Name: Sayuri Matoba

Year: 1997

 

     My English learning history began when I entered JHS. I had been looking forward to studying English because it was an brand-new subject which we could start in JHS. At first, I learned very simple words such as pen, hat, and boat. I still remember that I answered short sentences when I took the first examination of English. One of them was 'I live in Fukuma', which is my home town. How easy!

     My English teachers in HS were very strict and gave me lots of homework. Sometimes I hated them, but they helped me improve my English and become more language hungry.

     My HS days gave me the most important experience that changed my attitude toward learning English. I went to the USA and China in my second year. When I was in Oregon for a homestay, I had a wonderful time with my host family. Surely I was not used to speaking English all day long and my English was poor, but my host family listened to me carefully. I found there were many differences between America and Japan. What I respected most in America was the people who were kind and friendly. My host family welcomed me as one of their family, and I got another family in Oregon as a result.

     I went to China for school trip. Staying in Shanghai, we visited a school and the students welcomed us very much. Then I made friends with a student and we enjoyed conversation in English. She spoke English very fluently. After that I thought I could become a good English speaker like her even though I was not a native speaker. Now, I still exchange letters with her!

     After I became a third-year student, I had to study harder and harder to pass the entrance examination for university. I read a word book even when I was on the train. The amount of homework and handout increased, which sometimes made me crazy!  But, to tell the truth, I enjoyed learning English although I often complained to my teachers for giving me much homework. When I did not solve grammatical problems, I tried to remember lyrics of my favorite songs. For example, when I did not understand the subjunctive mood, I remembered a lyric, "Without you, even if I had everything I would pass my days in loneliness."

     You may think my L.L.H. sounds fun, but I was very shocked after I came to Nanzan University. On the first day of LL and Oral Communication class, I was too nervous because I had never taken any native teacher's class and my classmates spoke English very fluently. I began to think that I could not keep up with my classmates; furthermore, I became ashamed of my poor English and afraid of making mistakes. I had a negative attitude at that time.

     However, the summer vacation was a turning point to make myself positive. To keep in touch with English during the summer break, I decided to listen to Zip-FM and watch NHK news which broadcasts bilingually every day. At the beginning of August, I could hardly understand various contents of news because interpreters spoke fast and used difficult vocabulary. Medical and economic terms were difficult in particular. But I realized I came to catch contents day by day. As to Zip-FM, I listened to it whenever I was at home. When I went back to my home town, I listened to a certain FM station all day long. The station, for foreign people, broadcasts in English(almost), Chinese, and Korean and so on. It was helpful material for me to improve my listening ability. Additionally, I often sang English songs. Music has helped me learn English. It is good way to have something you like when you study languages. If you like cooking, try to cook with a recipe book written in English. If you are a lover of movies, why don't you see a movie without subtitles?  We have many materials with which we can enjoy studying!

     Now I really enjoy learning English although I often have difficulty in speaking it. I do not care about making mistakes so much as before because I am Japanese and it is quite natural that we make mistakes when we speak foreign languages.