Ayako Takeda

Ayako Takeda had what many young Japanese women dream of a fantastic job working as a ground hostess at Narita International Airport. She landed the position after completing a two year airline course which grooms students for roles as flight attendants and ground staff.

Ayako loved the job it was busy, exciting and she got to meet all sorts of people. But in July last year she handed in her resignation, packed her bags and headed to New Zealand.

Why? Because she wants to progress even further in her chosen career.

"The job was wonderful, but after three years I realized if I wanted to move up within the industry I needed to improve my English," says the ambitious 24 year old.

"Four years ago, while I was a student, I came to New Zealand to take an emergency course with Air New Zealand. I loved the country and felt very safe here so I decided it would be a good place to come back to study English.

"My agent in Japan recommended FERN English Academy. I wanted to study hospitality as well as English and you can staircase from FERN onto a hospitality course at NZMA so it was perfect."

Ayako started in the pre-intermediate class at FERN just under six months ago and has now progressed to upper-intermediate. Later this month she'll graduate from FERN and begin studying for her National Certificate in Hospitality and Employment Skills Level 3 at NZMA.

"I like studying at FERN. It doesn't feel like studying it's a lot of fun. The teachers are like my friends and I enjoy talking to them and my classmates. Eventually I want to speak English like a native speaker.

"I'll be sad to leave FERN but at the same time I'm really looking forward to starting my six month hospitality certificate. Once I start the course I'll see how much free time I have I might work part-time while I study if I can fit it all in."

Once Ayako has gained her NZQA-approved qualification she'll jet set her way back to Japan and relaunch her career.

"I'd love to stay in New Zealand and study for longer but I really need to get back to Japan. I'm about to turn 25 and the older you get in Japan, the harder it is to get a job.

"I'm missing my airport job a lot so I'm really keen to go back and work there. Working as a member of ground staff has always appealed to me much more than working as a flight attendant...I want to travel, but not while I'm working! Now that my English has improved so much I'd like to try and get a job as ground staff for a foreign airline rather than with Japan Airlines.

"Eventually I'd be interested in getting into teaching. One of my tutors from the airline course has invited me to go back and teach there. That's something I'd love to do in three or four more years after I've gained some more work experience."