Name: Nobuhisa Kojima

Year: 1997

 

 

     When I was  a school child my grades were terrible. When I completed elementary school, I worried  whether I could follow the JHS classes. I knew that from JHS we would have English. So I thought that I could do well at least in English because everyone was starting it fresh and new and we were  all at the same level. So I studied eagerly in a juku one month before JHS. When I entered JHS my skills were a little better than the others so I felt good about English. I listened to radio conversation programs every day and improved even more. With the good grades of English, my other grades also went up. So I could enter a college preparatory HS.

     After I entered HS, classes got extremely difficult and hard to follow. My grades fell and I was depressed. But I thought that English was my savior so I studied harder still and my grades went up. I decided to enter Nanzan University about that time. But in the last year of HS I thought my English was not good enough so I spent a great deal of time studying. I also listened to radio English programs. Then I got into Nanzan.

     I was surprised after I entered this university. For the first time I experienced classes taught by foreign teachers. At first I was distressed because I could not understand what they said, but I managed to follow with the help of my classmates. I had the most difficulty in OC classes. The reason is that we were told not to speak Japanese during class. At first, I spoke Japanese, but recently I have been doing my best to speak as much English as I can. But I still have trouble. Until this year, I studied English passively, so I have not communicated In English. I realized anew that English conversation is very difficult and what is difficult is not confined to conversation. Writing is also very difficult.

     During the remaining three years I hope  I can use English more positively. I want to speak English out of classes too. For that purpose, I want to make foreign friends. And I want to be able to communicate with them freely. What I want to achieve before graduation is to obtain English qualifications (pre first grade eiken, TOEFEL, TOEIC, etc.).