’s all the same (even in Vietnam), there are teacher with a lot of experiences but also there are teachers need training, so if their teaching style don’t match your study style when you’re studying, then you can change to study with another teachers. And for ESL course, you can change teachers, subjects, class time flexible to your needs and ability as well as your health. 1 more thing that I really like is awards at the end of term. It’s very meaningful and motivation for students to try harder.
For IELTS, the only thing is schedule is not flexible because IELTS has fix schedule. You can only change teachers or class time, can’t change subject. It’s very difficult for me because I just wanna practice speaking and writing skills. Other schools they have flexible for changing schedule for students. It’s very suitable for student who just want to improve their weakness, for other skills they can study by themselves. Like ESL, curriculum is very good, suitable for each student’s level. Overall, for IELTS, is you wanna study then WALES is suitable for you, but if you just wanna practice then sometimes you need flexible.
For facilities, overall, I’m very satisfied. Meals in WALES compared to other schools, it’s delicious, variety of options, meal time lasts 1 to 2 hours, so you can rest assure about it. Rooms are okay, airy, there is sunshine in the room and you don’t have to worry about run out of hot water, because there is water heater in each room. Toilet has bidet so it’s very convenient. There are only some small things need to be change. For example like triple shared room, is ok but twin shared is little bit smaller. I prefer triple shared room because it’s spacious, many mirrors to look at. For twin shared, there is only 1 mirror in the toilet so it’s a little bit inconvenient (especially when you want to makeup or check yourself). Or especially when you just finished showering, the mirror got blurred because of steam, you have to wipe it or wait for awhile. Frankly speaking, I don’t like to makeup in the toilet but I only stay for 4 weeks, does it really needed to buy big mirror to look at??? (especially whole body).
Another point that I’m not satisfied is school doesn’t provide hand soap in public toilet in classroom area. Hand soap is very important for human’s health, after you go out from toilet. I visited other schools, their facilities is very bad but they all provide hand soap in public toilet.
Lastly, the laundry service, we get 12kg/ month and every time we give laundry, we have to write detail like T-shirt, pant, color, quantity,etc …. it’s wasted of time. In another school, we just have to leave laundry in front of our room, done, don’t need to worry about overweight or did we write full detail or not.
Above are my experience in WALES. Although I only studied for short time but I think WALES has good study environment for who are beginners. Especially I really like studying ESL in WALES. My plan is, if I have a chance, come back again with my family to study ESL next year. You can really study here, not wasting your time and money to find the most effective way to study like other schools. On top of that, teachers and school staffs in WALES are enthusiastic, warm, and friendly. They make me feel like I’m at home. Friends are also very good, easy to mingle, to get to know each other. You can have “real study” from basic to advance to have solid English background. (Unlike other schools, when you already in advanced class but when you look back, you still make some very basic mistakes)