My first experience abroad was when I lived in Indiana for about one year when I was only two or three years old. But I only recall those memories from seeing the video, and I could not speak English after coming back to Japan. So when my parents told me and my sister that our family was going to America again, I was very surprised because I hadn't thought about going to America again. That was when I was in third grade in elementary school.
In Japan, I was learning English by attending lessons. I knew basic conversation ? such as greetings ? when I went to America, but when I started elementary school, I couldn't speak and I couldn't understand what people were saying.
After about one year, I understood most of the things that other people were saying, but I didn't have the courage to speak myself. It was because of my shyness and not having a confidence in my pronunciation. However, my posture for learning English did not change until I returned to Japan.
When I first entered Doshisha International, I was surprised to see all the returnee students speaking English with full confidence. They seemed to not care about their skills in English. They used English to joke and to tell people what they wanted to say. I strongly felt that I should have tried harder to learn English when I was living abroad.
My weakest point in English is speaking and communicating. Because of my character, it is very hard for me to talk to people naturally in English. I become tense and cannot calm down when I speak in English. But I love English, and when I watch American movies and dramas I really wish that I could talk in English like that. Even though I have many English classes in Doshisha International, I am not still used to using English. So because this year is the last year for me in Junior high, I want to improve my speaking. Even though I only lived in America for about two years on my second experience abroad, I want to speak English fluently like other returnee students.
In contrast, I love reading and writing in English because I have an interest in literature. My mother told me once that I soon became able to understand English because I read many books in English. So I have continued to read books in English since I came back to Japan. I really hope that I can read and write in English better.
The reason I want to make my English better is because I want to have work that is related to English in my future. I really appreciate that I had a chance to live abroad and had an important experience that few people can have, so I want to give back to the world by using English forever.
Child Research Net would like to thank the Doshisha International Junior/Senior High School and Maya Morishita, student and author, for permitting reproduction of this article on the CRN web site.
