Name: Yoko Morita

Year: 1997

 

 

         When I was in 6th grade, I started to learn English. I did not go to any private school or juku for lessons, but my mother and brother taught me English.

     At first, I started to study the alphabet. I did not know how to write the alphabet and I also did not know that there are two kinds of letters, capital letters and small letters. After my mother taught me how to write the letters, I practiced them. Then, my brother checked and corrected my notebook. He also taught me easy vocabulary.

         After I entered JHS, I had English class. Most of the classmates had not studied English at all. I was very happy because I could write some English words even though most of the classmates could not write them. I could get good score on English tests, and English was one of my favorite subjects. But after I entered HS, it was changed.

     The HS that I entered was a prep school, so the classes were for the exams to enter university. They were very boring, especially grammar class. The teacher just explained as the textbook said, and we did exercises in the textbook. On the other hand, reading class was very hard because we had to prepare a lot. We had to translate all of the sentences in the textbook. There was only one teacher who was a native English speaker. He came to our class about twice a year. He told us a story in English, but it was very boring because I could not understand what he said. If I could not understand his stories, it did not matter because our Japanese teacher explained what he said in Japanese after his story was finished. Even though the American teacher was in our class, we could not have a chance to talk to him in English.

         When I was in 11th grade, I had a chance to go to America because of my father’s business. At first, I did not want to go to America because I could not speak English well, and I could not imagine the life in America, but I came to think that it is a very good chance to study English and experience American school life , so I decided to go to America with my parents. I was really worried about my school life, but I was also looking forward to having a wonderful time in America.

     On the first day that I went to HS, I met my dean and ESL(English As A Second Language) teacher. The ESL teacher asked me a few questions, then she decided what level I should be in. She told me to join a class of the highest level. I was very surprised because I was thinking that I would be in a class of the lowest level, so I thought ESL is a class only for the students who can not speak English well like me, but it was not true. All of the classmates could speak English very well. I could not believe that I was in ESL class, and I could not understand why the teacher told me to join this class. I was very nervous, so I wanted to get out of the class.

     My uneasiness was not just about ESL. I was very worried about most of the classes that I took. In science, there were many special vocabularies that we do not use in our daily lives, so when I read the textbook, I had to look them up my dictionary many times. Social studies was the hardest subject for me. I had to read 10 to 15 pages in every day, and I sometimes had to write essays and give presenta-tions in front of the classmates. This experience affected my future very much. It made me like and study English. By reading many stories, writing essay, and listening to the classes, I am sure that my English abilities were improved, so now I am thinking that it was a really good experience for me.

         After I entered Nanzan University, I was very surprised that the classmates could speak English very well even though most of them have not been abroad. I was ashamed of my English, so at first, I did not want to speak English. It was very strange to talk with classmates in English, but I came to feel comfortable to talk in English. I learned a lot of things in Oral Communication class. I learned to do shadowing, summarizing, and not to be afraid of making mistakes. To do shadowing and summarizing help me to understand English. These are very useful for me to study English.

        Now, I have a dream of my future that I want to work at an airport. At an airport, I can have contact with many foreign people and help them. I am sure that I will be able to use my English skills for the job. In the next three years, I want to improve my English more to accomplish my dream.