My home-stay in America
Sakado J.H.S A.Y.
"Hi. Akane. Nice to meet you." my home stay in Amereca started. It was last summer. Since that was my first experience of staying in a foreign country, I was filled with anxiety. I wonderd if I could understand what they said or if I could get along with them.
Ther was no reason for my fears.When I met my host family at the airport, Mother gave me a sunny smile. That smile made me relax and encouraged me to speak out as much English as I could.
My host family consisted of 5 members, Father,Mother, two daughters and one son.I could make friends them soon,especiary Rachel, because she was 11yeras old and I was 14years old. We played many things, such as swimming, running, climbing a tree and so on.
One daay my host family piced up many tomatoes and corn in the yard. they put them into a jar.They intended to keep them for a few months.
At that time, I was very surprised. The children helped their parents very well, although they were just little boys and girls. I also heard that they had their own work for the house. For example, Rachel was in charge of the living room, and her little brother and sister were in carge of the bath-tub.
To my great surprise, they sometimes worked as a baby-sitter. They treateda little baby and took care of him very well.
I thought about, my work in the house,.Of course I clean my own room in Japan, but it is my mother who cleans the living room and bath -tub.I can't imagine woaking as a baby sitter in Japan.
In August, Mother took me to New York. We went to the Statue of Liberty, the history museum and other famous places. She kindly taught me American history and the famous tales for each place. We also went to Philadelphia to enjoy an Indian Dance.
Whenever I enjoyed the sight-seeing at each place, I was asked by many people with a smile."Do you like America?" or" dDo you enjoy it?"or something like that.Of course I answered like this, " I love America. I really enjoy everything here."
I was very happy when I was asked friendly questions and made friends with the unknown people.
The American people seemed to be more friendly than the Japanese. In general, we don't try to speak to unknown people easily. When we do that, we feel shy or impolite in a sence.
I don't know which is betteer, American way of life or Japanese way of life. I found a lot of diffrent things through this home-stay. before I stayed in the United States I had never thought about my country or Japanese people. Living in foreign country gave me a good chance of thinnking about myself.
I want to go to many other foreign countories. I want to learn many things frm all over the world.
Thank you!
国際交流を経験して、一年後スピーチコンテストに出た時の原稿です。このスピーチの元になっているのは、ステイ中にかいた、英文日記。文法的なミスなど、担任の手直しが多少あったようですが、原文と大差なかったと記憶しています。むしろ直した事で、表現が硬くなった部分もあったように思います。
現在は、社会人となりましたが、英語の勉強は続けているようです。よく彼女は‘ラボやっててよかってよ～～’といっています。ネイティヴの先生には、あなたの英語は面白いといわれるとか！！！！！表現力は他の人よりあると、思うけど、とは本人の弁です。 |
