Ching Hsiao-Wen

Initially planning just a holiday in New Zealand, Ching Hsiao-Wen decided to extend her New Zealand experience to include some English Language studies. For this, she enrolled at the International School of English Language. “I joined the Cambridge Preliminary English Test course for 10 weeks. When I arrived I felt interested and excited because this was my first time to study overseas. I did enjoy the school life, made lots of friends, and the natural environment in New Zealand is splendid.”

With this positive experience, it is not surprising that Hsiao-Wen decided to return to New Zealand and continue her international education. “After finishing the P.E.T course, I went back to Taipei to continue my job. I also thought whether I should study English more, or take some other courses at Polytechnic. I make up my mind quickly.

The reason why I chose to do further study was that I liked Christchurch, where it is spectacular and a nice place to study since it was a quiet city. The tuition fees and the cost of living were not very high - compared with the U.S.A. In addition, the course I wanted to take was not long (only one year). ”

After that I left my job, and came back to ISEL to take another 2 courses in order to get the required IELTS points for the Human Resource Management course.

Finally, I got the required score and realized that during this course I would be in a “real world”. When I got the timetable, I got nervous because I realised that it would be a big challenge to complete the course.

When I started the course, I felt like I was in hot water because the Kiwi accent of my tutors and peers was difficult for me. I still remember that I felt asleep at the first lesson. and I can’t remember how many times I was lost during group work. Fortunately, I got help from teachers, friends and classmates; without them I wouldn’t have got through it.”