General Review of Six Months in Baguio “Study” Part
2024.02.23
This is the second part of my review of my study in Baguio from August 2023 to February 2024. This time, I would like to give my own overall review from the aspect of “study. Please refer to the previous article about “housing” and “food.
First of all, the Philippines is a great place to learn English. Walking around the city, you will be surrounded by English signs and products, and if you know a certain amount of words, you will have no difficulty. Besides, when you see the English you have learned being used in real life and you can understand it, you can feel your growth.
In my case, I was impressed when I saw the word “garment” in a thrift store in town and understood it. I had never heard of it before, and I felt that “cloth” was sufficient for everyday use. However, when you connect it to real-life experiences, it sticks in your memory and improves the efficiency of your studies.
Also, because English permeates our daily lives, we can communicate with local people in English.
This is an environment that is hard to imagine in Japan, where you can communicate with café clerks, cab drivers, and even local tourists. Although it is a challenge, it is the best part of studying abroad, isn’t it?
During my study abroad, the only people I could not communicate with in English were the staff at the 100-peso haircut shop and the van driver when we went to the beach.
However, they try to understand me in a way that I can’t speak, so it’s not a problem. I can even translate into Tagalog using my smartphone.
Why does everyone speak English?
This is a bit off topic, but I once had a discussion with my teacher about why Filipinos are so familiar with English. According to the teacher, it is partly because they have been doing all subjects in English from the period of compulsory education, except for the Japanese language classes in Japan.
I guess it is advantageous to learn a language from an early age, isn’t it? I am sure it is not only an advantage in the educational process, but I am envious of it. Incidentally, my teacher, who is fluent in English, told me that she only uses Tagalog in her daily conversation outside of school.
Net Flix is cheap!
The advantage of studying in the Philippines, where there are no native English speakers, is the cost. I have actually experienced it and still feel that tuition fees and living costs are low. I think that each study abroad agency introduces the features of this area, so I will not go into details.
Another advantage is the low monthly fee for Net Flix. While you often see people using a VPN to subscribe to a subscription plan in another country while in Japan, here you can subscribe to a regular subscription plan with impunity.
https://help.netflix.com/en/node/24926/ph
When you are in an English environment to some extent, you may encounter situations where you need to correct your pronunciation. “Shadowing” is said to be effective in such situations, and it is also useful for daily study.
One thing to note about subscription services is that
the use of “Amazon Video” and “Abema” in Japan may be restricted for overseas connections, so it is advisable to check in advance. It is better to check in advance.
School] Comprehensive course of 8 lessons a day
I took a comprehensive course called “ESL Course,” which included not only daily conversation but also reading, writing, and pronunciation. There are eight 45-minute classes each day, five of which are one-on-one classes and three are group classes. The first class starts at 8:00 AM and ends at 5:00 PM.
At first, in the one-on-one course, five classes were allocated for reading, speaking, writing, vocabulary, and grammar.
However, after a month and a half, I felt that I had difficulty with speaking, so I replaced vocabulary and grammar with speaking.
After that, I retained three speaking classes for the remaining less than four months. Also, the teacher can be changed to a new teacher depending on the reason, but I was not particularly dissatisfied with the teacher, so I did not change. As a result, I spent 6 months with the same teacher.
Six months sounds like a long time, 180 days, but this is the number of days I stayed, and the number of lessons was about 120 days, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and national holidays.
Teachers are not amateurs.
Teachers are not just amateurs. They are professionals who have a teaching license and have gone through the school’s selection process. However, there are still some teachers out there who have different ideas and have their own unique style. So, having gone through the whole process, I can tell you what the classes are like for each teacher.
Teacher 1: Female: around 25 years old
Basically faithful to the progression of the textbook, calmly teaching the class. Gives homework at a reasonable frequency depending on the progress. From the middle of the course, she was willing to correct my self-studies outside of class. He answered kindly no matter what I asked him at any point and was very positive about the class.
Teacher 2: Female: around 25 years old
She has a perfect balance between the progress of the class and chit-chatting during breaks. She is good at keeping up with students of all ages, from children to middle-aged, so that they don’t get bored and can concentrate. She teaches advanced topics and tips as needed as we go through the textbook.
Teacher 3: Female: around 25 years old
She may or may not use the textbook, and may bring games or assignments that can be completed in one session. He conducts the class with his own method and with a sense of urgency. Although there were times in the beginning when I could not say what I wanted to say at all and almost got left behind, it was useful as a special training to be aware of the speed of daily conversation.
Teacher 4: Female: around 25 years old
She talks a lot and is made to talk a lot. Even when the topic was difficult, such as philosophy or euthanasia, I never felt even a second of silence. Her character can be best described as “confident,” and she always teaches with a lot of confidence, but she sometimes reveals too much of herself and becomes whiny. We sometimes talked about quite deep topics.
Teacher 5: Female: around 25 years old
Bright and innocent, she is a mood maker for both teacher and students. During class, she has a good balance between ice-breaker chats and lectures, and often points out minor pronunciation and grammar mistakes. She follows the progression of the textbook, but is flexible to change the content of the class according to the mood of the students.
Teacher 6:Female: Early 30’s
She is soft and laid-back, and her personality oozes as natural. For the first 3 months or so, she seemed to go through the textbooks thoroughly and gave frequent homework assignments. Gradually, we began to chat more and more, and we often talked about travel and weekend plans.
Teacher 7: Female: 30s-40s?
She seemed calm and steadily worked through the textbook every day. It is hard to get used to the class because the focus is on output, but she gives us feedback on points we need to pay attention to from time to time, so it is very practical. Sometimes we are assigned homework such as “Tomorrow, you will give a 2-minute speech on the topic of __,” which was also a good learning experience.
Teacher 8: male: around 25 years old
The class is mainly discussion-based without textbooks, so it is a good way to practice my quick thinking skills. Since he is a native speaker, I was able to train my ear by feeling live the everyday pronunciation method called “linking. He has knowledge in various fields and I can respect him as an individual.
Looking back on my study abroad experience
As for how my English skills have improved, I feel that they have improved to the point where I can admit it to myself and others. I pull out the dictionary less frequently in class, and I am no longer afraid of using relative pronouns and the like to form sentences.
It is often said that it is important to express what you want to say using simple English rather than directly translating Japanese. This is certainly true.
However, there are still times when I just can’t come up with that paraphrase. I hear that a certain amount of experience is necessary for speaking ability, but for me, 6 months was still too short a period of time.
My goal is to be at a level where I can deal with foreigners at ticket booths in tourist spots. Right now I am still at the level where I can speak in class, so if I have the opportunity, I would like to reach out for another chance to study abroad again. I’ll report back then, so I’ll see you next time in the “entertainment” section!
