Hi everyone,
My name is Ismael, I am another Colombian trying to learn English in Australia and succeeding in a foreign country, and guess what? It is possible! I am doing pretty well thanks to Langports, that gave me the opportunity to keep me on the right track.
My story began when I finished my bachelor degree in Colombia in 2011. I studied sport science and recreation and I wanted to study a Master’s degree in sport psychology abroad, so I did a quite intensively research and luckily, I found a potential program in Europe.
However, the program naturally had a bunch of requirements in order to be admitted, which means that is not going to be easy to get. One of the requirements was to have an academic IELTS score of 6.5 as minimum. At that time I was not even close to have this level of English. I made the decision to go to Australia and study English to reach my IELTS score.
My agency helped me to find the best suitable language college for me and the name of Langports came up, the best English college in Brisbane from my point of view! I studied during 8 months jumping from one course to another one, as they have a great variety of options depending on your goals or interests. I wish I would have had enough time to take all the courses that they have.
As it was essential to improve my general and academic skills, I was advised since the very beginning which courses were useful for me. I also did an evaluation to find out my weaknesses and strengths. To start with, I chose the UFO English program then Cambridge courses, IELTS course, and more.
In addition to the IELTS test, I needed to deliver a master thesis proposal. I was really scared about it because it is not easy to write in an academic style, in a language that you barely know. Consequently, I took a course called English for Academic Purposes that helped me out to put all my ideas together in an academic way and prepared myself for the IELTS test.
And after all that hard work, it finally paid off! I’ve got accepted at the European Erasmus programme and granted with an exceptional scholarship. I am so grateful with the excellent teachers and their methodology of teaching at Langports.
Moreover, not everything was about sitting in the classroom and learning English. Langports has a variety of activities every day in which you are able to practice your new words, socialise with other students and other language oriented activities. The best part of this experience is that you can genuinely bond with students from all around the world.
To sum up, Langports assisted me not only in my main goal, which was to obtain the scholarship, but also helped me out to gain confidence with the language and it made my Australian life easier. One day before my graduation at Langports I got a job in a Gold Class cinema and I was able to change my job for a better one, in which I’ve been improving my English skills on a daily basis.
It’s been definitely an amazing experience the whole year and a half, now I’ve got just a few more days before my new journey in Europe starts. I recommend everyone coming to down under and discover this beautiful country while you are learning English, working and having fun. Nothing is impossible if you keep dreaming and working on it!!!