SCCIOB’s logo

When I first got in touch with them in early 2011, the people from the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce Institute of Business (SCCIOB) were a bit apprehensive about being featured on Yago.

I can’t really blame them. At that time, Yago was a brand new site with just a few language schools on them.

Two years down the road, we now have courses from 56 language schools in our directory. And hundreds of student reviews. And SCCIOB has decided to join Yago!

The great advantage that SCCIOB’s business Mandarin courses qualify for as much as 70% government subsidy.

Here are a couple of examples of how it could work out:

Example 1: A Complete Beginner taking Conversational Business Mandarin

If you’ve never taken a Mandarin course in your life, you can take up SCCIOB’s Beginner Business Mandarin course.

- For 75 hours of teaching, the normal price is S$ 1498.00.
- After subsidy, you’ll pay only S$ 502.90

Example 2: An advanced Chinese speaker who wants to beef up her Mandarin writing

- For 30 hours of teaching, the normal price is S$ 642.
- After subsidy, you’ll pay only S$ 246.10

You’ll need to be a Singaporean or PR to qualify.

Does this sound like something that would be interesting to you? You can find more information and reviews (including my own) on the main Yago site. Just click the button below!

The official reason is to “align with the strategic direction” of the University. But what’s so strategic about closing down something that is successful that people are lining up for to join? What’s so difficult about at least finding a way to keep the teachers and students together, even if it’s not inside the NUS?

But enough complaining. If you were hoping to join a Korean, Mandarin or English course at NUS Extension, you will have to figure out an alternative now.

Here are the options that I can see. I don’t know everything, please feel free to comment if you have additional information.

NUS Extension Korean: alternatives

There are countless Korean courses in Singapore, but at an advanced level, the offering grows really thin. This is because not many people continue all the way from beginner to beyond intermediate. So in order to have a class of advanced learners, a school needs to be pretty large, and attract the right crowd of learners.

From what I can see, there are two schools that offer courses up to a fairly advanced level.

If you live in the East, check out Daehan Korean. If you live in the West, your best bet is the Singapore Korean International School.

NUS Extension Mandarin: alternatives

Again, there is no lack of Mandarin programmes in Singapore, but it will be hard to replace what NUS Extension is offering. You can browse alternative Mandarin courses here.

NUS Extension English: alternatives

I am not that familiar with NUS Extension’s English program, but I understand it was a full-fledged full time program. Have a look here for alternative full-time English courses in Singapore. As a quality full-time training provider, the British Council probably stands out as the most obvious choice.

But what is the best place for adults improve their English?

In this article, I’ll cover the most common options:

1. Full-time English classes
2. Evening / weekend classes with subsidy
3. Evening / weekend classes without subsidy

1. Full-time English classes

These are classes that run during normal work hours. Often they run from 9am to 1pm or from 2-6pm every weekday. In the remaining time, you’re expected to revise and work on assignments.

Full-time English classes the best way to learn English fast. But before you join, there is a few things to be aware of:

1. Schedule: Obviously you can’t combine this kind of class with a regular day job.
2. Classmates: Most of your classmates will be between 18 and 28 years old. No school will refuse you based on your age. Just ask yourself if you’re “young at heart” enough to be happy in class
3. Price: Because it’s so intensive, this kind of class is relatively expensive. For one month of tuition, expect to pay between S$ 1000 – 2500.

If you’re ok with the above, you can browse our directory on Singapore-based full-time English classes.

2. Evening / weekend English classes with subsidy

The Singapore’s government knows how important English is. So there are lots of English classes for which you can get subsidy. The government will pay 70-90% of the cost.

These classes are for working people, so they have 1-2 lessons per week, and they are held at many locations and timings so that everyone can attend.

To get the subsidy, you need to

1. Be Singapore Citizen or PR to qualify for the subsidy.
2. Take a proficiency test before and after the course.
3. Attend at least 75% of the lessons

Do you meet the criteria? Find out when you can join a subsidized course with SSA Consulting Group or have a look at the website of Singapore’s Workforce Development Agency.

3. Evening weekend English classes without subsidy

If you don’t qualify for the subsidy, fret not.

