Life@Kaplan: Learning English and Taekwondo

Job Yuya Ndombasi, 18, from Angola, started learning taekwondo during his studies at our Salisbury school in the UK. He shared a bit about himself and his time in Salisbury - read on to find out about Job's Kaplan experience!

Job told us that he decided to study English in England because, "I plan to go to an English University. England is famous for having one of the best study systems. I hope to study Geo-physical engineering at degree level for at least 4 years. Another 4 years in England will be a great experience but I will miss my family."

"My government in Angola selected Salisbury for me as part of a program. Salisbury was completely new to me. I did do some homework before I came to England to see where I would be and I used the main Kaplan address, which is in London. I only found out I would not be in London when I got in the taxi at Heathrow Airport and the driver went the opposite direction!!! I am glad I am in Salisbury though, as I have already visited London lots since being here and I prefer where I am."

Job is studying intensive English, which means he has 21 hours of classroom study per week.  "The lessons are good," he said, "Sometimes hard, but I need that. There are lots of high expectations because we are learning new things every day."

"Sometimes we have lots of fun doing lessons online and using Mr Bean videos! The teachers are very communicative and they can really understand us even if we say words incorrectly – they are always patient, listening and then correcting us. They can also be really funny too."

While in Salisbury, he decided to try something new and get involved in an activity outside of school.

He chose to take taekwondo lessons because he says, "I am a curious person and have always tried to learn different things. I have learnt languages and musical instruments because of curiosity. I have done many martial arts in Angola and I didn’t want to stop doing them so I joined a local club to keep active and also try a new martial art. I have been going to taekwondo lessons in England three times a week since I arrived in November last year."

"I don’t have any real life heroes I want to be like, however I like the character ‘Hwoarang’ from the fighting computer game ‘Tekken’."

"The men in my family all leant Judo. My grandfather learnt judo in the military as part of his training, without a choice. For the rest of the men in the family, it is a tradition for us to do it, too. It’s part of our life."

If you want to know more about Salisbury or about our students, please let us know in the comments! We'd be happy to answer your questions!