Andy’s Awesome Pines Life

Written by: Saito Yuka (Andy)

Before coming to Pines International Academy, I didn’t know much about the Academy. When I was in Japan, I was having my internship program when my friend introduced this academy. She said I can study with other nationalities.

Actually, there are many Academies in the Philippines you can chose from but PIA caught my attention. There are three reasons why I strongly recommend PIA : First of all are the lesson/classes. Comparing PIA to other academies abroad, like Canada or America, PIA offers 10 hours of classes in a day, so it’s around 200 hours in month. This is with free option classes, either morning classes or night classes. If you try to calculate the hours of studying within three months in PIA, you will have a total of 600 hours, while academies abroad will only give you around 300 hours (this figure is according to some websites). In addition to that, I really like their group class’ style. Each group class is made up of 4 students. In this the teacher can accommodate the students’ needs and give each student a chance to express his or her opinion. By this, become aware of our mistakes because of our group classmates. Some academies have 8 or 10 students in a class, so not every students can have enough time to express himself.

Second, Teacher’s teaching quality is excellent. Why? Because Luzon Island has a good Educational system, especially in Baguio. Therefore teachers are smart and intelligent to teach students. What’s more, teachers are very flexible; and what I mean is they are energetic and funny. I’ve never heard any of them using Tagalog Accent. Lastly, The location. Some people really like beautiful places to visit, like America, Canada or name them all, but Baguio has it all if you want some places for rest and relaxation. You just need an hour or more to go to the beach, to explore a cave or to hike on the mountain. One more thing is that one of The World’s Heritage sites is just 5 hours away from Baguio. Chic coffee shops are also available around the corner.

Baguio has two seasons which are dry and wet. Tropical countries are commonly a habitat of insects because of its weather condition, but Baguio is different. There is no snow but we can feel a cold breeze in the morning and a moderate heat in the afternoon. It’s really comfortable to stay here unlike in any other cities of the Philippines. Wearing long sleeves, long pants and hoodie jacket is a must.

Learning a second language is a challenge because of new atmosphere, lifestyle, culture and many more. However, if you put your heart in everything you do, nothing is impossible. Perseverance is the key to achieving our dreams. Trying is not harmful.