【国際教育プログラム】オーストラリアから留学生の近況報告が届きました！

　１月27日（金）にオーストラリアに向けて出発した、ターム留学第２期生からのメールレポート第3弾を掲載します。早いもので、残りの滞在日数も約1ヶ月となりました。

　まだまだ授業をしっかりと理解していくのに苦労しているようですが、学校主催の各種イベント等を通して、もう随分と現地の生活に溶け込んできている様子がうかがえます。また、週末はホストファミリーと小旅行に出かけ、日本では経験できない貴重な体験をしている生徒も多いようです。もうこの時期になると、ある程度しっかりと英語で意思表示や自己主張ができるようになってきます。残り一ヶ月の滞在期間は、きっとこれまで以上に密度の濃い経験ができるはずです。留学生たちの更なる活躍を期待しています。

　ターム留学担当へのメールを英語の原文のまま掲載しますので、ぜひお読み下さい（留学生の氏名はイニシャルに変えています）。

Hello Mr.Kamakura. I'm sorry to be late to send you this email. I enjoy everyday、 of course! Today、 I report something to you.

According to the heard of Beaconhills College、 the school has introduced iPad since this year. For example、 we can download text books、 homework、 and message from teachers and so on. Various things are done on iPad. In short、 students have to always take iPad at school. Then、 I got my own iPad last week. Of course、 it is just borrow. If I buy it、 I have to pay $800. It's impossible. Also、 I have borrowed a jacket for iPad. It has the school's name. It's too cool. So、 I might buy only jacket.

Today、 it is exactly a month since I arrived here. More recently、 I'm feeling time goes on

Fast. And I'm missing basketball practice in Japan and my dog!!! (laugh)

Finally、 I have good news. Probably you have already noticed this from the picture. This picture was taken by my host mother when we visited friend's house for dinner. Orange shirt is me and navy blue is my host brother. Next time、 I'll try to get a picture what 'the second generation of team Beaconhills' with Australian friends. See you again.

Sent from my iPad. S.T

Hello Mr.Kamakura. I'm sorry. I was late to send e-mail for you. Life in Australia is very fun、 so I forgot to send you email.

Recently、 it gets a little cold、 because it's autumn now in Australia. It has passed half of this program. I'm feeling time passes very quickly. I'm feeling that my English skill get a little better. I made a lot of friends. Of course、 I'm making friends of difference years.

I feel that they are more gentle than Japanese students. I like Australian students!

I went various places. Australia is a very nice country. Someday、 I want to return to here again. Please say hello to Mr.Igarashi、 Mr.Komori、 and other teachers. See you.

Y.I

Hello Mr. Kamakura!! It has been about a month since I came here. Sadly、 we have to go back to Japan in April. If possible、 I want to stay here forever!! That is because there are a lot of generous people that are my friends、 host family and so on. So I am very happy because of them. But I think my family will miss me、 I hope. I don't anticipate that fact or maybe not. I don't know whether I miss my family or not. 

Change the subject、 unexpectedly I met Yosiki who is at another school here in Australia. As a result、 I went to a department store with him yesterday. We were talking about school and daily life to each other. It was nice to talk with him. And surprisingly、 my house is close to Yosiki's house. The distance is about 20 minute walking. 

Now、 I am going to talk about my school life (I write about the difference between Japan and Australia). I think that Australia's schools are smaller than Japanese' schools. And there is a playground and an exclusive science room. We usually study English、 math、 science、 Bible、 PE、 history、 art and cooking class. It is different compared with Japan's school. I can't understand all of the English、 but I can enjoy those classes.

My school friends make me happy、 because they have funny subjects to talk about、 so I laugh with them every time. In Australia、 nobody is shy、 which I find amazing. Mr Kamakura、 how would you compare Japanese students to Australian students? I like Australian students better compared with Japanese students. Why don't I like Japanese students? Because I find them a little bit shy. Incidentally、 I am not shy anymore、 so don't worry about it. Sorry for the long letter. See you next weekend.

