Hello,

My name is Hanan Banni and I am 25 years old. I come from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. My family is quite small, my husband, my daughter, and I. Now we live in Auckland in New Zealand where we study. My husband has an Italian restaurant in my home town. My daughter is 19 months old. She goes to baby care while I am at school. I like creating some designer clothes and some designs for wedding days and doing make-up but I am keen on painting, especially ceramic art.

I studied English for about 6 years at school and I spent 5 years at university in Jeddah, studying Microbiology. Now I am studying Academic English at Languages International. In addition, I want to study EU2 and a business course this year. After that I want to move to Canada to study a Masters Degree in Medical technology. I want also to have a good job with good salary to support my husband and my children.

Describe my own experience in this course

I started become bored with General English, so I realized cademic English will improve my academic skills to go to higher education. In addition, it will help me with IELTS studied and improve my knowledge of global issues. My own experience of this course is many. For example, I must do a lot of self study about 6 hours a week. May be because I have a family responsibility, I take care for my daughter and try to give her the English language to understand her teachers more easy. I have also to stay and take with my husband and sharing ideas, so I am wife, mother, and student.

Now, what are my responsibilities in regards to my own progress? First of all, I must do a lot of self study, pass all assignments and keep it to deadlines, research on different subjects, record and revised my new vocabulary especially focus on the Academic Words Lists and word families.

Some advice for future students

Usually when we continue reading and writing in the same language good to improve our skills, so some suggest say, student can improve their reading skills and vocabulary outside the classroom by searching on some topics and add more vocabulary and phrases. For example, when we study about medical we will have a new word, to make using this word mote easy study the whole phrase. New Scientist and Time are good magazines are a good example.

For listening I listen to news every day and I listen to different kind of programs. I also listen to lectures on the Internet. I like listening for topics from our daily life like health, nutritious, economy, business, politic and many other subjects. The important ways to practise all these points to consider ways to record and practise language by talking with English speakers read advertising, listening a lot and do the homework.

Some advice to a future student who speaks Arabic and other language

If your mother tough is Arabic, you may have trouble with spelling and vocabulary in English. Verb tenses might be difficult to use it correctly but it is not as difficult as spelling. Sometimes grammar is hard especially when we are speaking rather than when we write because when we speak we don’t have more time to realize or prepare the correct word and grammar we just have to say the words.

By Hanan Banni, a student at Languages International