30 July 2010

Things to do in winter in Auckland

Written by: Students in Sally's intermediate class at Languages International Auckland


1.If you want to go to the beautiful beach, a lot of shops and cafes near the city, we recommend you go to Mission Bay. There are many kinds if restaurants, the famous Swiss ice cream shop (Movenpick) and beautiful houses in Mission Bay. Also, you can walk along the beach.
(Ji Ye, Aum and Keri)

2. If you want to go to Auckland Museum, you can take the Link Bus.(Link bus is a good way to go around Auckland. It costs only $1.70. It takes you to a lot of interesting places). You can see the Maori culture and there are many exhibitions in the museum. It takes 3 or 4 hours to see all the exhibitions in the Auckland Museum. When you leave, you will know
more about Auckland than before.
(Helen and Maiko)

3. Devonport is a very nice place in Auckland because you can see nice view. First you go to the Ferry Terminal in Downtown Auckland. You buy the return ticket which is $10. When you arrive in Devonport you can go to Mt. Victoria and see a nice view of Auckland City. Also there is a famous chocolate shop and old books shop so you can enjoy it.
(J and Jun)

4. When you come to Auckland you can see the Skytower which is the highest building in Auckland. There are a lot of interesting things. If you pay some money you can have panoramic views and activities, such as bungy jumping, walking on the top of the Skytower. Also, you can have a great meal at one of the two restaurants.
(Noma and Ki Yong)

5. One Tree Hill. Catch a Greenlane bus from the city to Greenlane. then climb to the top of the hill. Look around and see Auckland buildings, beaches, roads, hills,ships, cafes, cars. Also see many sheep.
(Ali and Stas)

22 July 2010

TESOL Graduates: “New Zealand is a good place for getting your education”

Lada Shadaeva and Irina Tukhta, two teachers from Russia who successfully completed our TESOL course in July achieving excellent results, share their thoughts on their experience at Languages International and in New Zealand.





09 July 2010

Taking a Language Course gives you a sense of Belonging in your new city

Our student, Koy from Thailand has written an interesting post on her blog about living in Auckland and how studying at Languages International gave her a sense of belonging. She says:

Most important thing that makes me feel belong here is my 4 weeks school participation. Amazingly, it helps me a lot to get to know this place. My school is an English school named 'Languages International', where I joined the English for business course in Advanced level...
Read more on Koy's blog

Students Win Free Tickets to All Blacks Match

Written by Juan, a student at Languages International

(Photo credit: Kiwi Flickr)

On Wednesday, me and a friend (nick: J.C.) who also studies at language school went to a BackingBlack event sponsored by Telecom where some All Blacks players would be playing BINGO with the people, and the winners would win 2 tickets to the ALL BLACKS match on Saturday against South Africa. In the 3rd round of the BINGO, we got a Line and won 2 tickets to the match.

In my next post I will try to include some pictures from the match.

See ya!
Juan

At Home in New Zealand

Written by: a student from May's class at Languages International

One week has passed since I arrived in New Zealand.
I never expected there to be so many hills in Auckland. Also, the weather is very changeable.
However, I saw rainbows many times, and it’s so beautiful!!

I live in Mairangi Bay with my host parents, and they are so sweet.
The scenery from my homestay is breathtaking.
I always feel like I’m at my home. I have a lot of time to talk with them and they help me with my English. I’m really happy to have met them.

I’ve just started my stay in New Zealand. I want to explore more and have great experiences!

08 July 2010

Travel in New Zealand

Written by: Miyoung Kim, a student at Languages International


I went to Rotorua in May with my friends. I had a great time because i saw volcano area for the first time. When i went there, i went through Waitomo cave. It was also a special experience. We saw lots of wonderful glow worms and lime fertilizer. Anyway the best thing was the spa in Rotorua especially, i could see the lake at the same time. If you like spas, you should go there.

02 July 2010

How an English for University Course Can Help you Achieve Your Goals

I am Mathawee Makhakul. Everyone calls me Yim. I am 24 years old and come from Chiang Mai, in the North of Thailand. I like swimming and surfing the net. I graduated with a BSC Humanities from university in Thailand. Now, I am studying in EU1 and my option is IELTS, Intermediate. I chose this course because I wanted to improve my academic skills, knowledge of global issues and needed more of a challenge.


My experience of the EU1 course

I had to do a lot of self-study and organise my time at the Learning Centre (LC) after class every day and at home. I spend time everyday on doing my homework and memorising new vocabulary. Culture and media issues were the most interesting and useful for me because these issues were near my life which I never knew before such as traditional ceremonies in different countries and influential advertising.

This course was more focused on the AWL, for instance learning word families and doing more research. Moreover, it was more serious and learnt subject specific. My responsibilities in regards to my progress were passing all assignments, keeping my portfolio up-to-date, revising my own vocabulary, doing self-study and continuing researching on class-based topic.

How to improve English skills

If you want to improve reading skill I recommend the reader’s digest and time magazines which are my favourite. These magazines contain news around the world and general knowledge such as health, scientist and culture. There are short articles which are not too difficult to understand.

For improving listening skill I recommend to listening news though BBC online and you can download podcasts from this website or in the LC. There are many topics such as discovery, documentaries and history. Moreover, you can feel the atmosphere of real classes, talk shows and speeches by accessing www.ted.com and www.academicearth.org . When you listen you should make short notes.

