(Note: I use AI to help me translate my stories from Japanese to English.)
I have taken more than 3,000 English conversation lessons over the past ten years.
I started taking English conversation lessons in 2016. I went to an English conversation school for the first two years. After that, I began taking online English conversation lessons.
When I first took a 40-minute lesson, I was exhausted.
Now I take online English conversation lessons for 50 minutes every day. I am still not very good at speaking English, but I have gotten used to it.
I was able to meet many different kinds of students at the English conversation school.
There was a junior high school student who had lived in America before, a high school girl who played tennis often, a company president, a woman who wanted to translate poems, and a high school girl who wanted to become a doctor.
I also met many teachers: an American man who had been a bartender in Alaska, an Australian who said he could work anywhere in Japan, a Filipino whose dream was to go to Japan, and an African who is a descendant of the Maasai.
One year, I talked with English tutors from more than 50 countries.
I am an introvert and I want to be alone. However, because I study English conversation, I have to communicate with teachers a lot. This is good for me. It has improved my communication skills.
I have talked with many teachers from around the world. Because of this, I have come to understand myself better.
A Filipino teacher said that I have a mellow voice. She asked, “How do you get angry with such a mellow voice?” That was the first time I realized I have a mellow voice.
Another Filipino teacher said that my voice is like a kindergarten teacher’s voice. I was very surprised to hear that, but I was also happy.
One teacher said that I looked tired.
I once told a Filipino teacher that I wanted to become an English tutor. She said that I could definitely become one and that I could even become a better teacher than her. Her words gave me confidence.
I met some very good tutors, such as the following:
・One Filipino teacher was very kind. I had more than 60 lessons with her. She listened carefully to what I said and asked many questions.
When I talked, she searched for information related to my topic on her smartphone. I felt that she really paid attention to what I said.
I thought that if I became an English tutor, I would like to be a tutor like her.
・I had good chemistry with a shy Croatian man. I am shy too, so it was fun to talk with him. We talked about many things. Through our conversations, I learned that Croatian people have thoughts similar to Japanese people.
When there was a big earthquake, he worried about my situation, and I was very happy.
I learned that many English tutors do not like free conversation with students because they have to find topics and lead the conversation. This can be scary and tiring for them.
Being an English conversation teacher is difficult. They have little rest time and have to talk with many students. Some students are rude.
That is why I try to be kind to teachers. I sometimes write messages to express my gratitude.
At online English conversation schools, students can evaluate teachers. Then students choose teachers based on these evaluations.
I often choose highly rated teachers. However, sometimes I choose teachers with low ratings because I want to cheer them up.
I have experienced many things through online lessons. Some were good, and some were bad.
・I met a Filipino teacher who always looked very happy. I asked him how I could become happy like him. He said that it is important to ignore negative talk.
・When the COVID-19 pandemic happened, one teacher conducted lessons from her home. She wore pajamas, and it was interesting.
・One day, when I tried to take an online lesson, there was no teacher in front of the camera.
・One teacher got angry and criticized me. He did not like that I enjoyed reading books without goals. He said that I should have goals.
・Some teachers talked very fast, like machine guns.
・One teacher was very tired and fell asleep during the lesson. I did not feel angry. I felt sorry for her.
Nowadays, people can learn languages online, and they are very fortunate.
Now people can even learn languages from AI for free. However, it is fun and exciting to learn from humans. Humans are imperfect and have limited lives. That is why our interactions are precious.
Learning English conversation is very enjoyable. I want to continue learning it from now on.