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Meet Hiroto - he is from Japan and studied the Online English Course in February 2021. He shares his experiences below.
What is your background?
I’m currently studying at Tamagawa University, in the Department of English Language Education. I mainly take English language lectures and educational lectures.
Why did you choose to study the UCL Online English Course?
I thought this was a good opportunity for me to take a course from another country’s university.
The most interesting part was the academic writing. Academic writing was one of my weak areas which I wanted to improve.
What were the highlights of the course?
The most interesting lecture was about British culture. Before taking this lecture, I barely had any cultural thoughts about British culture. Everything was new to me. So the lecture was enjoyable every time.
What was the most challenging part of the course?
The most challenging part for me was the report that we have to do during the course.
We had to work in small groups to make the report. The reason that I felt it was challenging was because of my poor English skills. Communicating to others was hard. I couldn’t express myself in the way I wanted to. But this was a good experience for me.
How did you find taking this course online?
I liked how the teacher taught us. She was very kind and caring. She checked if we were understanding the lecture or not. It was very easy for us to concentrate on the lecture.
I especially liked the tutorials. Tutorials are a time when you can talk to the teacher in a small group.
This activity was easier to ask questions and talk about ourselves. I got to know about the teacher and the teacher got to know what kind of person I am. They didn't rush us for the answer. I thought this was a good opportunity to have a good conversation with the teachers.
What skills did you develop on the UCL Online English Course and how will they help you in the future?
I believe that I developed my speaking skills on this course. There were lots of activities and opportunities to talk with the other friends and the teachers as well.
Through sharing our opinions on the topic, we got to know how they were thinking. This was hard at first, but I got used to it and had some more time speaking with my own words.
I could not speak a lot when the course started, but when it was getting to the end, I realised that I was able to communicate frequently with the other students.
What advice would you give to a student who is thinking of studying the UCL Online English Course?
I think this course is a good opportunity to improve all your English skills like speaking, reading, listening and writing.
All the teachers are kind, so there is no need to be scared. Enjoy the course as much as you can.