There are lots of evening courses and at all levels. It’s going to be more expensive than the subsidised courses, but the advantage is that you have more flexibility. You can attend these courses for a shorter time, and choose basically any school that is convenient for you.

Have a look at our directory to find plenty of English classes for adults.

This is what was inside:

4 sets of tickets to the Korean Cooking cultural event – where the school’s cook will show how to make kimchi and Samgyetang (Korean Ginseng Chicken soup).

Here are the details:

• When: Saturday 18th May, 2-4:30pm
• Where: Singapore Korean International School, 71 Bukittinggi Rd (Bukit Timah)
• Price: S$ 10 for KLC students, S$ 15 for the public
• Getting there: I understand that there may be shuttle buses from Newton & Clementi MRT (to be confirmed).

The event is open to the general public! Normal ticket prices are S$ 15 for non-students and S$ 10 for students. The event is sold out!

But you can still get in there for free, because I’m giving away 3 pairs of tickets on Yago! (The last pair is for me and my wife, so maybe we’ll see you there).

Simply enter the draw in the widget below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

We’ll announce the winners on Tuesday 14th May – and I’ll promptly mail the tickets.

See you there?

Without a flair for foreign fluency, you can become tongue-tied, confused and end up deflated. So what hope is there for the not so linguistically gifted to learn a foreign language?
One recommended method is to simply listen to the language, to learn the sentences almost by parrot fashion without questioning why it’s structured that way, how to distinguish between the tenses, or what each individual word means.

People have a tendency to need to understand the meaning or spelling of something before they say it, or to see it in the written form, otherwise they don’t feel that they have learned it correctly. But if they just listen to the phrases and repeat them, they’ll actually find that they pick up the language very quickly.

How can I learn in this way?

Speaking with someone over Skype or similar video conferring software is a great way to get direct conversational practice in a foreign language. A one-to-one class or group learning session can be entirely focused on speaking and listening, with no need to add the traditional reading and writing aspect to the class.

Take advantage of live online language classes with a native speaker in your chosen language. These online lessons are completely customized to suit your needs and abilities. You can just use headphones if you wish but investing in a webcam is recommended to get the most out of your learning experience. Conversing with a native speaking teacher in this way is the best experience you can get.

I’m not confident enough

Don’t analyse things too much. Don’t be afraid to enter into a conversation because you think that your vocabulary isn’t advanced enough; you don’t need to understand every word that’s being said. Just pick out the odd words and phrases and you’ll be able to piece the rest together. This is the perfect way to learn, in real life conversations and by making mistakes which you can learn from.

Once you learn to accept the ‘just listen, don’t question’ rule, you’ll find you relax and stop cluttering your mind with all of the usual worries about learning the language, leaving space for it to actually sink in.

Does it actually work?

I was given this advice myself when I relocated from the UK to Spain. Having had numerous lessons and being able to converse well in class, I still couldn’t manage to hold a proper conversation in a real life situation. After a particularly frustrating incident, I was advised by a friend to ‘just listen, don’t question’ in order to pick up the lingo. And to this day, that’s what I do. And it really does work. I may not understand every word that’s being said to me and I may speak incredibly broken (and I’m sure amusing) Spanish, but I can get by and people always seem to understand what I mean.

Instead of being ridiculed and laughed at for my bad grammar and pronunciation, I’ve always found people to be very helpful and encouraging. So give it a go and see how you get on!

Korean keyboard. Photo by knittymary

If you’ve done a quick Google search, you’ll have noticed that there is no lack of language centres in Singapore offering Korean courses. But the question is: where to go?

I see many discussions in forums and blogs about where to learn Korean in Singapore that are just about “should I choose this school or that school?”.

Of course, there are differences between schools. But it also really depends on what you’re looking for. Here’s a couple of scenarios. Hopefully there’s one that’s helpful for you!

Scenario 1: You’re a beginner Korean learner and want to study part-time (evenings or weekends)

You’re in luck! There are plenty of courses around at a wide variety of schools. For beginner level, there’s not so much need to be overly picky. All the schools I am in contact with employ native Korean teachers.

So in this case, I’d advise you to go with a school that’s convenient for you in terms of location, schedule or price. Besides in the central area, you can find Korean schools as far out of town as Jurong East, Kembangan and Bishan.

