Kosaku Hasayama
I participated in the study abroad program of the University of Shimane and studied at Langara College in Vancouver, Canada, in August 2018. I was simply interested in visiting a foreign country, but my experiences in Canada changed the meaning of studying English. I feel strongly I want to improve English and my desire to share ideas with many people around the world increased.
My life in Canada was all immersed in English for 24/7. I went to school every day to study English all day. All the classes at Langara College were conducted in English. It was very exhausting. At home I talked to my host family in English because it was homestay. I realized that my talking ability of English was low because I often could not express well what I wanted to say. But even so in Canada, I needed to express my ideas. For example, if I do something at home in my way and it is not right in Canada, my action will cause trouble to the host family. So I needed to ask questions and make my requests. I strongly wanted to be able to speak more with host family.
Using gestures was very helpful for my communication. I learned how to use gestures at school. I tried to use gestures to express my opinion in English, and I gradually was able to convey what I meant to others. After coming home, I always tried to put what I learned at school immediately to my conversation to the host mother. My host mother was a bit surprised at my improvement, and she praised me. It seemed that she understood well what I meant. I was happy to tell what I meant and I was touched by the fact that it was easy to convey the things I would like to convey by engaging gestures even in my poor English.
In Canada, I could make new friends, but I could not make friends other than Japanese. Why? It is because I don’t have strong English ability. I thought I had to improve my English ability. If I have more English ability, I could talk more with others. I think that I did not have the courage to talk to foreign people from myself, because I was worried that my English would not be understood. I strongly wanted to learn more English in order to be confident about my English ability.
In the end, I went to Canada and had a wonderful experience. I felt that I had to improve my English ability and I want to talk a lot with foreign people. The study abroad program gave me a new goal to me.
A short distance away from the Korean peninsula is one of the most iconic tourist attractions in Korea. Jeju Island is one of the seven natural wonders of the world, and is renowned for its green open fields and endless blue seas as well it’s “refreshing” powers it bestows on anyone who visits it.