NICE Experience

Written by Kim Byeong Chan

My name is Ken. I am a 27-year old Korean, but I was an ESL zero six months ago. I came to the Philippines in January 2019 to study English. I want to study it because I like traveling to many different countries. I think it is very important because it is mostly the language used around the world. Whenever I travel to Europe or other countries that use English, I feel uncomfortable since I can’t communicate and understand the language. There was a time when my family and I went to Guam for a short vacation. I was surprised when I saw my brother communicating in English with the locals. I was impressed. I thought, “What if I was good in English, too?” Sometimes, I regret the fact that I refused to study English in another country when I was a kid. All I wanted was to play and stay in Korea. However, my younger brother studied the language in the Philippines for six months, and he became better at it. I envied him, so I decided to study in the same institution where he went called NICE Academy.

In the first week of February, I flew to the Philippines and lodged in a homestay with other Korean students who also wanted to study English. I was surprised. The house was quite big. There was even a swimming pool. The next day, I went to NICE Academy. There were so many students from different ages. I was asked to take a test. I was so nervous because the test was difficult, and some teachers asked me some things which I couldn’t understand. Instead of answering them with English words, I answered them with a smile. After the test, the teacher checked it, but I felt sad because my level turned out to be for beginners. I studied for 8 hours that day. After that, I came home with tired eyes and a tired brain. I couldn’t even sleep well that night because I couldn’t adapt to the weather in the Philippines.

The next day, I went to the academy again for eight hours and studied with the same teachers. It was the season of winter camp, so there were many students, but they were mostly kids. I studied one-on-one classes in the morning, and I attended a group class in the afternoon. There was a time when my group mates, aged around 10-14 years old, kept on fighting and making disturbing noises. I felt like I was not in the most appropriate place that I had to be. I thought to myself, “This is stressful.” I was so disturbed due to the loud noises that the kids made and the different kinds of behavior - which were mostly bad - that the students show.

On my second month, the winter camp was finally finished. I was so happy because I could finally focus on my study. I quickly finished the books and luckily passed the level test. I found it fun to study English at NICE Academy. Studying English in the Philippines is very different from studying in Korea. In most Korean academies, the teachers just let the students memorize some words or sentences. Sometimes, I don’t understand why it’s happening, but at NICE Academy, it is totally different. The academy is very systematic. For example, I take a level test every time I finish a book. I cannot even proceed to the next level without passing it. If I fail on the first take, I need to retake it, but there are only three given chances. If I fail on the third take, then I have to repeat the same book. This never happens in academies in Korea. I like NICE Academy because it’s very different from other academies I have attended.

During the third month, I noticed my improvement because I could understand and speak English somehow. My schedule was always eight hours. My life became monotonous. Everything was the same. As a result, I felt a little bored and homesick. In a few weeks, new university students namely Sam, Kay, Celine and Ted became my friends. They gave colorful memories during my stay in the Philippines. We all became very close. We dined together, studied in the same group, and played during the weekends. As a result, I was less homesick than before. I started to talk more with the teachers since I was improving. My vocabularies improved a lot, and I successfully started to construct correct sentences. I have realized that studying a language is not only about learning grammar, listening, speaking, vocabulary and reading. It’s about learning everything. I learned that I needed to talk to some foreign teachers about life, travel, people, and culture. It’s the best application of what I have studied, and I’ve found it very effective. In studying, socializing is very important.

A phone call from a friend disturbed my thoughts one day when he told me that most of our friends already got a job while I was here in the Philippines studying English. At first, I thought that my choice was wrong, so I was worried. Now, I don’t have any regrets coming here whenever I imagine my zero-English self. Now, I like English, and I am not afraid anymore. I thought coming here would be a liability since most of my friends got hired already. I might not have had a new job yet, but I gained confidence, new friends, a new language, new culture and a new me.