Name: Mia Nishikawa

Year: 1996

 

     I started learning English in JHS when I was twelve years old. I started learning grammar and as far as I remember, the first sentence that I learned was "This is a pen." And to tell the truth, I hated English, because I didn't understand why the verb was put after the subject and so on. It's funny if I remember those days. My English teacher in those days suggested that we listen to the radio English program each day, and so I tried listening for twenty minutes every morning and started to feel that English was fun! I began to be interested in English classes at school since then.        My English teacher aroused my curiosity of English, too. She had been to England and America many times and told us about both cultures and her experiences there and it interested me very much and made me like English better. One day an ALT (Assistant Language Teacher) from Australia came to my junior high. I was very nervous when I saw him at first, but dared to say "Hello" to him in the hallway. Then, he said back "Hello" to me and asked me "What is your name?" I was really nervous, but I said "My name is Mia Nishikawa." then he said, "My name is James. Nice to meet you!" and held out his hand. I said back "Nice to meet you, too!" and shook hands with a smile. I felt very very happy, because it was actually my first experience to talk with a native speaker in English. Since then, I visited him in a teachers' room every day during his stay at my school and learned spoken English and Australian customs. The more I spoke to him, the more I wanted to know about foreign countries as well as English.

     My high school furthered international exchange and I belonged to an English course. I had chances to talk to students who came from abroad to study and a native speaker (ALT) from Canada and it was one of the most wonderful experiences for me. Just after I entered high school, I joined the ESS (English Speaking Society) club because I wanted to use English as much as possible. The main activity was to prepare and practice for the "High School English Play Festival" that was held every summer. To act was difficult, and furthermore, to act in English was much more difficult for me. At that time I realized that to express my feeling in English was really hard through rehearsals. Although to repeat in rehearsals over and over again was undoubtedly hard, when it was performed, all of the club members cried with great joy. And I thought honestly that it was really good for me to make efforts for a play and to keep learning English.      Through these experiences, I started thinking about going abroad practically. And at last, my dream came true when I a was second-year student! I went to Oregon in America for a home-stay for three weeks and had a very very wonderful time with my host family. Although there were many differences of culture between America and Japan: for example, food, prices, shower, the size of the houses, the way of thinking and so on, everything I saw there was very fresh and interesting for me. As my host family was very nice to me and accepted me as a real member of their family, I could enjoy my life there more. After I experienced American culture and used English practically, I felt the importance of communication deeply. I also found my English lacking and started to want to learn English more strongly. Going to America was the best memory and the most useful experience for me.

     And then I started to want to go to a university to make great efforts in English education. And fortunately here I am and I could meet good classmates and great teachers. As time goes by, and I take lectures, I find that there are many more chances to listen to English and to speak English than in high school. Classes are very very useful and I have started to find out that my ability of listening to and speaking English have improved little by little for a year. I have a very good time especially in OC. I could learn English through many useful materials: for example, self talk, shadowing, singing, juggling, Friday video, positive thinking, E-mail and so on....... All these OC activities were new for me.