Name: Shoko Okumura                                                                                                                          

Year: 1996

 

     My English learning history just started when I entered junior high school as a twelve-year-old. In my junior high school,  English teachers spoke Japanese almost all the time during the class. Of course, we, students, seldom spoke English, too. We copied the textbooks in our note books,  and then translated them into Japanese,  and listened to English cassettes. Actually, the most effective way of studying for the test was learning all the pages in the textbook by heart. Maybe I was a good student who had got good marks on the regular tests, but I was not interested in anything except the textbook. When I was in high school,  we had two types of English class: reading and writing (grammatical composition).

     One of my reading teachers had a great influence on me. Though we could hear his English only when he read the textbook in class, it was better than my junior high school days. Besides, he prepared the cassettes in which English news were recorded before every class and made us listen to them. At first, I couldn't understand them at all, however, I had gotten to hear them gradually. He also suggested to watch English TV like Sesame Street. I like this program very much and I think these are very useful for us to make progress in our listening ability. Since then, I came to find it fun to study spoken language.      

    However, I had never had an English speaking class like this. So when I decided to enter this university, I was worrying about my English ability very much. It was my first time to have native English teachers. To tell the truth, I was very surprised to hear that we would have such classes three days a week. In the beginning of April, I felt nervous,  because the other students could speak English fluently, and many of them had overseas experience.

     And I was also confused by a lot of unexpected homework. Sometimes, I was a little tired of them,  but when I could find my English improving little by little, I got to want to study English much harder. In class, we learned a lot of helpful ideas in language learning. I especially liked shadowing and summarizing. They are very useful. All year, I tried to have conversations with my classmates putting mainly these ideas in my mind.

     I think Friday's video is a good idea,  too. I liked Friday,  because I could speak with many friends. And then,  exchanging our videos and watching the other students' videos helped me to learn useful expressions and words. By the end of a year, I could relax even in front of the video camera!

     Also, we were often given telephone homework. At first, I hesitated a little bit to speak English about trifling things with my best friends or parents. Now it's normal. However, sometimes I have a difficulty in explaining about what I want to tell. I think it is because of my poor vocabulary and expressions. This is what I want to improve. (Of course, I should improve lots of things. And I am going to try to do so.) I always try to do self talk whenever it is possible. I found that it helps my English learning greatly and it's fun.          By the way, I am going to take the test of TOEFL this March. I will try to study hard to get good marks(550 score). This is my spring goal. I think that I would never be able to study hard without making a clear goal. So I decided to take the test just in the middle of the vacation. Now, I am planning to study abroad as an exchange student in my third year. I would like to go to the United States of America. I have never been there, but I like America, American culture and of course, English. In my junior or senior high school days, I had never thought of studying abroad. Probably I have been influenced by people around me: native teachers, friends who lived in America and foreign students. I want to learn not only English as a language but also about wonderful things in America. That is why I want to go to America.

     To be able to be an exchange student,  I have to take TOEFL many times and get good marks.

     Finally, I would like to give advice to next year's freshmen, those like me who have no experience in a foreign country or have never had an OC class. I think the most important thing in language learning is positive thinking. In fact, I had a little negative idea in my mind in April: “I cannot speak English better than any other student in my class, I cannot afford to do so much homework,” and so on. However, the book Language Hungry and juggling made me change my mind. Juggling is really a fantastic thing which teaches us very important things. At first, I could not juggle even twice, and at that time, I could not understand why my teacher made us do such a thing. But I practiced harder, I could get to do twice, three times, and at last, fifteen! I was really glad to be said, "You did it!", and I learned that I can do anything if I continue trying. I think it applies to not only Juggling, but also all the things, of course, language learning, too. I will never forget what I learned by Juggling.

     Also, my teacher often told us to make some mistakes.  Mistakes help us improve in English. This idea always makes me relax in a conversation. Recently, I found that when I feel at home, I can reduce my mistakes unconsciously. So relax and have fun!       

    Anyway, I suggest to believe in our possibility and do as the other teachers say. I really had very good time with my lovely mates in OC class!