エクセルシア盛岡中央高校デジタルブック　Vol.20

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　　Hello, everyone. I’m Honoka. I went to Glenunga International High School in Adelaide, Australia for a year. The reasons that I decided to go to Australia were to improve my English and to communicate with other people and getting to know their cultures. I have been thinking that I want to work in a foreign country with the people from various places since I was in junior high school. Spending one year abroad during my high school era gave me valuable opportunities and experiences. I believe these experiences will help me to achieve my goals.　　Before I left Japan, I was really worried weather I can manage classes and assignments in Australia because my English was not that good. I never pushed myself to study hard and I believe. I lacked a proactive attitude toward studying.　　At the beginning of my study abroad, I couldn’t understand English at all. At the homestay, my friendly family talk to me many times, but I was not able to understand what they were saying and needed to ask them again and again. Even if I could understand, I could only answer ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. Of course, it was same at school, I was not able to understand what teachers say. Their assignments were very different from the ones in Japan. I had to write reports, make presentations and vide recordings. I had a very difficult time doing these assignments. 　　At the Glenunga International High School where I was studying, my teachers gave us task sheets which explained what students need to do for their assignments. We had to do our assignments according to the directions written on the task sheets. But I couldn’t understand them and could not even comprehend what my teachers are requesting.　　At that time, I didn’t have many opportunities to speak English. I knew that I should to try harder to speak English, but I didn’t do so because I was feeling very tired in everyday life.　　Around that time, we had a volleyball game in our PE class and the international students team fought against the local Australian student’s team. During this game, the Australian students’ team made fun of us. They threw the ball disorderly and even tried to hit our faces my team. I was really upset to be treated like this and thought that because of our poor English, the people made fun of us. Of course, these people like them are just a small group of students. Other students and teachers were very kind. But this incident made me think that I would prove them wrong.　　At the beginning of my studying abroad program, I didn’t have particular things that I was trying hard because I had my hands full with passing every day in Australia. From the middle of my study abroad though, I started taking actions toward some targets that I set. For example, I talked to my host family and friends, spoke out in class, asked questions to my teachers until I understand, submitted my assignments within the deadline. As a result, I started to see some improvements.　　At the school, I could make good friends, and I had increasing number of opportunities to speak English. My positive attitude made my teachers to evaluate my works better. At the host family, I was able to start replying in sentences. The conversation with family became much smoother.　　From the second semester, I no longer studied in the exchange students’ class, and joined the regular classes with the local students. The assignments were getting more difficult. Until then, I was just trying to submit my homework on time. But I set a new target to get the grade of A+, and spend more time doing assignments. I asked my teachers to check whether my assignments were following the direction given in the task sheets or not. After finishing the assignments, I proof read my English a few times and asked my host family or my teacher to re-check them again. I made sure that my assignments are fulfilled all the requirements before submission. As a result, I received better grades than before, and I finally achieved to obtain the highest grade in the last term.　　After I changed my classes, I made other friends outside of exchange students’ community and I could enjoy talking with someone in English. At The efforts are surelyrewardedHonoka Nakano中野　穂香 Rコース２年 努力は必ず報われるEXCELSIOR vol.2082