I think the best way to learn new grammatical structures and vocabulary is making and thinking everything in English. Also, playing vocabulary games on website is easy way to memorise because I can spend a long time on concentrate practising vocabulary longer than other ways. If you want any help, you can ask the teachers at the counter. They are very kind.

Advice to a future student

If your first language is Thai, you might have trouble using verbs in English because in Thai we use only present tense and verb is not changed. We just put time in sentences. This makes us confused when we use past or future tenses. For example, In Thai ‘I eat fish and chip yesterday.’ and ‘tomorrow I go to see a movie.’ but in English ‘I ate fish and chip yesterday’ and ‘tomorrow I will go to see a movie.’ Also, we have to memorise regular verbs and irregular verbs. You should work your way through the books of exercises in the grammar section of the LC and practise in the program.


Moreover, we might have problem with pronunciation. It difficult to read out ‘sh’ , ‘ch’, ‘r’ and ‘l’ . You can practise pronouncing by following the native speakers on the CDs or movies which you can borrow at the LC. Finally, English vocabulary is totally different from Thai, so we have to memorize all vocabulary not only the meaning but also spelling. I recommend practice though online games or programs at the LC.

01 July 2010

New Zealand: cheaper, better.

  • New global survey shows New Zealand’s cities are cheaper to live in than any other major city in the Asia-Pacific region.
  • Auckland ranks 4th in Worldwide Quality of Living Survey.

Cheaper

One of many excellent reasons to choose New Zealand as your study destination is its low cost of living. The latest global Mercer Worldwide Cost of Living Survey has shown that New Zealand’s major cities are cheaper to live in than any other major city in the Asia-Pacific region. The survey measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment. Auckland was ranked 149th out of the 214 cities surveyed. (1 = most expensive, 214 = least expensive)

Compare the cost of living for various study destinations popular with English language learners:

Auckland (149)
Adelaide (90 - Australia’s least expensive city)
Toronto (76)
Vancouver (75)
Los Angeles (55)
Brisbane (55)
Dublin (42)
Melbourne (33)
New York (27)
Sydney (24)
London ( 17)

Better
Not only are New Zealand cities cheaper than other English-speaking cities, they are great places to live and study. Auckland came 4th equal again* in Mercer's 2010 Worldwide Quality of Living Survey last month. (Auckland was also ranked 4th in 2009 and 5th in 2008.) No English-speaking city was ranked higher.

This survey compares 215 cities. Mercer determines rankings on 39 criteria, including political, social, economic and environmental factors, plus health, education, transport and other public services.

You can read more about the Cost of Living Survey in the NZ Herald or on Mercer's site. For more on the 2010 Worldwide Quality of Living, see Mercer's site.

*New Zealand and Vancouver ranked 4th equal in 2010 and 2009.

My experience of the English for University course

Written by: Ibrahem Helal, a student at Languages International

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Ibrahem Helal, I am from Saudi Arabia, 19 years old. I just graduated from the high school in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. I came to New Zealand as a scholarship student. I am pleased I took The English for University course (EU) for many reasons.

Firstly, the EU course improves my English more than what I was expecting. Secondly, the EU course gave me a new experience about the university education system. Thirdly the EU course certificate will allow me to enter the university without taking the IELTS exam.

My own experience of the course
The English for university (EU) course requires a good amount of work in order to pass it, as there are 6 assignments which should be given in a limited time, all the 6 essays should be passed otherwise I will fail the course. There is one power point presentation from 4 to 5 minutes. Also, there are two exams during the course. Therefore, I should organise my time very well starting with the class attendance should be more than 90%. I usually go to the Learning Centre from 8 to 10 hours per week. Everyday I have from 1 to 2 hours at home for doing my homework and looking at what we have studied in the class.

The EU course was very different from the General English course because of the amount of work we do in the class and in the self study time. The EU course is focussed on Academic English it is useful for people who are planning to study at university.

Some advice for future (EU) students
To improve your reading and vocabulary skills my recommendation is to read a news magazine or magazines which use academic language such as Time magazine, National Geographic magazine, and the New Scientist magazine. You can find those magazines online.

To improve your listening skills you can use the CDs in the Learning Centre (L.C.), also you can improve your listening skills in more entertaining ways such as watching a movies or listening to music in English.

To get good marks in your essay you should follow these steps. Firstly, when you get the topic of your essay brain storm your ideas and take notes. Secondly, do some research on the internet by the topic name or anything relative to the topic, try to understand what you are reading and take some notes. Thirdly, put your notes together and start to write your essay in a simple way. Finally, try to rewrite it in more academic way buy changing some vocabulary and sentences, and put your essay in the right format.

Some advice for future Saudi students
If your mother language is Arabic, especially if you are Saudi, you should focus on spelling and reading because I think it is Saudi students' biggest problem. For the spelling you should have a vocabulary and spelling note book to write all the new vocabulary and practise the spelling, you must learn at least 10 new words per a week. For the reading, you should read as much as you can and try the three types of reading: skimming, scanning, and reading for details. It will help you very much if you are planning to do the IELTS exam, and those ways are very useful at university.

Another problem the Saudi students have is time management. I think if you follow the time table that I have mention above you will not face this problem.

Finally, I wish all the future students good luck, and a successful experience with the EU course.