You can find pretty much all Korean courses from reputable schools in the Yago Korean directory. Many of them are reviewed, too.

Photo by KFoodAddict

Scenario 2: You’re an advanced learner. Maybe you even took a Korean course in Korea and now want to continue.

That’s a much less desirable position to be in. Things change, but as a general guide, if you’re looking for more advanced Korean classes, stick with schools that specialise in Korean only. SKIS, the Singapore Korean International School, is probably your best bet, or you could give the larger specialized schools, such as Daehan at Kembangan or Sejong at Tanjong Pagar a try.

It’s unfortunate that NUS Extension has closed down it Korean language program. That was one of the most popular programs in Singapore, and the one stretching up to the highest level.

If all else fails (and I know it does for many), you can choose to self study Korean like Shanna from hangukdrama.com. Her blog, by the way,  has great study ideas, posts about motivation and book reviews.

You can also check out this blog post with ideas for learning Korean online.

As a final resort, you can opt to study Korean in Korea. This blog post by Alice (Wonderrrgirl) gives a great overview of the options.

Scenario 3: You want to learn Korean full-time in Singapore

Sorry, you’re out of luck! I see people arrive on the website from time to time using keywords like “learn Korean full-time in Singapore”, but to the best of my knowledge, no one in Singapore is offering such courses.

If you know of any school or person who does organise such courses, please leave a comment, I’d love to get in touch with them and feature them on the site.

If going to Korea is out of the question, the closest you could get to full-time Korean lessons in Singapore is probably by joining a part-time course and getting a tutor to help you for a couple of hours a week more. Then fill the rest of time with self study & language exchange.

So in short

1. For part-time beginners: Lots of courses to choose from
2. For advanced learners: Stick to specialized schools, self study, or go to Korea
3. Learning Korean full-time: As far as I’m aware, there are no options in Singapore. Let me know if you know of any. And if you’re a Korean school / teacher: I do believe there is a serious opportunity for this!

Madrid’s Plaza Mayor. Photo by Marc

Learning a language is difficult at the best of times, but the difficulties start way before the learning process begins. First of all, you need to decide how you want to learn it which, with so many options, is no mean feat. Do you self-teach with the help of textbooks and audiotapes? Do you join an intensive class, an evening class, or get a tutor?

Do you want to learn in the native speaking country or from the comfort of your own home?

No matter what language you are learning, the questions are the same. I recently had the chance to try experience both approaches while learning Spanish.

Time frame and budget obviously have a huge part to play in this but, with so many language learning opportunities abroad, many Spanish learners are heading to Spain and Latin America to immerse themselves first hand in the language and the culture that surrounds it.

So, what are the differences between learning a language in its native country and learning it from home?

Learning a Language in its Native Speaking Country

Last year I landed for a month-long stay in Madrid without knowing a single word of Spanish (bar the obvious ‘hello’, ‘goodbye’, and ‘guapa’). I had two weeks of morning lessons planned but found that the most successful environments for learning Spanish in Spain were shops, restaurants, and out on the street amongst the locals. Madrid is notorious for being particularly harsh to English speakers so, on one level, it was necessary for me to practice at every conceivable opportunity in order to get myself heard. Plus, it’s difficult not to pick up any of the language when you are surrounded by it all day, every day.

Illustration by Zinjixmaggir

My Spanish teacher didn’t speak much English at all, so the lessons were often confusing, especially the first couple in which I don’t think I understood a single word. I left feeling disheartened and frustrated. It got better, though. The daily interaction of speaking with native Spanish speakers was hugely beneficial and it made learning it all the more worthwhile.

Think about it this way. Textbooks, or even lessons in your home country, offer a very robotic way of saying something in another language; usually the most polite way, or a way that would not typically be used by locals. It’s easy to memorise a sentence from a book or by repeating after your teacher, but it’s putting it into practice that’s the difficult (and rewarding) part. What the textbook won’t tell you is all the different responses that your robotic question could conjure up, leaving you flummoxed and unable to engage in an authentic conversation when a response you haven’t yet encountered crops up. The best way to overcome this is to interact with as many native speakers as possible. Of course, you will make mistakes, that’s part of the process. But once you realise that no one is going to laugh at you for trying, your confidence begins to grow and you feel more comfortable speaking to native speakers.

