Name: Kyoko Murase 

Year: 1996                        

 

                                                                                                      

     My language learning history begins quite early when compared to other people, when I went to London, England. I was only nine or ten years old, which means that I was in fourth grade. I did not know a word in English, or even the alphabet. As I was only a little kid, I even thought that I was going to learn "London-language". As the headmistress was a broad-minded person, she allowed me to enter the private girl's school called "Stratford House School", even though I could not make out what on earth she was asking me on the interview day. At any rate, I entered the school. I can still remember every single thing that happened on the first day of school. I could not understand a word anybody said, but I was able to catch one word whenever someone said it, which was my first name, Kyoko.

     First, I was taught easy English words by using some pictured book by my form teacher during the assembly time. I was given homework like memorizing some poems, doing some exercises, etc. Second, I had to do some kind of SRA comprehension exercises during Religious education classes. It was an ordeal for me, because everyone was taking a nap. Thirdly, I had an English tutor especially arranged for me by school. I had her twice a week, but painful enough, the lessons were held during my precious lunch break. I can still remember how awful it was for me to stand the boring English lesson while everyone mucked about in the playground.

     Although I had done the things mentioned above, I do not feel they were so useful in learning how to speak English. Day by day, trying to make my friends understand what I meant, using gestures and broken English made me what I am today. I have learnt many vocabulary unconsciously from my friends, TV, radio and teachers, and I had begun to speak using all the vocabulary, with no conjunctions. It took about a year or so until I had reached intermediate level using correct grammar. Although many Japanese friends or even teachers ask me how I had managed to learn to speak English, not being conscious of English as the second language, I say it was the means to live. English was only a tool for me in order to survive at school and outside in town or the city.

     This is why I felt awfully awkward when I first had English lesson in the junior high school after I came back to Japan. I had come back in the second semester of third year in junior high, but what I had to study was to separate all the sentences into bits and divide them into subjects, verbs and objects, etc. Having studied how to understand the story line by skimming and scanning answering comprehension questions in England, examining each sentence and its grammar in the textbook, not taking much importance on the story itself, was absolutely odd for me. But as the time went by, and by the time I had become a high school student, I got used to fiddling with grammar and obsolete words in English. Still I think I learned many idioms and idiomatic phrases by this, which helps me a lot when reading a book. Also, I have to emphasize that what I studied in high school led me to pass the entrance examination of this university.

     However, I was expecting a little bit different things before I came to the university. I thought that we would do debates and also more current English. (For example, watching CNN news, examining the English used in the news, as well as broadening the view of the world by discussing each other's opinions.) In addition, I was mostly, surprised at the strictness of the teachers (especially native foreign language speaking teachers). I had never ever imagined that university students had homework!       Nevertheless, I have not basically changed my ways of language learning since coming to the university, but I had become to see "English" as I used to do when in England. I should think that the thing I find most appreciatively helpful is that there are many opportunities to communicate with native speakers here. It helps me a great deal in order to brush up my rotten memory system.

     In all respects, the area that I want to improve is the amount of advanced-level vocabulary. I would like to be able to use many difficult expressions and to have a perfect command of English.

     I should think that the coming three years will be the most precious time in my life. I believe so because in university, whether we study or not is totally up to the students, and if one requires more knowledge, there are many facilities in the university, which means that this is my first time to challenge myself. It is no more "education" as it was in the high school, but "knowledge" that we need.

     I am now planning to read more English books, and have more access with my old friends in England using e-mail. This would help me to get in touch with the usage of living English expressions. In doing so, I hope that I would be able to get a high score in TOEFL and also to pass the first grade of Eiken. With all these certificates, I hope to be able to make a career out of using English.

     For next year's first year students, I would advise them to experience many things and through them, find the thing that interests them the most. In the first year of the university, students are apt to require a few months to get used to the new life, and being freed from the horrid study for the entrance examination. I would like them to find the joy of studying English in their own unique way for each of their future purposes.