Student Profile

My name is Amjed Hanna. I graduated from the University of Waikato in 2000 with a Masters degree in Applied Linguistics (Honors) after completing the Postgraduate Diploma in 1999.

Studying at the University of Waikato to complete both my MA in Applied Linguistics and my Postgraduate Diploma was easy to juggle with other life commitments because the times of the lectures and the one-week block courses made it easier to find time for research, study, work (part time) and manage family life.

I gained what I needed from this course, as I needed to study further to be able to find a job in New Zealand, and getting the Masters degree was the key for my future. I found a job at the Language Institute-University of Waikato and then a full time job at the Waikato Institute of Technology, where I teach at present.

Studying the papers for my Masters degree and my Postgraduate Diploma was very helpful to me as some of the study was focused on Second Language Acquisition and teaching practice. These papers and others taught at the Department of Applied Linguistics at the University of Waikato were essential in understanding teaching and methods of teaching.

One of the papers I enjoyed the most was the Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) paper because of the importance of computers in our daily life and the big difference that it makes to teaching and learning.

My lecturers at the University of Waikato have been encouraging me to continue my study to get my PhD in Applied Linguistics and I have been hoping to be able to do that soon. To be able to fulfill that, I needed to complete my Masters degree first and work so I can practice, and understand teaching more. I hope to be able to fulfill my dream of getting my PhD in Applied Linguistics in the near future.

I enjoyed studying at the University at Waikato and the lecturers are very professional and friendly so I would like to take the opportunity to thank them all. I also encourage students to work hard and get both qualifications that the department of General and Applied Linguistics offers as the market is getting more and more competitive and teachers need to be more marketable.

I also encourage students to work hard and get both qualifications that the department of General and Applied Linguistics offers as the market is getting more and more competitive and teachers need to be more marketable.