国際交流センター

【留学先】  College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University
【学　部】  外国語学部　国際教養コミュニケーション専攻　　　
【期　間】  2022年8月22日～2023年5月16日　　　　　　　　　　　
【氏　名】  E・Yさん（留学時：2～3年生）

My second semester in the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University has started. Last semester, I could adjust to this culture, but I still have many goals that I have to and I want to achieve. This semester’s targets are becoming good at reading, communicating with more other students, and deepening my understanding of the field I am interested in.
This spring semester, I am taking four classes: ESL, Gender and communication, Structure of English for ESL teachers, and Japanese folklore. Gender and Education are my two top interests.
In the gender and communication class, I learn about differences between sex and gender, gender stereotypes, gender influence on communication, and so on. In Japan, I feel we do not have so many opportunities to learn about gender, but the topic is really hot in the world nowadays. I can know more about common sense about gender from this class.
Structure of English for ESL teachers class is about how to teach English grammar to students who are learning English as a second language. That class is the most interesting for me. I am an education course student, so I want to be an English teacher. Even though I already knew about English grammar, there are so many things that I can learn from this class. The vocabulary of grammar is not Japanese, so it is sometimes difficult to match in Japanese and English. I could find that some of the English grammar rules are not so important to English speakers, and most of the time they do not know grammar system labels, for example: present perfect progressive (現在完了進行形). I spent a lot of time to understand it, but most English speakers do not use it a lot, and do not know about grammar systems. I could categorize what is important grammar and not so important grammar. Furthermore, I also can learn about how to teach the grammar of English so that students feel it is interesting. From my experiences, I felt most grammar classes were boring for me, but I did not know about how should I teach grammar in an interesting way to students. So, it is a really good class for me to learn about it.
After this semester started, I joined the Japanese tutors to help Japanese learners, and making the connection with students who will study abroad at Bunkyo Gakuin University next semester. I felt that I can connect with students other than those who are taking Japanese classes naturally, and I am able to participate in a different community from the previous term.
I thought that this year is a good opportunity to go to other states in the U.S. During the winter break, I went to Florida for a week, and during this spring break, I will go to Maine and Boston. It is a wonderful opportunity to explore other places. Before I went to Florida, I was wondering what I would do if I could not understand English due to dialect or the influence of accents. However, I could understand English even in the place that is in the opposite position from Minnesota in the country. I thought certainly it is thanks to studying abroad.
Six months have passed since I came to Minnesota. I feel I have become more open to other people and I could accept different opinions more easily than when I was in Japan. However, this semester, I also have many reading assignments, and still I am not good at it. Therefore, I want to improve my reading in the remaining two and a half months of study abroad in Minnesota.

This picture was taken at Christmas dinner with my roommate.