Regards、 K.T

Hi、 Mr Kamakura. I came to Australia and one month has passed. It has gone very fast! I have done a lot of things in the last two weeks. February 22nd、 I played volleyball in a school competition. I played with my classmates. They are good at volleyball. We struggled but we couldn't win. I enjoyed playing and I talked with my classmates a lot that day. Next day、 I went to Healesville Sanctuary with Kota、 Masahiro and Mrs. Hyland. We saw animals such as koalas、 kangaroos、 emus、 platypus、 tasmanian devils and dingoes. We saw a bird show as well. They were all Australian animals and I enjoyed it. After that we walked in the bush near the Sanctuary. That was a very good place to walk. Last weekend was very busy. On Saturday、 I woke up at 8:30 and went to church with my host family. In the afternoon I went to the beach with my host family and Kota. I went to the beach on January 29th but it was a different beach. There were some fish there. I swam in that beach and it was fun. Next day I woke up before 7 o'clock and went to a lake. I went water-skiing there. I tried knee boarding and the biscuit. The knee boarding was very difficult because it needed power and good balance. The biscuit was very nice but my hands were exhausted. Today I went to the Queen Victoria Market. There were a lot of people there and I saw a few Japanese speaking Japanese. There were many shops and I bought coasters there.

The first picture is my friends in school. I have tried hard to speak with them when I had a chance. Another picture is Lake Eildon and myself. I water-skied there and it was the best day of my stay in Australia so far. I will try hard to speak more and more if I have a chance. I look forward to enjoying my stay in Australia for the last month.

S.W

Hello!! I'm sorry. I think my E-mail is latest in Japanese students. I can't excuse because every Japanese student have a time that is the same time to me. I'm exited in Australia. Australia has nice nature and nice people. So I can relax here. I could make some friends. But we are not friendly enough yet. I want to be more friendly. So I'm trying it very hard everyday. My English has problem that is grammar!! I can't structure sentence very well. So、 I'm repeating very easy English. Sometimes I can make a sentence that has two verbs. I'm asking my friends who are foreigners about this、 but it is too hard for me. Because when I want to ask someone、 I can't structure sentence as well too!!

Also、 I have a problem that is different culture. Australian manner is sometimes difficult to me. Anyway、 I should try harder about all things. I think my sentence has many wrong points、 but this is the limit of my English abilities.

By the way、 I lost my camera somewhere. I should buy another camera in Australia.

PS: I heard "wanna" and "gonna" when since I came to school that is first time. Thank you for teaching me about that.

K.H

Dear Mr.Kamakura and Mr.Saotome、

Hello. Today I report about my thoughts of Australian society、 especially in Melbourne、 because I think I started to understand about the life here.

First is about the wastes. Here in Melbourne、 you don't need to separate combustible and incombustible wastes、 as you can see in my first picture. But if you want to throw plastics or paper away、 you have to put them in a recycle bin. In the supermarkets、 you are required to bring your own bag、 and they have fewer packed foods than Japan's. Personally、 I think it's a great system to protect the environment.

Now we see the news about the floods threatening New South Wales、 northern Victoria、 and South Australia. As for the floods、 for second topic、 people are very prepared for floods. In the family I'm staying with、 they save food in case floods came and couldn't go buying them、 make upstairs in front of entrance of the house、 and have boats in case the house became flooded. In fact、 floods and bush fires are the two major disasters in Australia. Last night、 my host father Greg showed me a video of the flood last year in February. In the video、 the roads near the house I'm staying at were being flooded. Actually、 it's because they had hurricanes over Queensland、 New South Wales、 and Victoria. Apparently、 that was the first flood that threatened Melbourne. But in the video、 they were not surprised or feared. Instead they were enjoying taking the video! I really envied them、 because in the March 11th disaster in Japan、 I couldn't do anything but being panicked and losing calm.

I have some information about the ethnics in Melbourne as well. They really live together in harmony despite many nationalities and ethnics. In fact、 Melbourne has over 130 nationalities in their immigrants. But recently、 they do not get along with some Muslim people and refugees. Some Muslim people insist obeying some rules in Qur'an、 which is illegal in Australian laws. About the refugees、 some refugees came to Australia illegally、 and because UN recognizes Australia a country which accepts refugees、 Australian government has to give money even though some refugees rely on that and don't work. Through learning this problem、 I realized it's very hard to solve these kinds of problems about ethnics、 again. We also have some other problems about ethnics、 though they've not come to faces. They'll be very difficult to solve、 now I suppose. Now I take 'Religion ＆ Society' classes、 which is required to be enriched in Victorian parents now、 so I'd like to learn more about it. And personally、 I was moved by the people here for their kindness of being very friendly to me. Now I'm thinking how I should enrich these experiences in the rest of my program and after finishing the program (and English skills、 of course).