LETTER FROM HAPPY ENGLISH SCHOOL Jan. 14th,2020

Happy New Year! We are going to have the Tokyo Olympics this year and the Osaka Expo in 2025. We should get ready to welcome foreign visitors and show our hospitality. I think one of the prime reasons for our studying English is to communicate with people from different cultures and learn from them and understand the differences as well as similarities. I hope learners become more flexible and pliable through the process of studying English by accepting diversities.

We shouldn’t stop learning about the world: what is going on around the world and the history of the world itself and in relation to understanding current affairs. In the global society, it is getting more and more important to know about the countries and the people with whom we share the earth living together on it. We should be more interested in our neighboring nations and even those living far away from us on the planet and try to understand them because we are in the same boat, more or less influencing one another and after all sharing the same destiny.

First of all, we can start with talking to foreign tourists and show our goodwill. It will be great if individuals from different backgrounds further understand and develop relationships and friendships, and if individuals come to know other individuals around the world. International exchange should spread, and people should try to understand each other and get united. The world should consist of the nations who can reconcile and keep in harmony with each other by not focusing on differences but similarities. We need to fix the present chasm created by bigots by making efforts to first talk to and get to know each other. International events in Japan, where we see more people from other countries including remote countries, provide us with good opportunities to broaden our horizons.

Tell the truth, I am also the one who was inspired to speak to a group of Canadian women on the train back from the Expo ’70 and was pleased to make myself understood in English when I was in junior high school. I learned a little bit about them and later I joined a short exchange program in Canada and learned more about the country.

２０２０年、明けましておめでとうございます。今年は東京オリンピック、そして２０２５年には大阪万博と国際イベントがあり、外国からの訪問者も増え、あちこちで姿を見かけることは間違いないでしょう。

英語を学習するということは、コミュニケーションを図ること、そして違いも共通点も知りお互いを理解することが、大きな目的です。国際イベントは、私たちに色々な国の人たちと、共通の言語となりうる英語でコミュニケーションを図る良い機会を与えてくれます。大いにチャンスを生かしましょう。

私も中学の時に大阪万博の帰りの電車で、たまたま、カナダ人の女性のグループに“How long have you been here?” と話しかけ、英語が通じ、とても嬉しかったのです。そしてカナダについて親しみを持ちました。せっかく習ったものは生かさなければ役に立ちません。そののち大学生の時に、一か月の短期の国際交流のプラグラムでカナダに行き、カナダのことをもっと知ることができました。

実践し、学び、知識を深め、そして自分の世界を広げる、また人とのつながりで、自分が開眼することで、自ずと世界が広がってくるでしょう。