Have you ever heard of Baguio City?
I did not even know the name until I came here. I have lived in Baguio for five months in total. My first three months was when I was a student and now my second time living here as a student manager. I have been a student manager for two months now. I am Kento Hirata and I am the current student manager of A&J e-Edu Academy, one of the leading English schools in Baguio City. Before I explain why I keep coming back to Baguio, let me talk about A&J shortly and why do I like coming back here not only as a manager but as a student as well.
A&J e-Edu Academy is actually a small ESL school in Baguio compared to others but this school provides an environment where all students can realistically talk with each other and practice English and not just a mere advertisement. When I was a student, I was able to hang out with Vietnamese and Korean students. Because of this, I had the chance to really practice speaking English. In addition to this, this school provides an environment that promotes studying but still with a touch of a homey feeling for students to somehow cope with stress and feeling homesick. Moreover, it offers courses that target all students’ goals when it comes to studying English. To be honest, as a student, A&J e-Edu is one of the English schools in Baguio that every student should really consider or even choose when they plan to come to Baguio to study English.
Going back as to why I keep coming back to Baguio, to begin with, I have never searched about Baguio before going, so I did not bring any jackets and long pants. My idea of the Philippines was extremely hot and humid. I regretted not bringing them. I did not expect that Baguio was actually cold. When I studied at A&J, I took the IELTS course and I learned how to take the test from great teachers such as teacher Boe. On my first day, I took the placement test in the morning and I got 4.5. I felt really anxious and lost confidence in achieving my target also because one of my friends told me that it will take half a year to get 7.0. But I did what I could for two months without wasting time. I studied vocabularies and wrote a diary. The subjects I was weak at were listening and writing, so I concentrated on these subjects. Nevertheless, I was relatively calmer after taking my monthly test than my test on my first day.
Then, on the second month, my English improved little by little, and I got along with some students. As a result, I spent fulfilling days going out to eat and travel to San Juan. After a couple of months after graduating, I decided to take the test and I was able to get my target score, actually, I surpassed my target and I owe this to my teachers and to A&J. Though I stayed here for short time, it was a wonderful life in Baguio.
Actually, I did not expect to come back to Baguio after graduating. However, I have been staying here since April as a student manager. To be honest, I did not think that I could do multitasking when I heard the job description because I am a forgetful person. Moreover, I did not have an experience leading people. I always follow someone who I respect without my opinion. On the first month, it took a long time to do something that I could not do efficiently. I was not good at writing a formal message. But, on the second month I got used to it. Fortunately, all students were very kind and helped me a lot, particularly Izumi and Jun who are older than me. Although we had different personalities, we got along very well and I had a lot of respect for them, so I could talk to them about everything. Since they gave me many compliments, I thought they were my emotional support. In terms of work, I feel I did better than I expected. This job made me less afraid of speaking in front of people. It was an extremely rewarding job and a good experience for me.