In the previous blog, I wrote that I have been studying in the U.S. currently, thus I would like to write why I started to be interested in English and studying abroad.
Experience
elementary school
First, I would like to briefly introduce my experience and career through elementary school to university.
I was born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, and I studied in a public elementary school near my house.
I do not have much information on English education in elementary school these days, but when I was an elementary school student, English class was just regarded as a special activity. I studied English in ECC JUNIOR for a year, but I had almost no English knowledge when I graduated from elementary school.
Thus, I began studying English after entering JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL, which is the same as a majority of Japanese.
junior high school & high school
I took an examination and studied in an INTEGRATED JUNIOR AND SENIOR SCHOOL, and I mainly learned English grammar in a junior high school with using a textbook “NEW TREASURE”, which embodied a bad English education in Japan.
I thought it was insufficient, thus I reviewed grammar and read dialogue a lot at Kumon, which was rare as a junior high school student.
Also, I could not learn how to speak English at school, thus I used DMM Eikaiwa, which was an ONLINE ENGLISH CONVERSATION CLASS, almost every day FOR ABOUT 3 YEARS between 2nd grade of junior high and 2nd grade of high school.
I would like to write about DMM Eikaiwa in another day, but I learned English with using a textbook in a lesson or just enjoyed a free conversation class with a NON-NATIVE TEACHER, who are Filipino, Serbian and so on.
In DMM, when I was a junior high school student, I used to learn vocabulary and a simple conversation with the textbook “Speak Now”, and I used a material “Daily News”, which is written about a present news from all over the world, reading aloud and having a discussion with an instructor after I became a high school student.
Thanks to the DMM, I was able to regard English not as a subject, but as a language, which made me study English positively and I could improve my English communication skills even though I lived in Japan, which had few opportunities to speak English.
Thus, I could get a GOOD GRADE STABLY during my school life, which is one of the most serious issues for many students in Japan, and English was my most favorite subject (adversely, my Japanese grade was consistently low in my school life).
study abroad in a short period
I was actually studying in NEW ZEALAND for only about two weeks during my summer vacation when I was a third grade in junior high school.
It was a first time for me to go abroad since I started to study English, thus I felt unrest, but it was an EXCELLENT EXPERIENCE.
Specifically, when I stayed in a hotel in the center of Auckland, the elevator did not recognize my key card, thus I explained that situation to the hotel staff. At that time, my English communication skill was much lower than now, but he understood what I said, thus I was very pleased.
However, at the same time, I faced some challenges.
At a school in NZ, I was able to communicate with Asian students such as Korean and Indian, but I could understand what the Kiwi students said only a little, and this event strongly made me hope to IMPROVE MY ENGLISH LEVELS MORE.
university enrollment
However, I had to graduate from high school without go abroad mainly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
My high school has a strong relationship with Waseda University, thus I decided to study in Waseda University by using a recommendation system, but I needed to choose my faculty.
I was in a humanities course, thus I had a variety of choices such as PSE, SOC or EDU, but I chose SILS because I had a desire to learn something in English and STUDY ABROAD again.
University
As I explained above, I entered SILS of Waseda University last spring, but this faculty is very UNIQUE compared to other faculties belonged to Waseda.
First, about 30% OF ALL THE STUDENTS are from other countries, and many of the other 70% Japanese students have lived in other countries or have studied abroad for a long time.
Also, it is required to STUDY IN A UNIVERSITY OVERSEAS for a year (two semesters) during our 4-year curriculum, and I am now just studying in the U.S.
Whether that SILS students are mandatory to study abroad is attractive or not depends on each student, but I thought it was a big merit.
That is because I may not study abroad if it is not a requirement because staying in Japan is much more comfortable than going to other countries.
At the same time, I could make FRIENDS FROM TAIWAN and using English became a daily life because there were a lot of international students in SILS.
Another advantage of SILS is that all the Japanese friends in SILS study abroad, thus it is common to share the information and there is no resistance to study abroad.
To sum up, English became my favorite subject thanks to DMM, which taught me the pleasant feeling of improving English skills, then I could get good grades in English tests and had confidence to some degrees. Thus, I hoped to study abroad during my university life and learn something in English, which resulted in enrolling in SILS, which required us to study abroad.
Destination
Finally, I would like to write why I am to study at Stony Brook University.
As I mentioned, studying abroad is mandatory for me, hence I focused not on going to specific university but on being able to study abroad.
Waseda University is very active in studying abroad, thus it has an exchange program with many universities around the world.
Most of the students in SILS choose their favorite 10 SCHOOLS from the exchange program list, and study at one of their choices (This choice is completely done by the university.).
Thus, it is difficult to study at the most preferable university. In my case, I wanted to study at the University of Washington (Seattle) the best, and Stony Brook University was the THIRD OPTION for me.
Also, HALF OF THE UNIVERSITIES THAT I CHOSE (5 UNIVERSITIES) were located in the U.S., and others were in the U.K., Germany, Sweden and Denmark.
Here, I explain the reason why I chose these countries and these universities.
U.S.
I am now staying in the U.S. and half of the universities that I applied for was universities in the U.S., thus I had a strong desire to come here.
The biggest reason is the U.S. is an ENGLISH NATIVE nation.
Actually, only some countries use English as a native language, such as the U.S., the U.K., Canada, New Zealand and Australia.
From these countries, I chose the U.S. the most because it was the most INFLUENTIAL countries in the world and I could watch a MLB game on weekends, which was my most favorite hoppy.
Thus, I prioritized on studying in the U.S., and I took TOEFL instead of IELTS.
Even though I had a strong desire to go to the U.S., I chose only the five because I was worried about the safety in the U.S. because POSSESSING GUNS WAS LEGAL.
U.K.
The U.K. is also one of the English native countries and ENGLISH IS DERIVED FROM THE U.K., thus I applied for two universities in the U.K.
However, I only chose two because the minimum score of TOEFL was higher than U.S. in many cases and the number of the U.K. programs was smaller than that of the U.S.
Also, students who want to study in the U.K.need to be careful because some universities only accept the score of IELTS.
Germany, Sweden and Denmark
When I applied for the program, I had a strong desire to take a trip many times, thus I chose each one of the university in these three countries.
The reason why I chose GERMANY, SWEDEN AND DENMARK in European countries is that the English levels of these countries are very high.
Furthermore, Sweden and Denmark, which are located in the northern part of Europe, are the SAFE COUNTRIES AND HAVE A HIGH HAPPINESS RATE, thus they were attractive for me.
However, none of these three countries are English native countries.
Thus, I may face language barriers in a daily life such as shopping even if no language problem happens inside the university.
On the other hand, here in the U.S., there is no such a problem if I can speak English.
I had a big goal of improving my English skills, thus as a result, studying in the U.S. is an appropriate option for me.
Thank you very much for reading.
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