The "Immersive English Experience for Study-Abroad Preparation - Winter Program" was held at British Hills in Fukushima Prefecture, with the aim of leading to short- to mid-term study abroad programs. The program was originally scheduled for six days and five nights, but due to the spread of the COVID-19, it was changed to a one-day program.

Here are comments from the students who participated in the program, including their classes and their future goals.

＜Students' reports＞

1. Mr. SATO Kota (a first-year student)

In my British Hills life, I learned a lot of knowledge of British life. This program joined 7 men and lived with them, and this life is comfortable for me.

Every day I woke up at 7:00 and prepared several things. Then I had breakfast and took two classes until 12:30. Between the class we had 30 minutes of break time it's seemed a little longer for me. Then I had lunch. Each of breakfast and lunch is so delicious! Then I took classes again and finished at 5:30. In 6:00 pm I ate dinner. In fourth day, I ate course dinner. In there a lot of rules are existed and I was a little complicated, but meals are so delicious! I remember that rule for next opportunity.

The rest time spent in pub or our room. Pub has some amenities such as darts and chess. Especially I'm good at darts, so I shot 60 points twice. And I drank butter beer in pub! This makes of butter bubble on apple juice, not to use real beer. That was one of the best memories.

In ordinary I went to bed and slept about 12:00 or over it. But day by day I got tired. I reflect that I had little sleeping time a little. Every class is so interesting and useful, especially the class of "Cross Country" is the most interesting. That acted to walk on snow with ski board. Walking was so hard, and I got very tired. But way down was refreshing and I felt good. Teachers seemed enjoying.

And I realized about English culture was a little different to Japanese one. That is all English people are friendly, but it needs to be active that I talked at first. For example, in Japan shop, the salesperson speaks to me such as "may I help you?". But in English its cultures maybe nothing. So, if I want to speak or ask something, it's necessary to become more active person. It's same how to get English skills, in particularly speaking skill. It was painful feeling in British Hills.

I want to get this skill, so from now on I will speak to international student more and more! Those experiences are so good and useful. I appreciate to give me this opportunity!

2. Mr. TERADA Masahiko　(a first-year student)

I have three impressions from participating in this program.

First, I felt that British culture is very different from that of Japan. For example, table manners. In Japan, people greet each other before and after meals. However, in the UK, we do not greet people before and after meals. Also, when drinking soup, people in Japan lift the bowl up to their own level, but in the UK, people sip the soup with a spoon and drink it without lifting it up. I thought it was different in many ways.

Secondly, I felt that there are similarities between British games and games in other countries. For example, snooker. It is very similar to billiards. Another is chess. Chess is similar to Japanese chess. I like Shogi very much and chess is also very fun. I would like to become stronger in the future.

Third is the importance and versatility of English. It is very fun to be able to use English smoothly and to converse with various people. I can also hear many different ways of thinking directly from them. And above all, I will be able to convey what I want to say to anyone. If I become able to do so, I would like to do a lot of research on Harry Potter in England.

Finally, my attitude toward English has changed after participating in this program. I feel that I would like to study more from now on. And finally, I would like to go study abroad.

3. Mr. MIZUTANI Yuki (a first-year student)

First of all, thank you very much for letting me join this program. Thanks to UoA, I was able to participate in it, because the university provided a lot of financial support for me. Throughout this program, the lessons that are most interesting for me are Critical thinking class and Business experience.

First, in Critical thinking class, we learned RAVEN. RAVEN means reputation, ability to see, vested interest, expertise, and neutrality. Using these five things, you can think more critically. Next, we were divided into three groups. I played a role as a judge, some friends did as prosecution, and the other did as defense. Our teacher raised a fictional murder case, and then, prosecution and defense prepared presentation for explaining if a suspect truly killed a victim or not. The two groups explained to me the flow of the case on the day when the case occurred, and as a judge, I had to choose and judge whether the suspect is guilty or innocent. The two groups presented logically. However, it was difficult to choose, but at last I decided that the suspect was innocent. I knew about the word logical thinking. However, I have never had practice experience of it, so I enjoyed this activity and I liked how to do logical thinking with my friends. This is the reason Critical thinking class impressed me.

