Student Profile

As an international student, English is my second language. These courses have provided me with a chance to keep studying English. Actually this is only one small part of these courses. The most important aspect that I enjoyed is this: through the courses I have gained some knowledge about studying in a university in New Zealand. Furthermore, I got the chance to work with other students in groups for writing, debating and presentations. Having conversations and arguments with other members of my groups was good for improving communication and cooperation skills, which I think are also useful for my future career.

The teaching model here at Waikato University is different from any university in China. These courses serve as an introduction for new international students studying at Waikato University. For instance, ESLA101 told me how to write a reference and how to write a well-organized essay
and ESLA102 and 202 told me how to do successful presentations and offer me a chance to speak English formally and encourage me to speak English in front of an audience of native English students and lecturers. I use these skills and knowledge in every paper of my university study and in particular my media studies courses. ESLA200 and ESLA202 helped me to understand reading materials for papers such as tourism, marketing and media, and they gave me the inspiration that help me to understand questions and theories in other papers. For example, I used the theory from a reading material about public relations to support an assignment for media study, and I then had a much deeper understanding of my assignment.

As I have mentioned before, this course is also very useful to my future job. I am doing Screen and Media study at Waikato University now, and I hope I can have a career working for a TV station in the future. Actually, I am doing a temporary job in a province-owned TV station in China, and working in an English news department. I need to cooperate with other colleagues in the department, and translate some news reports. I do not think the job is very hard because I have gained some experiences of cooperation and academic English from the ESLA courses. So that I have to say, it was a wise choice to do the courses.