Name: Yumiko Okuno                                                                                                   

Year: 1996  

 

     I started to study English when I was 12 years old. At that time I was not good at English, and I did not like it. But I was in LABO, a special class where we sang songs or played dramas in English. And sometimes I could have the opportunity to meet foreign people through LABO. So I am used to listening to English. But the education in JHS was not as I had expected. Teachers taught us grammatical things with wrong pronunciation. I did not feel like studying English then. But my neighbor who had been in America for several years offered to teach me English. She was also a LABO tutor. Thanks to her help, I came to get a high score on the tests. And I came to like English very much. So when I was a junior high school student, I learned English at my neighbor's house not junior high school.      When I entered high school, I did not expect very good English teachers. But my expectation was wrong. There was a very good teacher there. She was an English teacher of my first year. She was a very cheerful woman. She taught us English very kindly, and she tried to use English in class. I was very pleased that she did that. She taught us not just what the text book said. She taught us English that we could use in everyday life. I liked the way she taught us English very much. And in the second year, I was lucky to have a good English teacher again. His English education was higher than that of my first year teacher. He tried to make us use English-English dictionary. His way of teaching English was kind of hard, so I do not think that all of my classmates were satisfied with his class.

     The summer of my third year in high school, I went to the United States to study English. This experience was very helpful for my English study. I had a host family and I stayed at the same house through one year. I went to high school there. At first, I was very confused. Because there were no Japanese students there and everybody spoke English. I could not understand what teachers said. I taped the classes and listened to them at home. I tried to read the same book that my classmates read. I was a senior at the high school, so it seemed very difficult to do the same things as my classmates. But I did not want to give up. I asked for a tutor to help my study of classes. My tutor was a sophomore English teacher. She was very kind and explained everything that I did not understand. I learned many vocabulary. I think that my listening ability improved when I talked to her. My host family helped me a lot, too. My host father and mother worked for a state university. My host father was a silent man but he tried to talk to me. And my host mother liked to talk, so we always talked to each other after dinner.      Sometimes we talked about Japanese history and sometimes American government system. They were too difficult for me, but those conversations helped me a lot. And my host sister was the same age as I and told me a lot of things about school. She also taught me how to drive even though I was forbidden to drive in the United States. When I think about it now, it is like juggling. She taught me how to do it in English, and I answered in English. When I could do it, I said, "I got it, I could do it.”

     After I entered this university, I was kind of surprised. Because I felt the classes were easy. Especially, this class. Maybe it is because I was used to speaking English in every day life. But I am not good at grammatical things, so writing class is not easy for me. In writing class, we practice grammar and use a  TOEFL text. That helps me a lot. I could review what I have done in junior high school and high school. In workshop class, I learned many things. I think it is good to learn something in English. I think it is more efficient to do that. And that class was not like other classes, so I enjoyed a lot studying English and many other things. In LL class, I learned so many vocabulary. It helped me, but it was too much. In class, we listened to English stories, and we watched movies. Our assistant teacher spoke English all the time. I think it is very good for us.

     For the rest of my life in this university, I want to continue English learning. I want to make friends with many foreign exchange students. I could not do it this year. I am planning to go to the United States by myself. I was going to go there this summer, but I changed my mind. I was going to rent a car there. But someone told me that people under 21 cannot rent a car. So I decided to wait till I am 21 years old. And this spring, I am going to go to England with my friends. We are not going by tour. We decide where to go. I know some American English, but I have never heard real British English.

     I would like to suggest many things to next year’s freshmen. I want them to spend a wonderful year here. I am sure that they come here because they want to study English. I want them to know that there is nothing to be afraid of. I want them to study English with a lot of fun. Eibei students may have much more homework than other department students, but if they do what they have to do and more than that, they could get a lot from their efforts. When they study English or other languages, they cannot just sit in front of the desk. They have to go out and find some foreign people and talk to them. I want them to learn language while having fun.