Momo(Meng-Ju, Sung), a student who is from Taiwan

May 4, 2017

“Why do you want to learn English? What’s your purpose here?” If you come to GS, many teachers and classmates will ask you this question. My answer always goes like this, “Because I want to improve my English ability.”

English is a tool to access the world. When I finished my two-year-long working holiday in Australia, I deeply realized that it’s a truth. One of my backpacker friends who I met in Australia, Martina, recommended me to choose her friend, Max, as my agency, and he helped me to attend a school which accommodates all my needs—Global Standard English Learning Center. (Usually, students call it “GS” instead.)

In GS, students have the rights to select their teachers, the timetable, and learning materials. It’s very flexible to make an adjustment. Also, comparing with other language schools, I think the fee of the courses in GS is more economic to me.(It includes not only courses and materials, but also the room accommodation and three meals per day.) Most people can afford it. Besides, GS is located in Clark city which is famous for the safety in Philippines. These are main reasons why I chose it to stay.

I studied in GS for two months. One month is for ESL (Learning English as a Second Language) course, and the other one is for TOEIC (An English Test) practice. Every day I have four one-by-one classes, two to three group classes, and one to two optional group classes (TOEIC and CNN). English is a common language in Philippines. My teachers are locals, Americans, or Australian, and most classmates are from Korean. I also have few Japanese and Vietnam classmates here. Therefore, the only language between us is English.(Because the time I stayed wasn’t a peak season, Taiwanese students are few only.) One-by-one teachers are in charge of teaching me the writing, reading, grammar, words, listening test, reading test, and skills for the test. Group class teachers train students to practice communication, expression, and pronunciation; also, they offer students some new information and interesting topics. This environment offers me a chance to practice speaking and listening English from day to night, and my capacity of vocabularies is increasing.

During the week days, I studied hard. Students need to do self-study after classes from Monday to Thursday. However, I also had a lot of fun time during my holidays. From Friday night to Sunday, usually students would go out for amusement, buy some groceries or travel. In my cases, I went to SM mall, walking street or Friendship (Korea town) by a Jeepney or GS school free shuttle bus to play bowling games, to watch a movie, to sing songs in a KTV and to eat local dishes with my classmates. On one of the weekends, I visited a national park named MINANUGAO to experience the special bamboo ship, to see the cave and to go swimming. Also, I went to one of the Philippines’ Culture Villages to see the exotic sceneries, and visited Fontana Waterpark and Deca Wakeboard with friends to enjoy the sunshine and water activities during recent holidays. Sometimes, I didn’t go too far, maybe just walked to Clark Park, Clark Museum (people can watch a historical 4D movie there), local Catholic Church, some supermarkets and restaurants (One of them has live music on Friday night) nearby, or massage shops to do some exercise or to relax.

Some other memories here impressed me strikingly, too. For examples: my Korean classmates celebrated Jane Han (One of my Taiwanese classmates who came here with me. The first time we met is in the airport.) and my birthday in Korean way; my mother encountered a car accident and got bones broken in Taiwan but I couldn’t accompany with her as I was in Philippines; suddenly I was sick and couldn’t eat anything during my lunch and dinner someday; my smartphone was broken when I just arrived GS over 9 days; culture diversity and relationship of Asia made me difficult about involving in this school sometimes; some learning issues about TOEIC; one of my clothes which is a gift from my friend got stolen in the laundry… and etc. (I’m appreciate that my agency, my Taiwanese manager Lisa and my friends’ help during the hardship.)

Now is my last week in GS. I think that I learned many things here. I improved either my English ability or my problem-solving experience. Life is an association of bitterness and happiness. When they blend together and the flavor emerged from it is life. I’m glad that I have the chance to learn. It makes me become a better person.