BY JUNKO KANEKO

I have been attending an English conversation school since the autumn of the twelfth grade. At this conversation school about ten students are selected to get a chance to study English in Canada or America during spring break every year. The school pays all the expenses for the students' round-trip fare, tuition and fees for the language school that they go to and for their host families. This year, fortunately, I was selected as one of the students. I stayed at my host family's condominium and attended a language school, ASPECT, in Vancouver.

On February 24th, we took about a 9-hour flight from Narita Airport to Vancouver International Airport. The weather in Vancouver was quite fine, so we could see the view of the city clearly from the airplane. Approaching the city, I was gradually getting worried about living away from my parents for the first time, and even more about staying in a foreign country. At the same time, I was getting excited at imagining having a good time with my host family as if I were an actual member of the family. Also, I was expecting my English to improve being surrounded by English for four weeks. What I imagined, however, was different from what I experienced.

My host family was a couple, Rodger and Susan. They had no children . Rodger is 30 years old and works at a company making commercials and movies, while Susan is 39 years old and is a student at the University of British Columbia. They were very gentle and kind to me. However, they were quite busy at their work and having many things to do at the office and at school. Therefore, I could not have the family atmosphere I imagined. We had supper together only a few times, and I went out with them to see the nearby seaside only once. My first home stay became different from what I expected.

Nevertheless, I do not think that I was unlucky to stay with them. Many people say that a host family is sometimes nice and sometimes disappointing. I think it is natural to feel disappointed when we stay with a host family because the family members and their life styles are not always the same as our expectation. Host families, on the other hand, might also get such a feeling. You may think my opinion is very Japanese in not showing any discontent, but I think it is more meaningful to have such an experience than to complain about a host family and, it is important to know and understand each other well.

During this stay, I attended the language school five times a week and took a grammar class and a speaking class each day. Many students from various countries were there to study English, especially from South Korea and Japan. I made friends with some of them, hung out with them downtown and had meals with them quite often. On some extracurricular activities we went to the famous and picturesque Stanley Park and Queen Elizabeth Park and took a day trip by ferry.

After I had spent a fun time for two weeks, I wondered if my English had improved compared to before I went there. Needless to say, only two-weeks was not enough to improve my English perfectly, but I did not feel satisfied at that time. Even so, those two weeks were actually better than studying English in Japan; I took the classes conducted in English every day and had conversations with my friends in English. As I became accustomed to the classes, however, I did not study after school except for my homework. Since I did not have much time to talk to my host family, I had little chance to have a conversation with native English speakers. A conversation in English with friends who are from Asia is good actually, but it is not enough to improve English because they are not native English speakers either. I am ashamed that I was satisfied with this situation and I neglected to do my best. If I had been more aggressive in studying, this four-week stay would have been more productive.

Moreover, as a matter of course, I realized strongly how poor my English is during this stay. When I had just arrived there, I had to go to my host family's house by myself and I took a wrong bus. As the bus reached the last stop, I asked the driver the way to go home. He spoke so rapidly that I could not understand him. Since I asked him the same thing over and over again, he finally got angry. Anyway, I got off the bus and asked some passersby and they helped me go home. This incident showed me that my English, especially my listening skill, was very low. Also, in every class and in conversations with friends, other weak points of my English came up, such as my lack of vocabulary, very slow speaking and poor knowledge of grammar.

These four weeks in Vancouver passed in an instant. I met a kind host family and made good memories with my friends in the day time and during the extracurricular activities. At the same time, this stay was a good time to consider the lack of my English ability and the important points for studying English from now on. In the near future I will not have a chance to go to a country which has English as its first language, but still I will redouble my efforts to study English and pay attention to what I realized during this short stay in Canada.