Jumpei Tsuchiya

Four years in Hong Kong

Eight years! I have studied English for eight years. I have been connected to English longer than my handsome nephew, my pet and my girl friend. It is quite a long time, but I do not speak English perfectly, yet. However, I have improved my English little by little by using many ways.

I was 11 when my family moved to Hong Kong because of father’s job. I went to Japanese primary school there. I had an English conversation class in that primary school twice a week. That was my first English class. In the class, I studied how to read and write the alphabet first. Then I learned English little by little. I remember that I really enjoyed learning new English words and English phrases. It was because they were very fresh for me I think. Then, my first English experience was at McDonald’s in Hong Kong. After ordering, clerks always asked me “Stay here or take out?” Of course, I could not understand what they said, so I had trouble ordering at McDonald’s by myself first. However, my friend was kind to tell me what they asked me and how to answer. Then, I was able to order by myself easily. I was happy to do that. Like this, using or touching English in our life is very good training of English. I was interested in English from then.

After entering HS in Japan, I was really lucky to meet good teachers. They are American teachers in the International course in my high school. I took that course and enjoyed learning English very much. They made a lot of good and useful programs for us. For example, there were many speeches, debates, writing a letter to the editor, essay, Research paper and News Presentation. The last one, News Presentation is the one I enjoyed the most. It is a very interesting program. The students are usually put into groups of four. Each group has 15 minutes to present a mini-newscast that covers domestic, international, special interest, sports, and weather-related stories by using computers especially the power point. We created props to assist in our presentations. Of course, all parts are spoken in English. We also made commercials. Our team made a commercial of eyewash. The leading actor was me! I enjoyed this program very much. Through News Presentation, I could learn the importance of teamwork because we must always work together as a team. Also, I could learn about current events for both domestic and international stories and how to make an oral presentation about the news in English. With this great program, I felt delight in learning English. I think it was because these programs were fresh for me, too.

I did not always enjoy studying English in high school because I had to study for the university entrance examination. In that studying, I did not have opportunities to speak English. I read long passages and crammed with a lot of idioms and words. It was a kind of boring for me to learn English in that way, but for this way of learning English, I was able to memorize a lot of vocabulary and read long difficult passages. As a result, I could pass some entrance examinations. However, after entering this university, I had forgotten half of them. I think it was because I studied English without being interested at that time and I did not study with speaking. I found that it is very important to be interested in English when I study English.
Now, I am really lucky to meet a great teacher again in my second year. He gave me fresh and useful ways of learning English. These programs motivate me to learn English very much. I noticed that my best ways of learning English is to have fun in studying English by fresh and interesting programs. Studying without interest gives me nothing. I am really happy to study English very much now.

I want to be a tour conductor in the future. I love traveling and like foreign cultures and people. I want to keep in touch with them. Also, I like to communicate with people, so I want to be a tour conductor. However, this is just a dream, now. For my dream to come true, I want to improve my English with fun, and learn English after getting a job.