Impression of an English Conversation School

Last Saturday, I joined the English conversation school held near my apartment. Although it was the first time for me to go, as a result, I had a good impression , and I decided to go to there next week. Today I'd like to write the situation, what is done, and my feelings.

The number of classes which I participated at was two. One was the beginner class, and another was for middle level speakers. The latter was provided me with by favor of the school staff. However, the middle level class was canceled because all of students were absent because of their inconvenience. So I could have a long talking time with the teacher.

First, I'd like to write people in class. There were 8 persons in the classes. One teacher and 7 students met.

The teacher is, of course, a foreigner. He is from Washington State of US as a missionary. He was very kind due to his vocation but also active and very normal as a contemporary person. He liked sports, especially soccer and baseball, so that talking about them has seemed to run high.

Students varied. 4 men and 3 women joined. Their works were also different from each other. Although I wondered where students in the beginner class had spoken English, they could use English better than I. It was wonderful, and I doubted if I could be in the beginner time or not. I had to make myself sensitive and careful.

In the middle level class, it was started by introducing what students did on last weekend and in the week. Students were allowed to talk about what they liked in turn. While the talk, the teacher asked speakers many things to make them broadened. I admired his lecture skill. He pulled out English sentences and words from students by turns very well. It was also amazing that all of students spoke much frequently! I wondered if this class is for beginners, or not. This was due to the teacher. It seemed too hard that true beginners joined. I really enjoyed talks because other Japanese students used many words which were easily understood by me, and some of them had been forgotten and were remembered at that time. After talking, we practiced listening with a book. This was a trivial lesson. However I thought that I could know tips such as difference between 'meet' and 'see' because the teacher was a native speaker. And finally we had the Bible time.

Actually I was upset because I am not a Cristian and had not heard that such the time existed. It was natural because I was in a church and the teacher was a missionary. So I thought that it was a good opportunity to know the Bible and that I should better study not only English but also the Cristian thought and culture. In the world I could not understand sentences in the bible well, but the missionary explained it very politely so that I felt that it was beautiful and divine.

So I enjoyed the beginner class totally and I decided to participate in it. After the class I had the time to speak with the teacher for a hour instead of the middle level class. I wonder if I can join the upper class because the beginner class has been suitable for me and I has not experienced the level. There is uneasy element, but it must also be a good opportunity to speak English for a long time in Japan.