Learn English in Chicago

The part I liked most was learning about business language, self-promotion and the opportunity to work with native speakers. I also refined my skills with computer software.

My English experience in Chicago is complete. Here I can live in one of the biggest and greatest cities in the world, explore the diversity that only metropolitans can provide without giving up of living the real American culture. The city is home of many historical places and is a vibrant part of the American history. Stafford House allows me to make my English classes much more than lessons inside the classroom - they give me great opportunities to understand and experience the culture while I learn the language.

I am from Thailand. I have spent four months at Stafford house, and all staff is very helpful and generous to help me improve my English skills. I have gone to TOEFL Class and Business English Class. I learned a lot of skills such as reading, writing, speaking, and listening. It helps me to deal with the TOEFL exam but I also learn how I can use those skills that I have learned in everyday life. The business class is very interesting because it has a new interesting topic every week. I have an opportunity to make friends coming from other countries. A teacher is very helpful and always encourages me to speak English in and out classroom. There are a lot of interesting activities going on every week such as a restaurant tour, going to museums around Chicago, watching a movie, special activities, etc. Finally, all the staff and teachers are willing to encourage you to improve your English. I am looking forward to seeing you at Stafford House Chicago,

I’m from Taiwan. I graduated from Business Administration last year. I decided to participate in CPA course because I wanted to learn America business culture and improve my resume with an American work experience with the goal to find a better job when I go back to my country or find a job in China or U.S.

Staying with a host family was the best experience for me. Living with a family helped speed up my learning process, because we talked a lot during dinners.

I chose to participate in Career Preparation Activity because I wanted to improve my resume with an American work experience with the goal to find a better job in Journalism. My favorite experience was the networking events because it was the first time for me that I had the opportunity to work in the field of public relations and events and I'd always wanted to.

Chicago is a great city to live and experience new diverse culture. My English skills improve a lot through the classes that Stafford House provides. Now, I'm in TOEFL class, where we get solid practice in the class every day. I feel that my English is a lot better now than on the first day of class. The teacher provides us with different materials, not only from the textbook but also CNN news, TED, etc., so we learn more than rules from the textbook. We learn to prepare for TOEFL from real world examples and situations. It's a great class!

TOEFL class not just helps you to get a high score in the test, it is also a great opportunity to improve your skills in reading, listening and speaking. The teacher will give you all the tools to recognize all kind of questions that you will see in the test and will give you different techniques which would help you to improve your abilities and make you faster and efficient. 

I didn’t have any knowledge about Project Management so I was really nervous before I studied in this class. But I realized that the teacher and classmates help me a lot. The class was really pleasant and it was not only useful for my career path and daily life but also it was a good chance to work with other international students. I practiced how to present in public places, how to do a project, how to communicate, etc. Moreover, the friendships that I have made with staff, teachers, and other students from Stafford House make them my lovely family in the United States.

As part of the Project Management Program not only did I enjoy the course and the challenges it posed, but the program has significantly increased my knowledge and in turn my confidence. Studying in a multicultural environment has enhanced my communication skills, enriched my life experience, reinforcing my personal growth. Every class, professor and classmate has contributed to my rich education. I am thankful for what Stafford house stands for and I have no hesitation in recommending this course to others considering undertaking it.

The most beneficial part of participating in the Career Preparation Activity was learning how to work abroad and learning English in a different way. This experience will help me be confident when I apply to companies in the future.

I am a college student from Japan. I took a year off from my university to study abroad. I am taking Professional Certificates as regular classes along with CPA elective. I chose CPA to improve my resume and to experience an American workplace. I think it will help me when I look for a job because I wish to work for an international company in the future and it is good to know what American workplace is as well as how a global company works.

Through this working experience at Blackstone Group, I learned a lot. My tasks were not the same everyday. They gave me many different tasks with different people so that I could do wide range of work and interact with many people. I also appreciate their supportive attitudes. They brought me interesting tasks and gave me helpful feedback on my work such as report writing and email to clients. Also when I was in marketing class at intrax someone in the market department shared their marketing plans with me and when I was in project management class I was working with a project team so I could make connections between what I learned in class and what is happening in the actual business world.

I work for a pharmaceutical company in Japan and study in Chicago for several months to improve my English. The reason why I applied CPA program is because I wanted to practice English more with native speakers and to have a working experience in an American company or organization. As I work for the pharmaceutical industry, I looked for a company or organization related to healthcare. Although there were few options, I got a opportunity to work with Imerman Angels fortunately. My ordinary responsibilities were to support management of donation, the list of volunteer contact, and brochure requests from people who are interested in our activities. Coworkers are very kind and they accepted what I wanted to do. I asked them to let me join some social events (Brunch Run/Walk 5K, Sweet Treat Socials, Wings of Hope Gala, and Lunch & Learn). Especially in the events called "Socials" in our organization, I visited some hospitals and talked with some healthcare professionals and many cancer fighters and caregivers. I'm impressed by their mission and activities. These experiences must be helpful to work in the healthcare industry around the world.

I’m Spanish graduated in Business Management and Marketing, with 10 years of professional experience in Sales, Marketing and PR areas. I took the CPA program because I wanted to improve my English in a real professional English environment.

I had the opportunity to work on a variety of dynamic projects, observing numerous aspects of Marketing, PR, and Communication. From preparing presentations for potential investors, researching information about hospitality groups in Chicago and different conferences and workshops around US, updating their partner database thru phone calls, writing articles about actuality issues related with entrepreneurial and law aspects, preparing possible questions for different speakers in workshops, writing a welcome letter to participants upcoming events and taking part in different internal and external meetings. At the same time, I had the possibility of learning about the US professional culture and the differences respect to Europe. But, now, the most important thing to me is all of these things have increased my self self confidence and adds important value to my resume.

Chicago is a diverse city, so I had many chances to communicate with people who have different backgrounds. The knowledges that I got there helps me to be more active in classes at University now.