Essay: My Language Learning Story and Plans

10 years ago, I was in 4th grade. In my elementary school, there were English class, and ALT and junior high school's teachers came to my elementary school and taught us English. They taught us alphabet, how to pronounce it and how to write it. Also, I sang English songs. For example, Alphabet song, Days Of Week Song, Bingo Song, and so on. I didn't understand all English but I really enjoy the class. I could speak English a little, I knew the basic vocabulary just "Hello" or "How are you?" Also, I learned Japanese. First, I learned Hiragana and Katakana. These are words characteristic of Japan. I have thought Katakana is specially strange because they looks very strange mark. Then, I learned Kanji that is from China. I like Kanji because I interested in the structure of Kanji. I usually got a perfect score for the Kanji test.

5 years ago, I was 13 years old. I was junior high school student. I learned basic English grammar. I learned how to express own feelings and reading a textbook. I was studying in order to talk ALT. My English teacher advised me to take some exam. I planed to take the Pre-2nd level English exam. I studied hard, and English teacher helped me. I wanted to do my best to pass the English exam. Fortunately, I passed Pre-2nd grade of the English proficiency test when I was 3rd junior high school student. In addition to this, I learned literature of Modern Japanese, Classical Japanese, and Classical Chinese. I like Chinese classical literature because I like Kanji too. Still, it was very difficult for me to read a piece of writing that is done all in Chinese characters.

When I was high school student, I took the 2nd level English exam. I took the exam 3 times because I am not good at speaking, and I don't like interview. My school's English teachers spared some of her precious time to practice my speaking. I thank her very much. And I also took a TOEIC test for the first time. I was very nervous because I've never taken the TOEIC test.

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