Homestay in Canada

By Akiko SOGABE

On August 19th, we, 37 students and two teachers, went to Edmonton to learn English. We each stayed with a host family.

The good points of staying with a host family are that it is good for our conversational English and we can learn another culture. We had to communicate with each host family, so we had to speak in English. My host family had two small children, and they asked me to read an English book! My host mother always asked me about Japanese culture. But I was not sure about Japanese culture, so you should learn Japanese culture before you go on a home stay. Also, my host mother told me about her country’s culture. She is from Brazil, so I ate some Brazilian food. About one week after I arrived at Edmonton, one student from Mexico came to stay with my host family. She also had a different culture, and she told me about it. Her religion, Mexican food, party, school, etc… There are many differences between Mexico and Japan, and it made me confused. Do you know Mexican candy? It is sour!

The bad point of staying with a host family is that I was not be able to do my homework, because my host family wanted to communicate with me, so when I was doing my homework, they interrupted me. So I had to do my homework in a very short time.

In conclusion, there are many good points of staying with host family and some bad points. They depend on each person, but all I want to say is “Enjoy your home staying!”

My Canadian Life

by Takahiro ICHINO

First, I would like to introduce to you my impressions of Canada. Before I visited Canada I had been thinking about my relationship with people around me such as my host family, neighbors, and especially my ESL classmates. I‘ve never done a home stay and I didn’t have confidence to communicate with them. However, I didn’t need to be anxious about it because most people were very friendly and kind to me.

To my surprise, there were lots of spaces to build things in Canada, for example, houses, a mall or an amusement park. That’s why I‘m really interested in the future of Canada. And then, there was the largest mall in the world which name was West Edmonton Mall. When I saw it I was excited and I got curious about all of the shopping in the mall. I went there to get rid of stress because there were ice rink, a pool, and an amusement arcade in the mall. Besides, it was fortunately on the way to my home. It took me just 10 minutes by bus. For these reasons, I could go anytime.

Secondly, I will tell you about my ESL class. Actually, we carried out some English examinations to divide us into the groups. Fortunately, I gained good score and I was separated into the class which can speak English. When I went there I supposed it would be quite difficult to keep a good score and communicate with all of my classmates because they were older than me. Most people were university students. However, it didn’t matter about age. Let’s face it, I’d rather talk with my ESL classmates than my high school friends because I could communicate with them in English. Furthermore, they know lots of data about world news and their own countries. They had own opinion about it. That’s why I really prefer to talk with them.

Incidentally, my teacher was strict about class and assignments but she was sometimes funny. I always had lots of assignments such as presentations, observations, and lots of homework. I was doing it from 9 pm to 12:30am and from 4am to 5:30am and on the bus every day. That’s why I was too busy to communicate with host family sufficiently. However, it didn’t matter because my host family has been hosting a lot of international students every year. So they could understand me soon.

I had a really great time in Canada. Actually, I have decided to go to University of Alberta. However, I don’t have any information on how to prepare and study. So please let me know if you have any idea. Anything is all right! And I hope I can have more journalism classes to improve my English!

Who is Japan's greatest writer?

by Sakimi ITOH

I think Japan’s greatest writer is Ryunosuke Akutagawa. Ryunosuke Akutagawa is one of the most famous writers in Japan. He was born in 1892 in Tokyo. His father was a milkman. His mother was crazy. The first story he wrote “Rou nen” in 1914, so His most famous story is “Rasyou mon”. It was read by many people. At this time he was a pupil at Soseki Natsume’s regular Thursday meeting. He learned a lot from him.

When he was 23 years old, he married Fumiko Tsukamoto. In 1918 and he wrote “zigoku hen” “kareno syou” “kumono ito”. He was employed by Osaka Mainichi Newspaper Company when he was 27 years old, and worked as a journalist while writing his novels. He wrote “budoukai” “Aki” “Nankin no Christ” “To shisyunn” while he worked there. He traveled to China and he wrote “Yamashigi” “Syu sann zu “ “Shanhai yuki”.

He got mentally sick in 1922, when he was 30 years old. During this time of mental conflict he wrote “Shu ju no kotoba” “Yasukichi no techou kara” “ A ba ba ba ba “ and he took a rest in Yugawara in 1923. He wrote “Hitokure no tsu chi” “Ito zho omoegaki” in 1924. He wrote “Daisouzishinsuke no hansei” “sou shun” in 1925, when he was 33 years old.

In 1927, he wrote “genkaku sanbou” and “kappa” before he killed himself in Tokyo. He was 35 years old. Althugh he died young he had written many books.

Why is he trailblazer?

I chose Ryunosuke Akutagawa as a trailblazer because he was very nice writer, because he has unique personality, I like his stories. One of the most famous of his stories is “Rashou mon” It is very good story.