[3D ACADEMY study testimonial] English course for a round-the-world trip and Working Holiday: interview with Rina

It all started because I had a friend who was living in Australia on a working holiday, and I went to visit her in Cairns for two weeks. There I realized that the salary of a full-time employee in Japan was almost the same as what my friend earned working part-time at a Japanese restaurant in Australia.

When I found that out, I strongly felt myself wondering what I had been clinging to all that time. The typical Japanese prejudices, the job benefits, the title of full-time employee... of course that reassures parents, but I asked myself whether that was really what I wanted to do, the path I wanted to follow.

Also, those friends invited me to do a working holiday, so I decided to quit my job and study abroad. My friends had been living with other Japanese people in the same shared house for a long time and they looked truly happy, but I thought that this might not help me reach my goal of learning English, so I felt that I first needed to become independent on my own. That's why, for the working holiday, I chose New Zealand instead of Australia, a place I had always wanted to go to.

At first I was looking for a language school in New Zealand for one or two months, but while researching I discovered the option of studying on Cebu Island. The appeal of studying in Cebu is that you can keep the cost low, you can study intensively, the dorm system creates an environment you can't escape from, and meals are included too!

When I applied through the agency, it turned out that 3D ACADEMY happened to be running a promotion offering six months of free online English conversation while I was still in Japan, so I thought I would use 3D ACADEMY first to prepare my English before going to New Zealand, and I decided to study in Cebu.

One month went by really fast and felt very short! Personally, I think two months would be ideal. In terms of English level, I think about three months would be ideal, but thinking about keeping up my motivation, I felt that three months would be a little long for me.

Also, in my case I was planning to go to a language school in New Zealand for one month as well, so for financial reasons I chose one month this time.

I took the Survival English course! In this course I mainly studied practical conversation in English that is useful for traveling, and the tourist English used for making hotel and restaurant reservations.

The class I remember most is Teacher Daisy's group class, where we practiced pronunciation in depth. She taught us the phonetic symbols and how to move the tongue and mouth in great detail, so I could understand exactly how to produce each sound.

Also, more than half of the teachers stopped me during the conversation in class whenever there was a pronunciation or grammar mistake, and I learned a huge amount from that; I really think that teachers who interrupt the conversation to correct mistakes are very good teachers.

At first I knew very few words, but little by little I came to understand more vocabulary, and so I was able to listen to and understand what the teachers said more fluently. And when that also showed up in everyday chats with my Russian friend, communicating more easily than before, being able to express my own feelings and understand hers too, I truly felt that my English had improved enormously.

On weekdays, after class, my routine was to have dinner and then study on my own for 2 to 3 hours starting at 19:00. And on weekends I went shopping at Ayala Mall with my group classmates or studied in cafes, so I had a great time! At those times I was also often with my Russian classmate, so I think that helped me practice English too.

My goal from now on is to put into practice in New Zealand what I learned here and to keep working hard to improve my English. A working holiday lasts one year and three months at most, so after that everything will depend on timing: I might go back to Japan, I might go to Australia, or I might stay there.

I really think it was worth coming to 3D ACADEMY. I had some very good encounters and felt a strong desire to study English. I had the impression that there were many students with a free-spirited atmosphere, and I also think it was good to be able to be with classmates my own age. I think each person also differs in how aware they are of their goals when they come here, so in the end it all depends on yourself.

And one point I especially recommend is that the food is delicious. I really didn't need to eat out! (laughs) I was also very grateful that dorm cleaning and laundry were included twice a week. Something worth bringing is writing supplies (especially mechanical pencils and refill lead), because getting them there was quite difficult (laughs). Also, the computer was very useful for relaxing in my free time by watching YouTube.

For those who will study abroad from now on, I personally think it would be even better if you already have some foundation in verbs, nouns and adverbs. And, without a doubt, studying on your own is really important. There was also homework, but since I came here, studying on my own stopped feeling like a burden.

What I most want to say is that if you have even a little bit of desire to come, I think you should do it. It's not only about English level: what you gain as an experience is enormous. Coming here, I felt very strongly that everything depends on yourself.

Listening to everything Rina told us, there were so many parts where I nodded thinking "yes, that's true." I think that in Japan there really aren't many opportunities to hear or speak English, but people who like to travel or who have many chances to go abroad often feel the need to learn English.

It happened to me too: when I met a wonderful person like Rina and had the chance to talk with her, I couldn't express my feelings well because I didn't know how to speak English, and that was really frustrating... (laughs) I think that kind of frustration is precisely the biggest driving force for studying English. A working holiday, in particular, has an age limit, so if there is someone who is hesitating over whether to go or not, I would like you to take the plunge decisively without putting it off, just as Rina did.

Also, there really are many students who come to study in Cebu as preparation before going on a working holiday, and in fact I also came here because a friend enthusiastically recommended studying in two countries like this, and I truly feel it was an excellent decision. So, just as Rina's message says, I sincerely believe that "if you have even a little desire to come, you should come without hesitating."