Verdict: Great for full-on immersion. Actively encourages you to practice every day and you pick up localisms and casual words and phrases. You don’t even need to book lessons in the native speaking country, just try and interact with as many locals as possible. I would, however, recommend learning a few words before you go – if not just so you can get directions to the metro station.

Photo by Sarah Ross Photography

Learning Spanish from Home

By this, I don’t mean hiding behind a pile of textbooks on your own in a darkened room. I simply mean learning a language somewhere where it is not natively spoken. When I returned from Madrid, I booked an evening class to continue the learning process. Whilst it’s good to keep up with lessons (or the learning process) once you return, you may have to adapt your techniques and methods slightly to fit in with the new environment. I know I had to.

One of the biggest issues of learning a language from home is motivation. When you are in the native speaking country there is ample opportunity to practice every day, whereas at home, there just isn’t. This means you are going to have to have some serious motivational talks with yourself. If you are determined, this shouldn’t be a problem, but we all find ourselves getting a bit lazy sometimes.

Learning at home doesn’t have to be boring though. Text-books and evening classes aside; there are loads of ways you can enhance the process in your own time. Where taking part in an evening class may feel like being back at school where you might feel yourself rebelling and doing the minimal amount of work possible, learning in a native country surrounds you in the language so it almost feels like a part of everyday life and fun, too.

You can always try and emulate this ‘everyday’ feeling at home by watching films, listening to the radio, and reading books in the language you are learning. Carry on doing the things you enjoy doing, but do them in a different language; I’m a huge travel fan and read a lot of travel blogs, so I have found a community of Spanish travel blogs that I read regularly. It doesn’t seem like such hard work if you enjoy what you’re doing.

Verdict: Definitely do-able, but requires a lot of motivation. Practicing everyday is essential to keep things fresh, so try out a few different methods to see which one fits best into your daily routine. Requires more effort on the learners’ part than learning in a native speaking country, but is certainly not a worse way of doing things.

Remember, there is no set way to learn a language and to begin with you should try a number of different methods to see which ones work best for you. Learning a language should be fun – you should have a passion for it and enjoy immersing yourself in everything surrounding it otherwise you’re going to find it difficult and it will become an unwanted chore.

Which way to go?

There are many reasons to learn a language. If you fall in love with a person whose mother tongue is different from yours, that’s a powerful reason to learn their language.

And there are lots of other reasons why you may want to learn a particular language.

But if you’re wondering which language to learn, things are probably not so clear cut for you.

Quite likely, you’re wondering which language is going to be most helpful for your career.

Can language learning benefit your career?

Most definitely! But you will have to be more savvy about it than just looking for the language with most speakers or the largest economy. There are too many discussions on the Internet on whether it’s best to learn Spanish or Chinese.

It’s all about making a match between you and the language so that you get the maximum benefit out of it.

If you’re passionate about French cuisine, learning French can be a smart move

To know which language is best for you to pick depends on

1. The languages you already speak;
2. Your skills and career;
3. Your dreams for the future.

Economic statistics play into this of course, but let’s forget them for a while, and think about these questions:

Question 1: Which languages do you already speak?

Is your English good enough?

If you’re living in a country where the language of business in English (like Singapore) and your English is not that great yet, my advice is to focus on learning English well first.

That way, you’ll be able to write powerful e-mails and confidently present your views and ideas during meetings. Which will immediately help your career.

Of course, the same goes in countries where another language is spoken. E.g., if you’re working on France, focus on your French first.

Have you learned other languages in the past?

If so, consider to continue your studies. Maybe you have grown frustrated with the language, but that’s what life is going to be like, no matter which language. At least with this language, you’re already half way. To get the real benefit of speaking a language, you must speak it at a high level. If you can’t interact with colleagues, clients and business partners confidently in the language you’re learning, the new language is virtually useless.

Question 2: Your skills and career

Speaking a certain language alone will not offer you any career opportunity. Even to be a teacher or interpreter, which is highly language based, you’ll need other skills before you can be successful.

