Wakasaya Mari
School of International Liberal Studies
English Hour is an event for people who want to practice spoken English. It is held weekly on Wednesday, and anyone in Waseda can attend, regardless of major. People are divided into about 10 groups, with 4-6 people in each group. We can choose between 2 levels: beginner/intermediate or advanced level.
I started to study at the School of International Liberal Studies (SILS) in Waseda University this September. In SILS, people mainly communicate in English. When chatting with other students, I found out my English skills were not good enough to express myself freely.
When I was anxious about my English speaking ability, I got an email from ICC. The email introduced an activity called English Hour. So I went to the first session of English Hour on 5th November, simply hoping to have an extra chance to practice English. For the first session, I chose the beginner/ intermediate level.
I was surprised by the experience. There were 4 people in the group, and all of us were from different departments. As a result, I learnt about life in other departments, which was an unusual experience for me since I had not joined any clubs or circles.
Later, I decided to attend the remaining sessions. I wanted to challenge myself, so I tried the advanced level. I met many people from different majors and countries. It’s really fun to take part in cultural exchange with international students. Though almost none of us regard English as our first language, we try our best to communicate in English. I learnt that people can understand my words as long as I am talking genuinely and carefully. I realized that I had gained confidence from the event. Gradually, I became more confident when speaking English, instead of worrying about the grammar or vocabulary as before.
There is a problem when having people with various cultural backgrounds in one group. That is, we don’t know what to talk about. Fortunately, ICC staff have prepared several tools to encourage conversation. For example, card games and traditional games of varied cultures. Also, Monopoly is provided, and I wanted to have a try in English Hour, but it requires such a long time to finish that I gave up.
photo by author
