Name: Sachie Noguchi 

Year: 1996             

 

                                                                                                                  

     I started learning English as soon as I entered JHS. It wasn't voluntary but I really looked forward to English learning. In JHS I didn't do any special work for English learning; I just did all homework I had been given. As everyday homework I had to turn in my notebook written with English words, phrases, or even sentences. When I did it, I always wrote words pronouncing aloud. I think it helped me a lot to memorize new words all the time.

     I first experienced talking with native speaker when I was in the second year of JHS. An AET came to our school and one day after school my friends suggested to go to her office to speak with her. I followed them with much excitement! But when she asked me a question, I hardly answered her. Words didn't come out of my mouth! I was very shy. From this experience I was very disappointed at myself that I couldn't have said anything even though I had had a chance to talk with a native. I also worried that I might have made her upset because I hadn't answered her.

     After JHS, I decided to go to a HS which was quite famous for its English study and international exchange. At this time the reason why I was studying English was to be an air hostess.

     In the first English class, the teacher was a native speaker. We students had to introduce ourselves in English. The moment when I heard others’ pronunciation, I was really surprised how they had beautiful pronunciation, and so depressed. But I didn't want to get the worst of them, I tried very hard to be able to pronounce well.

     I had some classes with natives, so I tried to listen to them attentively, but I was still shy to speak to them although I wanted to talk with them. Then I decided to go abroad to study English, which had been my wish. I was quite good at English and did well on tests, but when I first met my host family and my teachers at the airport, I was so shocked that I scarcely understood their words!! I thought I wouldn't be able to stay there for one year!  The first few weeks were terrible. I could hardly make myself understood during conversations. I only put several words together to communicate with people.

     By the time I had to go back to Japan, everyone was amazed at my English improvement. I think it was good to have friends at school and to talk a lot. Actually they told me many words I didn't know. Some very helpful friends wrote down words in my notebook or looked them up in my dictionary.

     Also I needed to make myself go and talk to people. I noticed that if I wait, nobody would come and talk to me, so if I wanted to study English and make friends, I had to talk to them.

     Moreover, I learned a lot at home. I guess my host family was patient enough to live with my poor English at first. Through many people's help and my effort I improved and learned a lot in New Zealand. That one year was a really good experience for my language learning.

     After I came back to Japan, I slowly tended to forget English which I learned in New Zealand. So I tried to speak to native teachers at school. But it couldn't help that my English got worse, I could clearly notice it when I rang my NZ family. As time passed, it became harder for me to speak English. I decided to study English very hard and study abroad again.

     I was quite surprised at the English classes in this university. There were two reasons; one was the classes weren't too difficult for me. I thought they would be too difficult to follow. I was relieved with this. But they are not easy and still challenging for me. Another reason was that there were not many classes which students were expected to speak in. I expected that we would have more time to spend on our English speaking. It's almost only in OC class. I think I've learned a lot in OC class. It was helpful writing the Action Log, shadowing, making stories with LL vocabulary and singing songs. Also it was easier to memorize words or phrases with our body.

     In next three years at university, I want to improve my vocabulary, writing and use of rejoinders. I'm really upset with my poor vocabulary. This year I didn't have much time to speak with native speakers, so I hope I can have more time with exchange students next year. I was planning to study abroad while I am in university, but these days I changed my mind. I will study here for all three years and then I might go abroad to study or work. But I don't know yet. I wanted to be an air hostess but after the experience in NZ, I found that there were so many other attractive jobs. So I will find something that suits me in the next three years and I want to study English till I'm satisfied with myself.