Name: Mie Katagiri

Year: 1997

 

 

 

     My English learning history started when I was in fifth grade. I began learning English at a neighbor's house with my friends. We started easy English and it was the first time for me to touch English. At that time English made quite a new impression on me. I felt how fun learning English was.

     Since I started English in my elementary school days, I was excited about learning English in JHS. However in those days, we learned grammatical English mainly, I enjoyed learning English both in JHS and private school.

     As soon as I entered HS and we started English, my English teacher pointed out some words and told us they were really important for entrance examinations of universities. I was so surprised to notice that we were already studing for the exams from the very beginning of HS. I studied grammatical English hard then because I wanted to study English in university and get a job which required ability in English.

     When I was a second-year student, my English teacher changed and the new one had a great effect on me. Until then in English classes, our school had worked using only a textbook, but in second-year we worked on writing many essays. I felt expressing my opinion in English was really interesting. On the other hand, we made much of grammatical English and didn't have much chance to speak English in school.

     After I retired from an active club life, I had to start studying only to pass entrance exams for universities. As for English I would study

grammatical English. But I thought only studying that way would not make me have enough passion for English. That was why I decided to attend English conversation lessons. The American teacher in the class was quite nice and cheerful. Since there were only two students in the class, I had many chances to talk in English. But because it was the first time for me to speak English for such a long time--one and a half hours I got really nervous and I couldn't say what I wanted to say in English easily. But she always tried to understand us. However much I made efforts to advance my ability to speak English, I couldn't improve it so much because I had lessons for less than a year. But anyway these classes made me have a great enthusiasm for English.

     One more thing has made me want to improve my English. This is that I have a pen friend in England and I want to visit her sometime and talk in English easily. I will surely make great efforts to realize this dream.

     At Nanzan, before I took the first OC class, I was really nervous and worried about the class so much, because I thought many returnees would be in the class and many would be good at English. But the fact is that I didn't have to think in such way. At the beginning of the first semester, I couldn't get rid of my tension and stammered and had an inferiority complex. But when I stopped to think I realized that we go to this school to practice and improve our English. If we aren’t making any mistakes in English, we should learn other things. At first, I couldn't speak only English for the whole class but now I can do it, and we can do it.

     I've got many useful ways to improve my English in OC class and could be more positive than before. Writing comments in Action log is one of the good ways. I can give feedback, see how I have improved my English, and get into a good writing routine. Also shadowing always helps me understand more clearly while talking. Videoing is a really splendid way to know how I speak. I can see both my bad points and good ones, and also follow my partner and know what to do to better my English. The books Language Hungry! and the Language Learning Histories also have influenced me. Thanks to these books, I could change my attitude to not only English but also everything; as I said before I became really positive and affirmative. I will always use these smart and marvelous ways in my life.

     I have one more thing to tell. I really appreciate the people around me. They are teachers and friends, especially my OC classmates. They always affect me in a good way and make me full of get-up-and-go. Our teachers  lead us to improve our English. Also as LH says, we are non-natives and so working with classmates is super important. We don't care about making mistakes and somehow we understand even if our English is not so good. Studying with my classmates is good stimulation

     Finally, I would like to give advice to next year's first year students. What I want to say the most is that You Can Do It!  You should have more confidence in yourself. Use many resources around you. You can always learn and improve English. I'm sure you will do fine.