Name: Minori Ohgata  

Year: 1996    

 

                                                                                                                          

     My English learning history started when I was 11 years old. A neighbor who was good at English taught me grammar. At that time, I didn't find English interesting. Words and spelling would not come into my head. I was not used to English itself. From the 7th grade on, I went to an English conversation school, where I met the important person who would later have a great influence on me. That was my teacher.

     Not only did this teacher speak English well, but she had a good sense of humor. I respected her, and I do still now. Because she had been a flight attendant before she became a teacher, I really wanted to be one too. Still now, I wish I could be one,  if possible. I learned grammar, pronunciation, American culture and so on. That is, I learned English itself from her. It is not too much to say that she gave me the sense of English.

     When I graduated from junior high school, I had to  graduate also from her school. But still now, we write to each other. She gives me great advice.

     From the 10th grade, I went to another English conversation school for two years. Several great teachers were there. In the first year, my teacher was a young Japanese lady. She made us remember all the sentences in the text book. I did not find it difficult or tough. I enjoyed it so much. Thanks to such an effective lesson, I gained vocabulary and I came to understand the sentence structure naturally. So I was very good at English also in high school. Furthermore, she was our friend rather than our teacher. I learned not only English but also a lot of other things.

     And then, in the second year, I was taught by a native teacher for the first time. He was a little shy, but he was so cute that he was liked by all the students. To my surprise, he was able to speak about 5 languages: English,  German, French and so on. Because he spoke only English in the class, and the text book was a little too difficult for me,  my listening ability was somewhat improved. I had a lot of great teachers. This is why I like English so much. I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

     What I was surprised at the most, in my university class, was that most classmates spoke English much more fluently than I and that most of them had already been abroad.* I have never been abroad and never been somewhere by plane. And what we learn in university is so different from what we learned in high school and junior high school: not only grammar but also speaking and listening skills. At first I was at a loss what and how to study. Most classes were given in English from the very beginning. I had to get used to the fast English of natives as soon as possible. So I decided never to forget LL homework. I think that my listening ability has been much improved compared with that in April. I am so happy when I can understand what they say in movies. I have come to watch more foreign movies. Though, oh course, my listening,  writing, reading skills are still improving, the problem is my speaking ability. Even when I understand what others say in English, I cannot answer or respond immediately. I am mortified. So before I sleep and while doing something, I make it a rule to talk to myself in English. And at university, there are a lot of foreign students. We can talk with them. I think it is so helpful to teach others. And I want to attend  classes with foreign students. That will be fantastic*.

     I have set one goal: I want to obtain an interpreter’s license to be a tourist guide. I am going to enter a special school in Tokyo after graduating from university. It is a long way.

     But I want to speak other languages: French and Chinese. And I also still wish I could be a flight attendant. To tell the truth, I did not have any concrete goals before. I can do my best with my dreams.

            Finally, I want to give some advice to next year's first year students. Time flies. We should set goals as soon as possible and carry them out. But I think that when we are in college, it is the time when we should think of ourselves and our future. And it is the accumulation of small things that leads us to success. For example, never fail to do LL homework, write your Action Log  within the day and so on. And the last one is “Be positive toward everything.”