Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

buki · Joined: 01 Jan 2006 Posts: 49 Location: Turkey

im a student too..and i wanna go to England or America to improve my english easily..i have been searching for long time..i found a good agency but expensive..www.ef.com

worldclass · Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 36

Why not use an education agent? They have a reputation to protect and won't deal with dodgy schools. Use an agent that is a member of www.felca.org (an education agents industry association) or ask friends who have studied abroad to refer you to one (be careful as there are dodgy agents too).

Education agents should charge you no extra consulting fees as they have contracts to represent the schools - so it should cost you the same as if you were to enrol directly with the school (plus the agent will help you with enrolment, visa etc).
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daraknor · Joined: 03 Sep 2006 Posts: 1 Location: Portland, OR USA

Some students were interested in speaking English like Americans. If you want to blend in as American you do need to learn formal English first. Most Americans are very lazy how they speak, and most of their phrases come from TV. After you learn formal English you can learn lazy English. Wait until you graduate your ESL school first.

American's are very bad at English, we use TV phrases.
Formal English Greeting:
"Hello, how are you?"
Lazy TV English Greeting:
"What's up?" or short slang, "Wazzup?" This is from a beer commercial.

Formal English parting phrase:
"It was nice to see you."
Lazy TV English phrase:
"Later dudes!" This is from cartoons for kids, and movies.

The problem with learning lazy English is that it identifies you based on what was popular at the time. Lazy English slang changes every 1-3 years. It is different from California, Texas, New York, Boston. Using a phrase from one area in a different city may get you attacked. (Say the wrong thing, people hurt you.) This happened in the movie "Rush Hour" because Jackie Chan didn't understand the culture.

Places to never use lazy English: a culture you don't understand, a manager at a job, to a teacher, to your girlfriend's or boyfriend's parents.

When you leave school, keep learning about culture, language and people. Don't stop because you win!
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kaori22 · Joined: 15 Oct 2006 Posts: 2 Location: Fresno, CA

Hi everyone,
I agree with minicat. it is very important to find a school which has program to achieve your goal. One of my friend went to a English school in my university which is mainly for students who are planing to go to an American unicersity. Since my firend was not interested in going to university, she had hard time to study there.

dicivi · Joined: 04 Feb 2007 Posts: 14 Location: Canada

Having taught English overseas my advice would be - go for a short vacation and take a look at the facilities. If possible talk to students to see if they're happy with their tuition. All of us who teach are obviously trying to make money out of our chosen career or business but we have to be prepared to serve the student to the best of our ability. Unfortunately this is not always the case.

Those who do not have a great knowledge of English may fall victim to those who trying to make a fast buck. I suggest you always let someone else check over contracts for you.

Another idea that may be useful is to put the school's name on Google together with key words like "problems" or "bad experience" . You may be surprised by what turns up.

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sonybill · Joined: 05 Apr 2008 Posts: 2

Thanks.

lliekamia · Joined: 29 May 2008 Posts: 2 Location: philippines

hello everyone, there are a lots of resources to chose for a good school.
just try to surf the net.
my dad told me about Language school in European country. I guess it better
to go there and study the language. He studied 3 languages there and very awesome, he really learned it.
he is now working as Foreign Language instructor in the big university her in our country.

hope it help guys.

liekamia

DanielleR · Joined: 20 Jun 2008 Posts: 2 Location: California, USA

Hi!

There's definitely a big difference between book English and the English American kids speak. The best way to learn "Street" English is to make friends with Americans while you're here studying at a language school.

Here in San Diego we have a very big and active group called ESL Meetup group. It's made up of English teachers and students here studying. We get together for trips, sightseeing, dinner, movies, Latin dancing...

Go to www.meetup.com and search for the ESL group in the city you're going to study in.

Have fun!
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cwilkerson

My university offers a program for college students from abroad who wish to come to the USA for the true college experience.

They study ESL and study a couple of classes in their subject that they major in their country.

Of course you must have some language ability, this is a not an appropriate program for a beginner.

We have seen intermediate language students within one semester double their TOEFL score and score over 900 in their TOEIC after completing.

Being in an all English speaking environment really helps.

My campus is 95% American and about 5% international and most international students who live on campus are surrounded by students and attend classes in which many of the students are American.

Very useful in this case.

If you are interested in this email me

http://house4azia.googlepages.com/home

Cj

ELLA X · Joined: 04 Dec 2008 Posts: 1

Do you know wall street english institution? Have you ever heard this institution? I am in china, the institution is the one of biggest institution. but the expense is very high. I don't know should I take part in it.
If you know any information about it, pls kindly tell me! thanks!

niigatablue · Joined: 29 Jan 2009 Posts: 4 Location: Malta

Students coming to the UK from outside the EU who wish to study for more than six months, will now have to be sponsored by their school. Schools will be responsible for making sure that their students are attending lessons. Schools will have to apply to the UK government for a special license to sponsor students. This means the smaller, less reputable schools, will have problems. It's good news for students as only good schools will get a license. Make sure that the UK school you want to attend has accreditation with the British Council.

http://learnenglish.ecenglish.com

beibeizhu · Joined: 29 Mar 2009 Posts: 61

There are many good language schools.your advice is very sound. I hope many will pay attention to it.English is very important for us.

Corey · Joined: 23 Mar 2003 Posts: 445 Location: Costa Rica

It is very important to know what YOU want.

Do you want to study for school? In this case you may want to look for a school with an academic English program. You may need to take the IELTS or TOEFL so a school with a test preparation program could be good for you.

Do you want to study for work?

A school with a general or intensive English program may be best for you.

Do you want to study and explore?

You might want a vacation or adventure program.

Other factors you might want to think about:

Do you want to student in a large city or in a medium or small city? each has advantages and disadvantages.

Large school or small school? Again, each has good points and bad points.

Good luck Wink

Corey
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worldclass · Joined: 22 Jun 2006 Posts: 36

If you are looking to enrol at a language school anywhere in the world this will be of interest to you.

It's a free guide for prospective language school students called 'Language School Secrets' and you can find it at -

www.languageschoolsecrets.com

It tells students everything that they need to know including -

1) Possible ways to save money on your booking - discount opportunities
2) Questions to ask (things to be aware of). Many students forget to ask some important questions before choosing a school.
3) The pros and cons of booking with an agent or directly with the school.
4) How to choose the best schools and avoid getting ripped off.

Its a pretty comprehensive 25 page pdf (but its an easy read). If you feel that there is anything that I've left out please let me know.

Steve

Rita4class · Joined: 03 Jan 2012 Posts: 2

I know a good English school website called www.english-classonline.com
They provide you with good teaching material on how to speak fluently using a virtual whiteboard online for $7 an hour.
Their teachers are well trained and very patient too.
I recommend that website for those who want to be comfortable with their English learning skills...
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If you want to improve your Conversational and Professional English skills, join me on Skype, my ID is Rita4class and you will get a free trial class