6)　Right After I Entered College.

We were told to read English Language Newspapers Every Day!

　One of our English professors, who was the highest in position at college, Prof. Yokoyama advised us
new students to read English editorials every day rather than read works of English literature.
" You are here to learn practical English, and must learn practical English first and foremost."
So every morning on my way to college, I made it a rule to read the editorial of the Mainichi Daily News
for fifteen minutes on a train from my boarding house to college. And this kind of study brought about
dramatic results in my reading ability in current English. Also as my college, Kyoto University of Foreign
Studies had been still a new college established as a four-year course college only two years before,
various kinds of professors, Japanese as well as native speakers of English taught us extremely enthusiastically.
I thought I was very happy to be able to learn English at this college because in comparison with a local state
university in the countryside, this college had lots of foreigners and that helped me study foreign languages with
a good, foreign-country-like atmosphere!

At the entrance ceremony, Mr. Shizuo Iwata, president of the Student Council, made a welcome speech in proficient
English. Even though I was able to understand not a word of it, I was greatly impressed by his manner of speech,
and his wonderful pronunciation. Also I determined to study hard from this time on.

As regards club activities at college, I decided to join ESS and German Studying Society. And I started to take part
in the activities of both clubs.
ESS had each older student teach English conversation to a couple of his or her younger students for fifteen minutes
at lunch time every day, and this labor offered by my senior student helped me improve my speaking ablities a lot!
My teacher was a second year girl student called Miss Toshie Munechika, and she was not only beautiful in her appearance
but her pronunciation of English was almost perfect. We loved her and her instruction, and no wonder our abilities improved
in a short time. Years later I found her name in the college alumini book, and found that she had been married to an American
and that she lives in California, USA.

Outstanding activities I still remember after the lapse of forty-one years is the Kyoto Federation of English Speaking Societies,
which presided joint activities of all the ESS clubs of various universities and colleges in Kyoto City, So I had a lot of opportunities
of meeeting students from Kyoto University, Doshisha University, Kyoto Women's College, and lots of other colleges.
We were supposed to speak in English as much as possible, and Christian missionaries, and college professors, of course
all native speakers of English joined us and helped us a lot.
This federation used to let us gather at the American culture center library in Kyoto City on Friday evening once a month,
and almost all of us gathered there to listen to various lectures made by native speakers of English.
I still remember a lecture made by a certain professor about the Mother Goose and children's songs, and even though I have
forgotten about their titles, their speeches helped us improve our listening comprehension ablities to a great degree.
One time we took part in a model UN session held under the sponsorship of Kyoto United Nation's Association, and we had to
take a test to me a member of this model UN meeting, and I was fortunate enough to be chosen as one of the members.
The role of UN scretary general was allotted to Mr. Iwata, and the name of the UN session was a Security Council Meeting, in which
the countries concerned discussed some risky troubles that occurred in Africa, and I was a representative of Tunisia, and my
speech was only a very short one but I learned a lot through this experience. Out of these members, Mr. Fukushima really
took an exam to be a diplomat, and later he became an embassador of some African country.
Also we had a couple of actitivities to hold debate contests and/or make discussion meetings by visiting other universities
like Konan University and others.

Another great memory I still have is my encounter with great professors;
One is professor Kyokichi Ito, my German language teacher, he had been educated in Germany, and his lecture was good, but what he
spoke during his lecture was still more interesting and inspiring to us. He said, " You students have to study hard, real hard,
If you get tired, sitting at your desk, then stand on the floor reading, and then start walking with your book in your hand, and
if you get too tired, then you may go to bed." Obviously he was referring to his way of study during his stay in Germany.
He was a great teacher!
Another professor I respected most was Mr. George H. Gibson, British instructor, who came from St. Andrew's in Osaka.
His lecture was the outline of English literature, and of course all his lectures were given in English, and I was not able to
understand his English lecture at all in the beginning, maybe less than 20 percent, but little by little my comprehension
skill improved and by the summer of my sophomore year I was able to understand and enjoy his lecture given in a dramatic
way to a great extent! His dramatic presentation of Antonio's speech at Julius Caesar's funeral was superb, and I still remember
each word he spoke, " Friends, Romans, I came here not to praise Caesar, but to bury him ......"

Another thing I still remember vividly is my association with my classmate Katsuji Hirata, who was from Shimonoseki City,
Yamaguchi Prefecture. Like me, he was the only child of his family. Together with him I learned English furiously.
One day he boasted about reading this useful English book, then next day I boasted another book very useful, We were both
good rivals as well as good friends. We always tried to speak in English in whatever place we were, on the streets, in buses or
in streetcars completely ignoring that we were in Japan, or that other people might think of us as strange guys.
We also did what other guys advised us to do.
Kyoto is an international sightseeing city where various people from the world come to see the sights of an old capital city
with thousands of time-honored temples and shrines exist, to name a few, Kinkakuji, Gold pavillion temple, Kinkakuji, Silver pavillion,
Nizyojo Castle, Old Imperial Palace, Gion Shrine, Kamo Shrine, Kitano Shrine, Sanjyu-Sangendo Temple.and Heian Shrine...
Also we had lots of lots of opportunities of seeing traditional events like Aoi Festival in May, or Gion Festival in July, and various
other traditional events like Mibu-kyogen, and Senbon Nenbutu Kyogen, etc... , all of which can be seen only if you live in Kyoto
and know well enough about their schedules.

In my junior or third year in college, I attempted to take part in a speech contest held by our ESS.
So far my main interest in my study of English was how to learn to be a good speaker of English,. but gradually I had come to realize
that I must read a lot to be a real good speaker of English. Also I must be a good writer of English if I want to be a good speaker of
English. This of course lies in the fact and truth that unless you understand what your speaking partner says you cannot communicate
with him at all. Years ago, I met a couple of Japanese-Americans whose English is not beautiful and whose pronunciation is poor, yet
his listening comprehension is good enough to understand grasp everything English speaking natives are saying.
In this sense my participation in the speech contest was a kind of turning point in my study of English. I was not successful in
winning the first prize, and got only the third prize in the contest, and the fourth year student, Mr. Koichi Miura won the first prize
and the reason he won the first prize was not that his English sentence was good, not that his pronunciation was excellent, but that
the content of his speech was extremely excellent. He later told me that I should study more deeply and improve myself.

I can safely say now that the basic matter in the study of English is to make English yourself, and yet there are many ways and means
to acquire it; English vocabulary, idioms, English manners and customs, and reading lots of English books, one book after another as far
as your physical stamina lasts.
Concentrating on one thing only is very effective, especially when you are still young and physically strong. That kind of period only comes
when you are in your twenties. I still remember that I was found by my mother to be saying various things in English even when I was sleeping
and dreaming.

To be continued.

All Rights Reserved;
Philip Yoshitaka Shibuya 09/11/2005