Question 1

I didn't really learn English from having lessons. From when I was a child, I could speak both Tagalog and English because my parents spoke to me in both languages. I first started studying Japanese in my university. I enjoyed it, but I was really bad at memorizing.

Question 2

I used to study Japanese as a hobby because I enjoyed traveling to Japan, but now I'm studying it as a necessity because I live here now and no one can help me with understanding Japanese.

Question 3

I used to study Japanese by going to classes. But now I mostly just do self-study, I have many books at home. I think living in Japan really helped me a lot.

Question 4

Nothing really. All the Japanese lessons I took were worth it. But in my old school, from gradsechool to highschool we were taught Spanish and I remember only 5% of it.

Question 5

I think it's because Japan doesn't use English in daily life. I was taught Spanish once a week for 12 years and I can't speak the language at all because we don't regularly speak Spanish in the Philippines, but we do have some Spanish words mixed with Tagalog and those are what I remember.

Question 6

I don't think people will improve speaking a certain language unless it is integrated in their culture and daily life. In the Philippines, movies, tv shows, commercials, print media, almost everything is in English. English is used in congress and in the senate. English is used in business and in school.

Tough Vocabulary

Question 1

I think I must have been in the fourth grade when I had my first English lesson. Prior to that, it was more about forming letters and spelling words. I don't remember my first lesson exactly but I remember enjoying the work. We used to do a lot of reading comphension and creative writing. Of course, long before my first lesson, I was practicing speaking English in my home with my family.

Question 2

In my case, it's a necessity. As an English teacher, especially to those who don't speak English as their first language, it is important for me to understand the language. That's why I'm studying it now. That said, I enjoy studying and I enjoy the English language in general

Question 3

I can't speak to which approaches have helped me the most as I haven't really used any of them myself, except self study. The most effective in my opinion are schools and courses have an established curriculum, focus on four skills learning, and provide the students plenty of opportunities to speak. If that sounds like English-Please!, that's not a coincidence!

Question 4

My worst experience as a teacher was probably with my previous employer, which I won't name here. I enjoyed teaching the students and I learned a great deal about teaching kids while there, for which I am grateful. That said, they didn't have a curriculum to speak of and they didn't provide us with a lot of resources. That made the job so much more difficult than it needed to be.

Question 5

Plainly put, the system is inefficient because it is broken. Schools traditionally have waited until late in the students' school life to introduce them to English. It has been mostly taught by Japanese people in Japanese using outdated methods and textbooks. Also, there isn't enough emphasis placed on speaking, and students don't have a sense that learning English can be fun. All of this is starting to be addressed now but the country has a long way to go yet.

Question 6

Absolutely. See above!

Tough Vocabulary

- English -	- Japanese -
prior to that	それ以前は
I can't speak to	本当に言えない
my previous employer	私の前の雇用者
nothing to speak of	印象的ではない
outdated methods	時代遅れの方法
emphasis	重視
no sense of	感覚がない
a long way to go	長い道のり

Question 1

I feel like my first English lessons were my parents reading to me every night. My first formal English lesson was my first day of elementary school.

Question 2

I would say that it's both. I love to read and learn new words and phrases. It's a necessity because I am an English instructor. The more that I learn, the more my students will learn.

Question 3

I have taught at high schools in the Osaka are for four years and worked in Eikaiwa for four years.

Question 4

I think teaching high school in Japan has been my worse experience, so far. The teachers used mostly Japanese to explain English grammar. There was very little actual English spoken in the classroom.

Question 5

I think that the focus is too much grammar and little conversation. There is also very little opportunity to practice English speaking skills in Japan.

Question 6

I think that the younger generation will have good resources and opportunities to study foreign language in the future. It will be interesting to see how Japan changes following the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Tough Vocabulary

- English -	- Japanese -
necessity	必要性
opportunity	機会
generation	世代