Taking An English Course

English (grammarly.com)

Hello!
Well, this post still (somehow) related to my previous post about study abroad. In the end of the post, I said that I want to go to University of Southampton or University of Twente, and of couse they have English Requirements. If I not mistaken, the English Requirements is 6.5 for IELTS. Well, I never take an English Test before, so I don't know about my score. I realize that I must take English Test (IELTS or TOEFL-iBT), so I must improve my English and practice for these test. Because of that, I decide to take an English Course to improve my English skill.

In the beginning, I still hesitate to take or not to take English Course, because I feel it was expensive. But, my Dad told me that if I want take English Course, just take it, don't overthink about the cost. So, I try to find an English Course that suitable for me. I search through the internet, their websites, from ex-student blog, internet forum, etc., and I get two choice, English First (EF) or The British Institute (TBI). Both of them have their own strenght and characteristics. Both of them had been built since more than 30 years, so they got good experiences. They also have their own methods, system, and also use native-speaker. But the difference between them is TBI use British English and EF use American English. So in this point, I must see my objectives: for what I take English Course? Just for improve my English, take an English Test preparation class, or to study abroad? If it was for study abroad, then where? What English Test that I should take later? So based on these questions, I choose TBI. Why?

First, I want to study in U.K., then of course British English will help me a lot more that American English (this is just my opinion, correct me if I'm wrong). Next, I want to take IELTS (maybe on last year or next year), so I think TBI is a good choice, because some of universities in U.K. just approve IELTS score. So then I take TBI.


TBI Bandung
Now about TBI Bandung, place, test, and of course cost. For places, TBI Bandung have three offices: TBI Riau, TBI Dago, and TBI Pasir Kaliki, you can choose on of them. They were several programs, from kids to adult, here are some of their programs:

• Global English (GE), in this course you will learn English in all four skills (reading, writing, listening, speaking). It is have twelve levels from Elementary, Pre-Intermediate, Intermediate, Upper-Intermediate and Advanced.
• Conversation, take this course if you want to improve your conversation skill.
• Business, it is for they who want to improve English in business area.
• International Exam preparation class, this is preparation class for IELTS, TOEFL, and TOEIC.
• etc.,

TBI Riau, Bandung (tbi.co.id)

So, if you choose Global English, then you will take a placement test and interview, it is to determine in what class do you have to start . For placement test, it is forty multiple-choice questions about grammar. For interview, you will be interviewed by TBI teacher, well it is to test your speaking and listening skills. Just prepared for it, and be confident in interview. You can take placement test in weekdays before 14.30 o'clock, and it's free! After placement test, you can get the result, for me, I get intermediate level (that's good for me, same as my prediction :D).

Now about the cost. Well, they were three choices for Global English:

• 25 non-native: 75 native, this will cost you about Rp 3.3 million.
• 50 non-native: 50 native, its cost about Rp 4.2 million
• 100% non-native, well it's cost just about Rp 2 million.

You can ask for monthly installments if you want. For registration, you must pay Rp 250.000, and for the books, you must pay about Rp 225.000. Choose wisely for the cost. :D

About the schedule, they offered you three schedule: 1) Monday and Wednesday; 2) Tuesday and Thursday; 3) Wednesday and Friday. All schedule have three options: 1) 16.00 - 17.30; 2) 17.45 - 19.15; 3) 19.30 - 21.00. They said, if you want a class with university student, you can choose the options 2) or 3), because most of them take one of those options. So it's depends to you.

Well, those informations I got from TBI Riau, maybe they are slightly differences in other branches, just ask them directly for more information.


Note:
Some of my friends or maybe some people said that to improve your English, you can get it by doing such as play video games (I suggest you Role-Playing Games type), watch English movies (without subtitle or use English subtitle), listen and sing English song, read articles, books, magazines in English. Well, these methods are all good, but I think you can't really improve your speaking skills (and maybe confidence), but maybe alternatively, you can do speaking practice with your friends. But for me, I need other methods, so I decide to take an English Course. So, it depends to you, to take or not to take English Course, just see your objectives and be diligent, don't waste your time and money if you can't be serious on it, unless you have unlimited time and money :p.