EEC NEWSLETTER

June 2022
Volume 47

ENGLISH EDUCATION CENTER, EHIME UNIVERSITY

Contents

Hello Aidai Students! - Messages from 4 New Teachers■ Hello Aidai Students!

Travis BLACKBURN

Scott WEBBER

Hello, My name is Travis Blackburn, and I am originally fromPortland, Oregon. Portland isa medium-sized city in the
Northwest United States, andwe are known for rain, trees, outdoor fun,food, and rain. Not necessarily in that order.

Hi everyone, My name is
Scott Webber and I'm fromVictoria, British Columbia inCanada. Victoria is locatedon the west coast of Canada and is very close to Vancouver.

- Messages from 4
New Teachers■ A Farewell from a
Memorable EECTeacher■ How I Improved My
English Skills - Part 1 ■ My Days in the UK- Episode 3 -I have spent the last five years teaching inMatsuyama, and I have loved almost every
minute. As much as I love my hometown,
Matsuyama is my home now, and I hope tostay here as long as I can.
If you see me on campus,
please say hi! I would love totalk and get to know you!

Pak AU
Hello everyone, my name isPak. Although I was born inHong Kong, I grew up in Canada. The famous Disney character, Winnie-the-Pooh (Pooh-san), was named after my hometown inCanada. Can you guess what myhometown is?

Now On - “Let’s Enjoy
English!”“Let’s Enjoy English!” is atheme based English conversation class 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 classes a week. (This time it isheld face-to-face, notonline.)
The course started fromMay 9 and will end on
July 25. Participants accepted anytime. Sign up
at the EEC office.

I have been to many places around theworld and I hope to share my experienceswith all of you. I am excited to be teachingat Ehime University. I have been to Shikoku
before, but only as a tourist, so I am looking
forward to experiencing life here as a resident.
In my spare time, I like to go hiking and playgolf. I would like to explore more of Shikoku,
so if you have any recommendations, feel
free to let me know! If you seeme around campus, please
say hello!

I've lived in Matsuyama since 2015. Beforethen, I lived in Doha, Qatar for 12 years. Itwas a great experience, but it gets very
hot. During the summer, the temperature
can get as high as 56 degrees Celsius.
In my free time, I like to like to go touring on
my bicycle. The last place I went to on a
two day trip was with my son to Misaki Portin Ehime. I also spend my free time reading, writing and hanging out
with my family. If you see meon campus, please say hello.

Silvalou KADOTAHi! My name is Silvalou but
you can call me Sylvia. I
come from a country withmore than 7,000 islands, thePhilippines!
I have been living in Japan for the last twodecades and I just love life here. Matsuyama is very similar to the city where I wasborn and raised. I love themajestic mountains and thebeautiful beaches nearby. My
husband and I try to keep fit
by going on long walks. We also love going to cafes and exploring new places.
Let’s all have fun discovering new horizons in English.
Nice meeting you all!

A Farewell from a Memorable EEC Teacher
Tracy FRIEDRICH
Dear EEC students, faculty and staff,
It was my pleasure to teach and work withyou all the past two years. Ehime University Students you are amazing, talented andsmart. Your academic studies are so important and you have made good choices.
You have found faculties that suit your personalities and interests. I am sure you will be
top professionals in the future. Please follow

your dreams and your heart. My best advice
for you is to ask questions! As your teachers,
ask your friends, ask your sempai and others
in your life for advice and knowledge. Goodluck! My dear faculty and staff it was aquick two years, thank you forsuch a good experienceteaching at Ehime University. This was a great team to bea part of. Thank you for thebeautiful flowers!

June 2022 Volume 47

How I Improved My English Skills -Part 1Upcoming Events
GTEC Academic (Online)
for 1st year students
Jul 19 - 29

Miharu KOBAYASHI (Faculty of Law & Letters)
Don’t you want to know the studying method of a student who got a score of 920 on theTOEIC test? Read Miharu’s way of improving her English skills. This is part one of her essay.
I would like to introduce you about what I

and easier to keep learning English like listen-keep in my mind to improve my English skills. I

ing to songs or watching movies in English.

Exemption for English IV

hope this will help you a lot when you study

Please find out your own way of studying（外部試験による成績判定申請）

English. There are two main points.

which enables you to enjoying it.

■ Starting small and keep studying■ Try to take official exams (even if you don’t

The most important thing to acquire Englishneed it)

Open Campus

abilities is “Keep studying”. In my opinion, for

Aside from just learning vocabulary or gram-Aug 9 - 10

example, you may feel improvement if you

mar for English conversations, I have tried tostudy ten minutes every day rather than 2take exams such as TOEFL, IELTS, Eiken or

School Holiday

hours on weekends. In fact, my TOEIC score

TOEIC to improve my skills. This has helped

became better when I studied vocabulary

me. First thing is that by taking those exams, Ievery day. Also, you should start easy tasks to

was constantly motivated to study English

keep studying English. It would be great if

more. This is because I will try to get a better

you try to solve English problems or read longscore and make a schedule to study con-articles. However, in moststantly. Another thing is that those exams arecases, it will be hard toincluded English words or phrases that are

keep it up for a long time.

considered to be used in real life, so studying

Instead of doing thosethem really enhanced your overall English

heavy ones, you should

abilities. You should acquire practical English

try something much easierskills through the tests.

Jul 25 - Aug 5

Aug 7 - Sep 23

My Days in the UK -Episode 3Tatsuya KOBAYASHI (Graduate of Faculty of Law & Letters)

English Education Center
Ehime University
2nd floor, Aidai Muse,
3 Bunkyo-cho,
Matsuyama, Ehime
790-8577

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/

Having lived in England for about a year, I
have noticed that British culture is veryunique and different from Japanese. Interestingly, though, I have spotted a number ofsimilarities as well. As living abroad is more
about learning the culture rather than justlearning the language, it has been a fairly interesting experience.
Knowing other cultures also enables you toappreciate your own culture. Although I
have never felt homesick for some reason, I
still look forward to going back to Japan.
What I miss most is food. To no one’s surprise,
it is way better in Japan and I am pretty sure
it is not because I am Japanese that I feelthat way.
If I mention one thing that I thought to bebetter here in England, it is the friendliness ofpeople, regardless of where you are from. I
assume they are accustomed to a globalised society and no one stares at you just because you are a foreigner, which is likely tohappen in Japan.
As for language, it is advisable to have certain English skills before studying abroad.
‘Certain’ is such a vague word, so I simply

advise you to improve your English as muchas you can while you are in Japan. The better skills you have, the richer your experience
will be. In my opinion, it is a bit wasteful tolearn basic things (particularly grammar) during study abroad, for they could be learnedin Japan. Fortunately, you have experienced
teachers who are always willing to help youat university. You can also access a variety
of English materials for free (I owe them alot). You may even havepeer students who are as
passionate about learning English as you. It will
not easy to have such anamazing
environment,
once you have graduated. Do take advantage
of it while you can.
If you missed the chance to study abroad or
had to give it up, there is nothing to worry
about. I came to England after working for 2
years and I do not think it was too late. Opportunities are always out there, unless you
stop seeking them.
Good luck with your learning journey.

This is the last episode by Tatsuya. You canread the other two from these codes.

12