Speech manuscript (rewrite ver)

Hello everyone. I’m Yoshitaka Ishikura.I’m a sophomore at KGU.Through studying English at KGU I realized it’s important to learn many things. Some of which are; I realized that facing a person and having the courage to speak is a good way to learn English through my college life.First I will talk about my experience. After that I will talk about my friend who inspired me and made me realize many things. In conclusion I will talk about what I will do with the experience.In spring last year I talked to foreigners in English. That was my first time having a conversation with foreigners in English. However perhaps I shouldn’t call it a conversation because I couldn’t understand what he was saying or respond in English.Here’s an interesting story at the moment.My friend said to me “What’s up?” when I met him.Of course I didn’t know the meaning.I said “wait what do you mean? What’s up? …..What is UP!” I looked up and said “it’s …..sky ”He was laughing at me. After that I knew it meant hello. After this funny incident I decided I wanted to listen better, speak better and know more slang.I tried to hard work to improve especially with my speaking and listening skills.After last year’s spring I could speak in English better than I could previously. It was still not good but I could greet the exchange students. However there was another problem. I realized that even if I could speak English , this means nothing if I don’t know what to talk about!Now it’s not such a big problem because I can speak better than before but at the time I was nervous and shy. So I couldn’t have a conversation in English especially with a person I just met. Now, I will talk about my friend who inspired me. She and I have the same major. She is full of energy and is nice to everyone. A thing I was surprised with is that even as she was talking with exchange students in English, her personality was the same.Her English skills were not much higher than mine.Her style looked really brave to me.I was wondering how she does it, and how can I talk like her.After a while I noticed that when she has a conversation, she always speaks first and can switch between funny and serious.I realized that being face to face with a person and having the courage to speak are important aspects of learning English. Next year I am fortunate to have the opportunity to study abroad. I will go to a college where I will be the only Japanese person. It’s going to be very tough to study abroad. However, I won’t be afraid because I know through experience that facing people and interacting with native speakers is an important and positive aspect of learning English.
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