Go Ishizaka
Two years in the US

I would like to talk about my English learning history and my great experiences in high school in the US. First, I would like to tell you the reason why I started studying English. Secondly, I would like to talk about how I developed my English. Thirdly, I would like to share my great experiences in the US with you.

First of all, I did not like English at all when I was in high school. Actually, I was not so interested in studying any subjects. Instead of studying, I was interested in music. Maybe you wonder why such a boy started studying English. The reason why I did it was that I really wanted to go to the US. I especially liked American music, for example, jazz, hip hop, and R&B. I thought it was the best way to live in the U.S and go to school in the U.S. And I thought college or university is better that language school. And I found out that TOEFL score was necessary to get in college in the U.S. So, I started studying mainly for TOEFL. The score that would allow me to enter a US college was too high for me to get at that time. Even though I hated to study English, I made up my mind to dedicate myself to studying it. This is the beginning of my English learning history.

Secondly, I would like to tell you how I developed my poor English. It was really simple. I was thinking about English every time and just studied harder with imagining the future day that I would go to the U.S. I read many passages. The beginning was really hard for me. I could not read even one paragraph because of so many words that I couldn’t understand. I was always carrying my dictionary. I became friends with my dictionary. I practiced reading every day, and gradually my reading got better and faster. Grammar was my favorite one. I paid full attention to the lecture in school. Before I made up my mind to study English, I had not been listening to English lecture in school at all. I had been sleeping the whole time. But once I decided to study English, I changed myself into a good student. I raised my hands every time I found something I did not understand. Maybe my teacher got surprised at my change. I talked with him about English a lot. We could have a good relationship through English. Listening was hardest for me. I still feel it difficult sometimes. I did not like to listen to the English recorded tape. That exercise was kind of boring for me. So, my listening skills were not so developed highly unfortunately. When I think about it, I feel I should have tried more for listening. Although my listening was not good, my grammar and my reading were not bad. I tried TOEFL many times. And finally I made it to get the score 500 which was enough to go to community college. My dream came true!

Thirdly, I would like to share my great learning experiences in the U.S. Even though my dream came true, I was not happy at all at the beginning of living in the US. The life in the US was much harder than I imagined. I was shocked by how little I could understand what my host family said and how difficult it was to tell what I wanted to say. The first three months were really tough. I was negative about talking with someone. But I was gradually getting to understand what they said after three months passed. I listened to English from TV. And I tried to talk to people. One day in school, I was walking in the music building, and I heard some music from a room. I got close to the room and watched inside. They were big jazz band. I was standing there for a moment. And one lady came to me and said to me, “ Come here!” I could play the piano. I asked the leader of the band if I can join the band. He said yes with a smile. I will never forget the words that the lady gave me. And I will never forget his smile too. Meeting the jazz band totally changed my life in the US.
I made many friends in the jazz band. We often got together and played some music. We went to many fun places like beach. I learned English through music and many other fun things with them. This is my English learning history. It is the most important thing for me to enjoy English.