中文 | English

I am Janet from China. Before coming to New Zealand, I worked for twelve years in multinational companies, mostly as a sales and operations planner in the automotive industry. I decided to change my career direction and become a kindergarten teacher in this country. I applied to study in New Zealand Tertiary College (NZTC), an education institution specializing in early child teaching, and got a conditional offer subject to IELTS result.

My overall score increased from 7.5 to 8.0, but it is the writing score which I particularly cared about.

According to New Zealand Education Bureau, everyone who is eligible to study graduate diploma (Level 7) of Early Child Teaching must get 7.0 in each component of IELTS. I did this exam 7 times in China, but my writing had never been higher than 6.5, despite me having different private writing tutors, who charge high fees. The fact that I scored 7.0 or higher in other three components (Listening, Reading and Speaking) made the ‘tiny and annoying’ 0.5 gap in writing a huge obstacle to my pursuit. Not only did I spend a large amount of money, but also 2 years were wasted.

NZTC recommended Languages International to me. After studying in LI for three months, my writing reached 8.0!

At the beginning, I was so desperate to improve my writing that I even thought of just having writing classes. However, after talking to the school, I was recommended not to do so because English ability is an overall result of reading, listening, speaking and writing, which turned out to be true.

My morning teacher was Jeremy and afternoon Katie, who taught me English for University and IELTS respectively. Jeremy is a PhD of Philosophy, and he is super smart. His lesson improved my insight into English, and enhanced my overall thinking ability. Katie is extremely experienced in IELTS and insightful. Not only did I get a lot of English practice in her class, but I also learned to explore unknown fields spontaneously. Step by step, my English improved, and anxiety vanished…I love them both, and am especially thankful to them for correcting my numerous reports and essays, and spending time with me to answer my questions after classes.

Apart from them, I also got help from many other teachers like Nick, HD, Simon and Peter. I can tell that they are really dedicated to teaching, and aim to help students to achieve good goals.

After further understanding about the job of an early childhood teacher and evaluation of myself, I may not study early childhood teaching but something else. Nevertheless, I do not think the study in LI is a waste. Quite the opposite, I feel lucky to get the chance to be here, because the whole experience is great enjoyment and one of happiest memories of mine. In addition, with this IELTS score, I am free to study in whatever college or university in New Zealand.

I recommend Languages International no matter whether you aim to improve your English or achieve a certain score in an exam. You will find your time and money investment is extraordinarily worthwhile.

Having said that, please do not assume that you can achieve your target by just attending classes and doing nothing else. You have to take control of your study and input hard work. Sometimes it is boring, frustrating and even scary (especially when an exam is approaching). Yet, the perseverance, the resilience and strong will you can gain during the process is the most precious. Of course, with guidance from brilliant teachers, you have the right approach to save efforts and leads to better results.