One of the best loved students at BROWNS Brisbane campus is Igor Marin. Despite having only been here for 10 weeks, there isn’t a teacher or student who hasn’t had a positive encounter with Igor. Whether it’s fixing a laptop or correcting a student’s job application letter, Igor is happy to help anyone in any way he can. He only has 2 weeks of study left, unfortunately, but never fear, he isn’t leaving us, because Igor came to Australia with a purpose: to move his beautiful family from Spain to live here in sunny Brisbane permanently. 

Igor’s story started many months ago in the north of Spain. The building industry, having been decimated by the global financial crisis, was faltering. The government wasn’t investing in construction and, as a result, there was little work around for civil engineers like Igor. After discussing the worsening situation with his lovely wife, Christina, they decided to move to Australia to give their 2 gorgeous children, Manuel and Peru (aged 8 & 5) a brighter future. 

“Why Australia?” (read the post "Why should you study English in Australia?") I hear you ask. Well, Igor had always wanted to visit Australia despite being a seasoned traveller. His interest had been piqued by watching TV programs about the land down under and reading hundreds of positive articles about the people and lifestyle. He started talking to everyone he knew who had visited Australia, and soon formed a dream-like vision of what life would be like in sunny Brisbane. Visiting Australia seemed easy, but how could he get to live here permanently? He needed to find a good job in his field that would earn him enough money to support not only himself, but his family as well. 

The answer was IELTS. 

That’s right, good old IELTS. If Igor could score a 7 overall on his test, he could get a Skilled Visa. This would allow him to work as an engineer in Australia and he and his family could become permanent residents. 

To achieve this lofty goal, he needed to study at a school that would provide him with the skills necessary to do battle with the daunting IELTS exam.

His journey of English language discovery started in his IELTS classes on Day 1. The teaching team of Judith and Marlees remodelled his English, taking it from a rusty old Renault riddled with tense and word formation errors, to a gleaming Ferrari of perfect participle clauses and devilishly difficult discourse markers. After 4 weeks of this, he was ready for the final challenge – EAP with the Darth Vader of Academic learning, Master Mark. It was tough, gruelling, horrendously difficult and, at times, tearfully painful, but 8 weeks later he was ready: he booked his IELTS exam for Saturday, the 17th of March……………………. 

7.5 overall!!!!!!!! The cheers could be heard all the way to the Gold Coast. The nicest student at BROWNS had achieved his goal and then some!!! His dreams could come true, his life would never be the same, and he and his family would live happily ever after thanks to the magic of BROWNS and IELTS. 

This is a true story. If you would like your English study dreams to come true, follow Igor’s example and think about IELTS – it could change your life!