NOTICE: This article could be helpful only for those who live in the Sulaymaniyah governorate, the Republic of Iraq.

There are so many decisions I have made throughout my life that I am always proud of making. And indeed, there are also regrets. In this article, I want to mention one of the best of them, and it was enrolling on an English programme at The American University of Iraq, Sulaimani.

The astonishing university has a department called Professional Development Institute that offers several high-quality academic courses continuously. English as a Second Language is one of their courses to learn or improve English language skills with native English speaker teachers. It's a seven-week long course, from Sunday to Thursday.

I decided to enrol on the course on July. It started in late July. After giving a test exam, I was selected for level 7 (B2 - Upper Intermediate). The fee may vary, but by the time I enrolled, I had paid around $700. It comes with free books from Cambridge University.

Key Reasons

To keep it short, I mention the key reasons why I count that enrollment as one of the best decisions of my life:

• AUIS's excellent atmosphere: AUIS is a great place to study, even for short-period PDI programmes such as ESL. It's like no other universities in the town in terms of quality.
• Speaking in English, constantly and daily: Each day I spent in the programme, I was forced to use and speak in English with my American teacher and my colleagues by creating circle groups. It undoubtedly helped me to increase my confidence in my English skills.
• Content quality: We had books from Cambridge University for our level. They had high-quality content with fun and handy activities.
• Native English speaker teachers: It's always lovely for me to talk with foreigners, especially if I have a foreign teacher! He was called Bradley, a tireless American teacher.
• Making friends: And now speaking of the best reason, I have made some great friends during class time. I have learned lots of things from them (not just academic stuff), and hopefully, we tend to strengthen our friendship while the programme has now finished.

Now, can you guess what my grade for the final exam is? 96/100. Two small incorrect choices. Not bad for a challenging examination at a high level.

I cannot wait to enrol on the upcoming programmes for higher levels soon!

One more thing...

Just don't forget to adjust the thermostat on your first day of class. Otherwise, you get sick. :)

Conclusion

I highly recommend enrolling if you really want to improve your English skills with native teachers, study at the best university in the town, and care about content quality.

There is no intention of advertising the programme on writing this article.