I spent almost eight months at North Central College for and I could understand how NCC life was and how the culture is different from that of Japan. In this paper, I would like to talk about why I want to recommend North Central College for study abroad.
First, the classroom is well-organized. There are so many classes that accommodate a very tiny number of students from ten to twenty students. In these classes, students are active on discussing. In my education class, for example, we were not only talking about how we would teach English to students, but also, we demonstrated how to teach in front of the audience. It was a precious experience to me because I have never taught subjects except English as it is my second language. I had a super difficult time both content and language. Usually, educators in Japan teach content in Japanese except English classes. However, I had to look up words in my dictionary every time I taught content because I did not come up with any idea on how to teach it in English. Moreover, I gave tons of presentation in two terms. To present my opinions, I had to practice a lot because my speaking skill was terrible. To make other students understand my thoughts, I asked my friends to listen to my presentation and improve my speaking skill. They supported me not only with pronunciation but also changing my vocabulary for the better in my presentation. So, the small classes are very beneficial to improve English skills, especially speaking.
Second, people can experience different culture. As I spent time in America, I went through many American celebrations such as Thanksgiving Days and Christmas Days. In addition to these festivals in America, I went to Chinese New Year Day. What I want to say here is that people can try tons of cultural events in America. I did not realize until I came back to Japan that there are so many different ethnic groups in America. In my opinion, there will be tons of international students in Iwate due to globalization. And, it will be more important to understand different culture and behavior so that they can support international students. My Chinese friend, went to back to China to celebrate New Year Day even though she had classes. Also, I tried to shake another friend’s hand, and she rejected my request because of her culture. Both of these cultural conflicts spread out my point of view. Going abroad provide people with coherent ideas of different culture and it will be useful in interacting with students who have another culture.
In summary, you can learn not only English skills but also understand different cultural aspects at the same time. I hope you will apply to North Central College and have a great time there.