EEC NEWSLETTER

October 2022
Volume 48

ENGLISH EDUCATION CENTER, EHIME UNIVERSITY

Contents■ Hello Ehime Universi-

Hello Ehime University! - A Message from a New Teacher

ty! - A Message fromRika TSUSHIMAa New Teacher

Hello all—my name is Rika
Tsushima, and I was born andraised in Ehime. I did my
graduate studies, both master's and Ph.D., in Second
Language Education at
McGill University, Montréal, Canada. For thelast 15 years, I have lived in three different
Canadian cities (i.e., Edmonton, Montréal,and Vancouver). Each city has its own
charm, but if I had to choose one, I would
say Montréal is my favourite.

■ How I Improved My
English Skills - Part 2 ■ Perspective■ Loan-words from
Other Languages

English and French are the two official languages in Canada, but French is the first official language spoken in the province ofQuébec, where Montréal is located, and it
makes the city culturally exciting. It’s known

for its European atmosphere, often called
Paris in North America, but, in my opinion,
the real beauty of Montréal is the cosmopolitan vibe that the society exudes. It is hometo over 120 cultural communities from allover the world, and one hears diverse languages while walking down the street. It always excites me.
Canada has the highest immigration rate in the world, and oneout of four people who live in
Canada are immigrants, like me.
My Canadian family speaks four different
languages to communicate, which is not sorare for many Canadians. If you are interested in Canada or in studying abroad, wecan share our interests. I’m looking forward
to learning with and from you.

How I Improved My English Skills -Part 2Miharu KOBAYASHI (Faculty of Law & Letters)“Let’s Enjoy English!” toStart in October andDecember“Let’s Enjoy English!” is atheme based English conversation activity with an
English teacher and maximum 6 students. You can
get to know teacher(s)closely out of general
English classes, and enjoy
talking in English in a casual and friendly atmosphere for 45 minutes.
There are 9 different activities a week.
The 3rd quarter course will
be held from October 3 toNovember 10, then another course in 4th quarter from December 12 toFebruary 3.
Signing up starts on September 26. Just come tothe EEC office.
First come, first served!

At this time, I would like to describe why I
recommend you to join the English Professional Course. There are mainly three points.
1) Motivation to study English
I probably mentioned one of the key elements that make your skills advanced is“Keep learning English”. However, that it is sohard for most students to push themselves fora long time without any peers. In addition,
Ehime is a relatively rural area, we hardly
have chances to use English in our daily lives,
which makes it much more difficult to improve our abilities. I strongly believe that thiscourse enables students to meet friends whoalso study English. In fact, I currently passed
Eiken grade-1, and my seniors and friends
who already passed it were the biggest motivation to achieve it.
2) Broaden your horizon toward studying or
working abroad
In this course, there are some students not
only who are interested in learning English
but also who are aiming to study or evenworking abroad. If you also have the ambition to go abroad, I think the course will be
the best place to gain more information.
When I was in my freshman year, I joined
meet-up events where graduates who went
to study abroad shared their experienceswith current students. Even though at thattime, I was hoping to go to graduate school
after graduation, I had no idea what it is like.
Thanks to listening to a talk about one graduate who went to graduate school, I could
visualize my future more clearly, deciding toapply for a graduate school.

image: Freepik.com

3) A helpful service called mentor
This is another appealing point of the course.
Students who belong to the course can utilize mentor services. This is an optional service, but I highly recommend you apply forit. In this service, a teacher that you choose
become your “mentor”, helping you withwhatever problem you have. Asking ateacher about the effective method of studying English facilitates my study, helping me
to improve my ability constantly.
In this article, I mentioned only three things,
but the reality is there are more selling points
in this course. If you are interested in it, I highly suggest that apply for it! This course must
be a game changer!

October 2022 Volume 48

Perspective
Upcoming Events

Leslie BLACK (Assistant Professor)

School Festival

The American photographer and journalist
Dorothea Lange once said, “The camera is
an instrument that teaches people how to
see without a camera.” If you do not fully
understand the meaning of that quote, donot worry. If I had read that same quote ayear ago, I too would not have fully understood it. It wasn’t until I tried my hand atphotography this year that I came to grasp
its meaning and significance.

Nov 11 - 14

Winter School Holiday
Dec 24 - Jan 9

University Entrance Exam
Jan 14 - 15

GTEC Academic for 1styear students
Jan 23 - Feb 3

English Education CenterEhime University
2nd floor, Aidai Muse,
3 Bunkyo-cho,

While I had taken plenty of pictures with mysmartphone, at the end of last year I was encouraged by a friend to purchase a proper
camera and to learn about photography. Iwas looking for a new hobby, and my friend,an avid photographer, thought I may enjoy
it. So, I went and bought a used DSLR camera to start my new hobby. Though I didn’t
realize it at the time, I would learn much
more than just how to use a camera.
Having purchased the camera, I started togo out with the intention of taking photos.
This intention made more aware of my surroundings; looking for something to capture
in a photograph made me look at everything in a different way.
After finding something tocapture, the camera
forced me to choose
what to leave out, what
to focus on, and how toimage: Freepik.com
frame it. In other words, I

had to decide how to look at something.
You see, learning photography wasn’t justabout learning how to
use a camera, it wasabout learning how tosee: A small
alleyway
Photo taken by the writerthat I had
passed regularly without much thought became a still, modern landscape of urban Japan; a bicycle leaning against an old wooden building became a symbol of someone’s
daily life; a cold and empty street becamea frozen, lonely road that was missing its former frequent visitors who were at homewaiting out the seemingly never-ending
pandemic.
In learning photography, I gained a newperspective on the would-be normal things
around me. When we take time to intentionally focus on moments, people, and our surroundings, we learn how to see our world ina new light. This new light may change ourworld from one that is grey and bland, to
one that is colorful and vibrant. After all, thedifference between a dirty, muddy pathand a beautiful beach is just where youlook.

Matsuyama, Ehime
790-8577

Loan-words from Other Languages
Phone & FAX(089)927-8340

E-maileec@stu.ehime-u.ac.jp

Webpage
http://web.eec.ehime-u.
ac.jp/[Eng. Page] http://web.
eec.ehime-u.ac.jp/english/

Did you know some of katakana
words in Japanese are originallyfrom foreign languages otherthan English? In the past issue, volume 45, we introduced some ofJapanese-made English words
such as “morning call”, or “nosleeve”. This time we will present
loan-words from other languages
such as French, Dutch, Portuguese, and more.
Again, if you use one of those katakana words in perfect English,
the listener might not understandwhat you are saying. It is NOT apronunciation problem at all.

Katakana word

Original spelling[Original language]

English words

シュークリームchou à la crème[French]cream puﬀ

アンケートenquête[French]ques onnaire

アルバイトarbeit[German](part‐ me) job

レトルト

retort[Dutch]boil‐in(‐the)‐bag;ready to eat

オルゴール

orgel
[Dutch]music box / musicalbox

ミイラ

mirra*[Portuguese]

mummy

ノルマ

норма
[Russian]

minimum require‐
ment

ラッコ

rakko
[Ainu]

sea o er

*In Portuguese this word refers to myrrh, a kind of a preserva ve.