I remember the first time I set foot inside Languages International, right on August 14, 2017, with my desire to improve my English. It was a cold morning, colder than I expected, on which my housemates, who also study at the same school and lived with me at that time, had guided me. Since then, I have been studying at Languages International for more than 3 months, and loving every bit of it.
The school offers a variety of courses to choose from, ranging from General English courses, to Cambridge Exam courses, from beginner to advanced. When I started, I chose the Advanced General English with Pauline, as well as Advanced Grammar Practice and Writing with Simon. It was a good start for me since I had spent 1 year and a half without studying English properly. Starting with those courses helped me to set where I was with my English. Following Pauline’s recommendation, I took the Cambridge pre-test, and, to my surprise, I passed.
Two more students from my General English class made it into the different Cambridge courses, but only one came to CAE with me. We were joined by more 6 students, and for a while I was the only non-European student in the class, until a Japanese student joined us later. For 12 weeks we worked hard, with funny moments – fake birthdays, warm ups, the Pub Quiz, trips around New Zealand – in between all our studies. Our teachers, May, Peter and Lara were helpful, supportive, and always gave us new challenges, helping us improve our English, and the Cambridge classes were the exact challenge I needed to boost my studies.
Beyond the excellent courses, Languages International provides us with a wonderful Learning Centre in which we have access to computers, movies, books, magazines and a space where we can take our questions to a teacher, who is always there, while we are doing our homework. Other activities that help us throughout our course are also offered in this space, like the conversation groups and grammar, vocabulary and a variety of other books that can aid our studies.
Within the school they offer you all the information you need to settle down in Auckland, and help you with any questions you have regarding how to open a bank account, information on better services you can use to ship your things back home. In addition, the teachers also help you with other small things you want to know about Auckland and New Zealand, like best places to eat or visit, advice about CVs, and where the best places for you to buy something you need are. All of those being things I asked them myself, and received the answers.
Languages International has a great mix of nationalities, and this is another big plus of the school, and attracts me the most. Having so many different people from various countries allows you to meet folks from all parts of the world and get to know different cultures and languages you would never have thought you would. I met some amazing people in this school, friends I will carry in my heart for the long years to come.
I do recommend Languages International to anyone that wishes to improve their English, independent of their age, English level or nationality, because the school offers you the best. Their ambiance, right in Albert Park, their facilities, their staff and their teachers do everything to make your experience there as fulfilling as you wanted it to be. I will never forget how Peter, my teacher, bought new Lord of the Rings books when I went looking for them and I didn’t find them at the school’s library. This, and much more, make it a wonderful experience to study at Languages International, and I can’t wait to spend more 2 more months and a few days studying in this amazing school, new experiences and friends await me.
Natália Rocha Moreira de Souza Costa
Natália, from Brazil, was a Cambridge CAE student at Languages International in Auckland, New Zealand