But different countries have a need for different skill sets. Give you an example: China’s banking sector is developing rapidly. To be able to work in the banking sector, you need to take a Chinese language exam. There are not enough high level people in China with experience in finance. If you are a senior finance professional and open to work in China, learning mandarin may be a smart move for you.

If you’re in a sector that’s rapidly breaking through in Africa, it will make sense to learn French aside from English, since most African countries use either English or French as their first language. If you’re in automotive engineering, perhaps learning German or Japanese can give you a great advantage.

Norwegian landscape by Stephanie Kilgast

Question 3: Your dreams for the future

We all want to be happy and successful, but what that means to either of us can be very different. Would you consider migrating? For some it’s a dream, for others a nightmare. But knowing what your dream is, may help you choose the language.

For example, if you can’t stand the thought of living in Japan, do you really want to learn Japnese? Your knowledge of the language is only going to help your career if you can actually use it.

So if you dream of living in Norway one day, the best career decision can really be to learn Norwegian. No matter how small the language. No matter how few people speak it.

So in short:

When choosing which language to learn, think of

1. The languages you already speak
2. Your skills and industry, and what languages will be useful in it
3. Your goals in life; where you want to go in career and life in general.

Speak English well and be confident in your next business meeting

Are you trying to find out where to learn English in Singapore, for yourself or someone else? In this article, I’ll try to provide a starting point to finding the most suitable courses.

Where is the best place to learn English in Singapore is for you, depends on your situation and what you want to achieve.

Here are a few questions to ask yourself. The answer will tell you where to look first for a suitable course.

Do you have time to learn full-time?

If the person who needs to learn English really knows very little, it’s a good idea to sign up for a full-time English course. That can build a foundation and bring quick progress.

Also, if you are looking for courses for a foreign friend of spouse, it may be useful to know that only full-time courses where you take lessons every day will allow the learner to apply for a student pass.

What is your goal?

If the person who needs to learn English has only a basic level, there is a wide range of part-time English courses available. But it becomes more complicated when you already speak English quite well, but want to learn specific things, such as:

• Presentation skills
• Business English
• Copywriting
• Academic English
• Prepare for the IELTS test

As what you need to learn becomes more specific, it becomes more difficult to find a matching course. Even if you find a course that is called “business English”, you have to ask yourself whether the people in the class have the same level as you.

There are two options I can advise it this is your situation:

1. Go for a large institute such as the British Council. Because they have so many different students, they’re able to offer a wide range of different courses
2. Take up private English lessons with a trusted tutor. It’s expensive, but that way you can really focus on what you want to achieve.

Are you a Singaporean or PR?

Then you should not miss out on highly subsidized courses under the Workplace English and Mathematics program (WSQ) from the WDA. Usually, you only have to pay 10% of the course fee.

This is a very popular program and there are courses all over the island.

How to get started?

1. Call one of the training centres that provide this program (see below);
2. They will schedule a placement test to find out your level.
3. After the result is out, the training will tell you your class schedule.

These are the training centres where the subsidy applies:

SSA Consulting Group: 6842 2282
Kaplan: 6733 1877
Mendaki Sense: 6478 3100
NTUC Learninghub: 6471 2223
Training Vision: 6332 6242

(The links are up to date as of writing, but these things can change fast. If you have any trouble with the links, post a comment and I will check and update the link)

In conclusion…

If you were wondering where to learn English in Singapore, you now know that there are many options, depending on your situation (or the situation of the person who needs to learn English). In this post, I’ve tried to give you a starting point for finding the right course.

Information changes, and maybe I haven’t answered the question you had in mind. If that’s the case, please add a comment and I will try to find the answer to your question and add it to the article.

Best of luck!

Some of you have rightfully pointed out that you’d much rather be able to win a book to learn Korean. After all, most of you are not beginner Mandarin speakers.

The people at Teach Yourself Club agree and have kindly provided a free copy of Teach Yourself Complete Korean (Book + CD).

Would you like to get the book worth S$ 59.95? All you need to do is like our Facebook page. You can also increase your chances by tweeting about the giveaway or following Yago on Twitter.

So enter the giveaway in the widget below! And who knows you’ll be holding the complete Korean language pack in your hands next week!

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