After the first month, I want to introduce how my language school life was.
I arrived at Chicago on August 9th in the evening and my NCC life have started on next day. On the first day, we walked around the campus to grasp the location of each faculty.
From August 13th, our classes had started. In the morning, we had two classes, one was English class, and another was culture class. In the English class, we were divided into two groups and there were 6 members, Germany, Chinese, Argentina, and Japanese. We studied grammar, listened to TED talks, and learned how to write essays academically. For grammar, we studied for past tense, progressive and so on, I think it was easy for Japanese. Discussion was too difficult for me because I was weak at listening and speaking. So, listening to the TED talk was very problematic to me.
In the culture class, many presenters came to our class and gave a lecture. We learned sustainability action in the NCC, campus safety who protect us from danger on campus, police and ambulance department in the United States, and American history. Sometimes, we went to many places to learn more such as police station and recycling center. To immerse into American culture more, we watched a baseball game, worked in the volunteering company, went to Chicago. In the final week, we did a presentation. For me, I was very interested in sustainability problem, so I gave a speech which compared the difference in achievement between NCC and Iwate university. This class, especially culture class was valuable for me because we learned not only English but also compared culture, sports, and jobs in the program. For example, when I was working in the volunteering company, we made mistakes sometimes, but the staffs never scolded us, they kept laughing, and we listened to music while working. I was amazed this work style because it was very different from Japanese work style. Also, this class could be scaffold of my classes which would start from fall semester. I could not only improve my English skills but also, I could understand how the classes at NCC were. I appreciated for taking this class before officially starting NCC classes.
In the afternoon, I really enjoyed sports and shopping a lot. We went shopping, watched movies, went swimming and played basketball. After eating lunch, we got on the car and went to malls, and as soon as we came back, we started playing basketball. After eating dinner, we always watched American movies in the dorm. As I said, sometimes we went out to learn American culture, but I also enjoyed these entertainments.
Finally, I really recommend both international students and short-term students to take this class. It helps in getting used to classes starting from fall term, and it can motivate international students. Also, you can really enjoy American culture widely. So, if you are very interested in studying abroad, do not hesitate to join this program!