Meet Santiago – Student of General English

Santiago Rodriguez has dreams of working in the hospitality industry one day. Hospitality offers great career opportunities, especially in a country like Australia, which has a large industry with many jobs available and higher wages than many other countries.

But for someone like Santiago, who speaks English as a second language, entering the hospitality industry can be hard.

That’s why Santiago is studying General English at Kangan Institute.

“Kangan is helping me to improve my English skills,” he says. “It will help me to work in many restaurants and get more experience.”

Why Choose Kangan Institute?

“Family influence,” says Santiago, when we asked him why he chose Kangan Institute to further his studies. He adds that, “they recommended Kangan because of its teachers.”

His family heard about Kangan Institute and said that it would be a good place for him to study.

Santiago’s family know about Kangan Institute because it is a large school with an international reputation. For almost 100 years, Kangan Institute has been providing high quality education to its students.

Kangan Institute has received award nominations for being the best large training institution in Victoria. In 2018, it was even named as one of the Top 50 Vocational Colleges in the entire Asia-Pacific region.

Santiago said that his English coach also encouraged him to enrol at Kangan Institute. “My coach studied here,” Santiago says, meaning a trusted recommendation from someone who spoke good English made him want to study at Kangan Institute as well.

Santiago’s coach told him the classroom environment was one of the best things about his time studying.

This is because teachers at Kangan Institute have a focus on the needs of every individual student. These teachers take time to make sure everyone understands and can learn.

What Santiago Loves About Kangan Institute

 “My teacher has really helped me to improve my English skills,” Santiago tells us. “She is very friendly, very kind and she really cares.”

Santiago says that because the teachers take this approach to learning, it creates a very open and friendly place to learn. He says that everyone in his class is kind to each other, and they will all help each other improve their English.

“There’s a lot of people from all parts of the world and you can improve your English skills,” he says. “I enjoy meeting people from different parts of the world, and getting to know about their cultures.”

For Santiago, having a multicultural classroom means that he is improving quicker. He can’t speak his native language to his friends, so they all have to communicate in English to each other.

“I really like Kangan because there are just two people speaking Spanish. I can improve my English skills.”

Santiago isn’t the only student who is studying to become a part of the hospitality industry. His friend Fei Suo also wants to work in hospitality. Santiago and Fei Suo can work towards their dream jobs together.

Luckily for them, improved English isn’t the only thing that Kangan Institute offers.

Build a Career at Kangan Institute

Santiago is already working part-time, which helps him get experience in the hospitality industry. However, because he isn’t from Melbourne, Santiago’s professional network is small, meaning he may not hear about many opportunities for new work or training.

Studying at Kangan Institute gives Santiago access to a massive network, which he can tap into to grow his career.

“It will help me to work in many restaurants and get more experience,” he says.

Kangan Institute has been around for a long time, and has strong links to industry because of it. This means that the experienced and helpful staff at Kangan Institute can help students move on to work or further studies once they have completed their course.

For Santiago, this means that after he improves his IELTS score, Kangan Institute can help him find full-time work through industry partners, or enrol in a Certificate III in Commercial Cookery. This is encouraging Santiago to work hard in class, and improve his English skills.

Santiago thinks that this is a great reason for anyone who wants to build a career to study English at Kangan Institute. Not only does it provide a great classroom environment which makes learning easier, but it also gives students somewhere to move onto after they complete their course.

Santiago’s advice to anyone who wants to improve their English is to, “choose Kangan Institute because there is an excellent environment to improve their English skills.”

Want to apply to study at Kangan Institute? You can browse our ELICOS courses here, call us on 13TAFE, or apply online now.