I have studied English for ten years. When I was a kindergartener, I was first interested in English. I liked Disney movie very much and it was my hobby to watch Disney videos with Japanese subtitles in my house. I didn’t understand English at all, but the sound of English was comfortable to me and I liked listening to English conversation. There was also a cassette tape of English conversation for children in my house, so I listened to it like music. I imitated the English atmosphere and spoke the word at random. It was funny to me.

When I was the third grade of elementary school, my family and I went to Guam for a week. This was my first trip abroad and I was impressed by the foreign culture and place. And I was surprised there was such a beautiful place in the world. I couldn’t understand English at all and I wished I could use English. I started studying English in a language cram school when I was a fifth grade student. I didn’t know how to spell even alphabet correctly until then, but to learn another country’s language was very interesting to me. In the school, we played games using English during class. I liked it and I enjoyed studying English very much. I also studied reading, simple conversations, and vocabulary and idioms. I got the foundation of English there. I think that it was very good to prepare me before I started studying English in the JHS. In JHS, the students studied reading, writing and a little listening. The teacher taught us some English songs in the class, for example, The Beatles. I hadn’t known them well until the class. But I came to like them as soon as I heard the songs. The first song we heard was “Yesterday”. It was a sad song but many students loved this song. When listening to an English song, it is easy to memorize the English words and phrases somehow. It was a very useful way to learn English. In addition, I noticed that movies are also useful ways to learn English. I liked watching movie very much but I wasn’t conscious of English and I only watched Japanese subtitles. Listening to English in the movie and understanding it was too difficult for me. But I paid attention to the conversation, and then I could listen to the words that I knew. It was not many words, but I was able to know some new phrases from them. The most important thing in it is that I could study English enjoying it very much.

In HS, I was disappointed in the English classes. We couldn’t study listening and speaking at all and we studied only reading and some grammar. It was a little boring. I was poor at listening and I wanted to make it better. So I often listened to the English conversation program on the radio. It was a nice exercise for me. When I was a second grade student in high school, I went to Switzerland for two weeks as a Girl Scout. I spend time with many foreign girls there. I was not good at speaking English well, but we could become good friends. It was very wonderful experience. By this experience, I wondered how I could speak English better. I wanted to study English more and communicate with foreign people more deeply. So I decided to go to the English department in this university.

When I entered this university, I was looking forward to studying English more deeply. And at first, I was surprised at the classmates. They were very good speakers and active to study English. Their eager attitudes were so impressive and I was very motivated by them. I was glad to study English with them from various views. By attending the conversation class, I noticed my weak points in English. I’m poor at speaking especially, so I thought I wanted to speak English more with people and speak to myself using English in usual life. I think it is important to get used to using English naturally.

Now, I’m a sophomore and the seminar has been decided. The seminar is about international relations and I’m interested in developing countries’ problems, for example, the refugee problem. To learn about it from various aspects, I will read many books not only in Japanese but also in English. I think it’s very good to improve my English reading skill. In addition, I will go on doing self-talking in English. I tend to forget to do it, so I have to care for it and strive to speak English more actively. Honors two class gave me a very good opportunity to rethink about my English study and plan!