“Practice makes perfect!”

By Reika

“Do you have any questions?” “Does anyone know the answer?” “What do you think?” If you asked these questions during class time in Japan, I know there was a long silence. We’ve never done volunteering during class time. Japanese teaching style is passive, so only teachers talk all the time. That makes students get bored and sometimes makes them sleepy. In my opinion, ACE students get used to be volunteering than other students because Mrs. Brooks strictly taught it to us. If we became silence, she counted four seconds and we had to answer something during the time. We’ve practiced the skill for one year, although we know we need more time to practice. Giving and saying opinions are really hard for us but it’s very important to express our ideas and thoughts. We’re sure we will be good at volunteering in the near future.

“E.O.! English Only!” I heard it so many times after I arrived at MFWI. In M.W.U., we used English only in Mrs. Brooks’ classes: speaking, reading and writing. Other classes like listening, grammar and English literature, we took the class in English but we used Japanese frequently during class time. As a result, speaking only English is a little bit hard for us. I understand why teachers always say to us, “E.O.!” When I was in Australia, I tried to stay in English all the time. Not only speaking English in daily life, but also writing diary, e-mails and chatting, I wrote, typed and talked all in English. That made my English really improve. Through the experience, I know if I make a time to stay in English as much as I can, my English will improve. Although the environment doesn’t change much, I don’t feel I’m in America. This is the hardest point for me to do that. Same classmates and similar classes make me feel like I’m in Japan. The purpose of this program is to improve our English, so I better make effort to stay in English as much as I can.

Active teaching style, volunteering and E.O. are different from Japanese teaching style. We have practiced them for a year, so what we need to do is more practicing! “Practice makes perfect!”