13 ideas on how to prepare for your English language course in New Zealand

Regardless of whether you would like to hone your Business English English language skills over the course of a week or participate in a two month intensive group course, here are some ideas* on how to spend the time before, during and after your study holiday New Zealand to ensure that you have a successful and entertaining English language experience.

Ideas on preparing for your English language course New Zealand

1. Target your English language course: decide what you want to learn and need to practice during your stay in New Zealand.
   Which English language level you want to reach?
    
2. If you are a complete beginner, plan an intensive English language course of at least 3 weeks. From experience, 4 weeks is optimal because time you spend totally immersed in everyday life and the English language is a very important success factor.
    
3. Choose a English language school that...
   • best meets your learning goals. Make sure that as well as taking intensive classes, you have the chance to take additional, more flexible individual lessons and to participate in leisure time activities where you can experience using your English language in practice.
   • focuses on either adults or children. In our experience, adolescent learners and adults learners have totally different needs and interests
   • has a broad mix of nationalities, so that you are not continuously confronted by your own English language. This usually means choosing a school attracting individual English language travelers, not large groups from one country.
   • offers small group sizes: 8 as maximum, smaller if possible. This is necessary to have an adequate opportunity to interact during lessons. Despite the higher cost per lesson, these courses usually have a better price-performance ratio.
   • offers a complete English language programme throughout the year.
   • offers the opportunity to live as a single guest with locals.
   • guarantees accommodation in the town centre. Otherwise spontaneous leisure activities together with other students become difficult or you will waste too much time getting from one place to another.
   • presents all the information you need on the Internet. Avoid booking through English language tour operators or agents who do not tell you the address or details of the school and the courses in advance.
      
4. Before making your mind up, investigate the opinions and experiences of former students. This is the best way to find out if the school and the setting will meet your expectations.
   If you are looking for a small and/or new school you won't find it through the big global agencies, and these are the very schools where individual care and close contact to the local culture and people are offered.
    
5. Sketch out your daily schedule in English in order to decide the best number of lessons for you. Take into account the time spent practising your English informally with other students or on the street. Don't forget to allow 2-3 hours to do homework, revise what you learned in class and organize your notes.
    
6. Get accustomed to the foreign English language: Try to spend some time every day or week listening to English.
    
7. Bring with you ...
   • a small English bilingual dictionary or a good electronic dictionary
   • a good monolingual English learners' dictionary with at least 70.000 words for homework.
   • a Walkman to listen to cassettes and CDs a radio
      
8. Brush up your linguistic knowledge:
   • Do some revision from any other English courses you have taken.
   • Read in the foreign English language...
     • magazines or newspapers
     • one of your favourite books
     • English language learning magazines
     • something online regarding your interests (e.g. see column on the right hand side)
   • or participate in a online chat
      
9. If you are a complete beginner it is a good idea to have a few lessons before leaving for your English language course - either with a textbook or a English language learning CD. You will find our suggestions in the category 
    
10. Look forward to discovering a new culture and meeting people from different countries. Subscribe for a newsletter of your preferred English language school.
     
11. Learn some facts and figures about your own country, city, and culture - other students will be interested to hear about it.
     
12. Make use of e-learning offers as an introduction to your study New Zealand programme. .
     
13. Last but not least: make sure you are well-informed about the weather at your destination, so that you don`t have to bemoan the fact that your favourite winter coat or your swim things are sitting happily at home when you could really use them here.