Name: Tomoko Kubota

Year: 1997

 

     I began to learn English when I was a JHS student. For me, it was the first time to touch English. And at that time I knew just "Hello" or "Good-bye", and so on. So I was so nervous to learn English. The first sentence I said in English was "Hello, I am Nancy." When I said it after the teacher I felt ashamed but at the same time I thought English was easy and interesting. So I began to enjoy English class.

     When I was in the third year of JHS, I got a chance to go to America. Luckily I was chosen the representative and I went to Seattle for a week. Of course it was the first time to go abroad and use English. I was so nervous that I could only speak a few words with my host family. But my host father and mother were so kind like real parents and talked to me with easy English. As a member of the family, I went to shopping and cooked with my host mother. Also I went to a stadium to watch a baseball game and we climbed a mountain together. It was so fun and I really enjoyed the homestay. Through this good experience, I learned how difficult it was to express my feelings. For me, this homestay was the real start of learning English. After coming back to Japan, I began to study English by myself not for any examinations but for me. But at

that time I studied only vocabulary or grammar and I did not study speaking English. In HS teachers taught us only grammar. They even used Japanese in English class. I was not satisfied with the classes. So I began to listen to NHK radio English conversation program when I was in the second year of JHS. Every day I listened to the program for fifteen minutes. It was very helpful to improve my listening ability.

     When I was third grade of HS, I found out about Nanzan university. Someone said the university is good for learning English. So I began to study to enter this university and I could pass the examination.

     In the first class I was so surprised because all English classes were conducted entirely in English. Of course it was the first time to attend such classes. So at first I was at a loss but at the same time I was so excited. It is very fun to attend such classes. These classes are what I really wanted! Like this my university life started. In oral classes, I had to talk with my friends in English.

     But at first I felt so ashamed to do that. I was so nervous that I could not speak loudly and smile. And I did not like oral classes. Because I felt my English was the worst in my class. All my classmates seemed to speak English like native speakers. But I was relieved to hear that all classmates had the same feeling as I.

      So I began to make effort to improve my English. I learned a lot of strategies in oral classes. For example, shadowing, summarizing, asking, and so on. I think shadowing is the most helpful. By shadowing, I can concentrate on and understand well what someone is saying. And it is also helpful to set a target every week or every month. For example, " I will speak loudly this week" or "I will smile while talking", and so on.        My classmates are also very helpful. They have strong mind to improve their English and I have same mind with them. So I can learn English naturally with less stress. They are very good models for me. Now I got used to speaking English and enjoy oral classes. Now I am always hungry for English and I begin to speak English with a little confidence.

     In conclusion, I will write some advise to next year's first year students. You can relax and have fun speaking English. You can get more confidence by speaking loudly, talking a lot, asking many times and smiling. Please have a strong mind and confidence to improve your English.