Second, in Business experience class, I had to give a presentation with my partner. This is a sudden, but do you know Dragon's Den? This is a British TV program. In this program, a candidate gives investors his/her business idea to receive investment. We did the same thing as this. So, my partner and I designed our product, and next, we prepared to present. By the way, our product's name is "3D food printer", and this can make easy meals like pizza. After the presentation, we needed to answer questions from four investors (two teachers and 2 students), but I felt this was very difficult and challenging. It is because we had to listen carefully to the questions, and had to answer to them, of course, in English. Moreover, the questions are regarding not only our product, but also money such as how much profit our product will make, how much money we have in order to start business, and how much we want from the investors. It was hard for us to negotiate in English. However, I found this activity was so useful because We UoA students will have to give presentation of graduation thesis before graduating from the university. I think this is similar to what I experienced in British Hills.

In conclusion, this program for five days was extremely exciting, fun, and useful. In addition, I have never had experience of staying at a four-star hotel like British Hills. Thus, it was a precious experience to me. If you have even a little interest in improving your English, I highly recommend that you should take part in this program. Finally, please let me say to these who supported me thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

4. Mr. KUSUMOTO Yuto (a first-year student)

I joined this activity to improve my English skills. I can not speak English fluently so I was very anxious at first.

I felt that teachers speak us plainly at British Hills. When I watch foreign movies, I can not understand at all without subtitles. But the teachers in there spoke us clearly. Thank to that I kept up with my classes.

In Critical Thinking class, I did this by thinking from many different perspectives and thinking about things without being bound by stereotypes. It was difficult for me to think it in English.

Next in Business Experience class, we have to think several ideas that start business. Then, I present to teacher my ideas. When I presented, I had to answer some questions that teacher asked me. It was difficult for me to answer in English but it was fun as well. Both of these classes were useful for me.

In general, I felt that five days in British Hills was so interesting. And then I could not tell someone what I thought. So, I decided that I would continue to study and become at least fluent in daily conversation. It was good experience before studying abroad.

5. INOUE Yukito (a first-year student)

I learned many interesting lessons through this experience. Especially, there are two classes that I found interesting.

First, it is class called "Business class". This class is that we think new product ideas and present our teachers. When we present, we are asked question. Then we must answer the question quickly. I could not answer well and answered using only words. Through this class, I thought that English conversation skills to give solid answers to questions are very important for me.

Second, it is class called "Critical Thinking". This class is we judge finally using "RAVEN". I was in a position to defend the suspect on the defense side. Because I had already checked the evidence, I was able to speak out actively during a trial. Therefore, our team was able to win the trial. Through this class, I thought that it is important for me to speak English actively.

Other classes are so interesting for me. For example, snooker was like billiards and I enjoyed it very much. Also, chess was so difficult for me and I lost every match, so I thought I needed to study.

In British Hills, the food was so delicious every day, and I was able to live happily every day. But with table manners, I learned too much and focused too much on how to eat rather than what I ate. It was a pity that I could not taste it because of that. I thought I had to get used to it.

The experience I learned in these 5 days changed my awareness of English. From next year, I would like to have a lot of exchanges with international students. Thank you for letting me participate in the training.

6. KANEKO Kaisei (a second-year student)

The purpose of going British Hills is to improve my English skill for the future. I think this experience is valuable to improve English. I have two reasons why I think about it.

First, we learned about oversea culture. The fact which I felt it are lunch time and the class of Introducing Japan. In the lunch time, we used folk, knife and spoon. We usually use the chopsticks. So, we experience lunch time without the chopsticks. And we learned the table manner. Then we ate the course dinner. I thought it was so difficult that I don't think about the table manner usually. In the class of Introduction Japan, we watched the video including the difference between Japan and oversea. While we stayed the British Hills, I wondered how we say "Itadakimasu" and "Gochisousama" in English. However it was incorrect. In the oversea, they don't say them usually. So, we can learn about it by watching the video.

Second, we have some good class in the British Hills. I think all classes is interesting for me. The lesson which I felt interesting particularly is snooker. In the lesson, we played the snooker. This was the first time to play snooker for me. At first, I felt so difficult that I couldn't control a ball. But I could control a ball gradually and I felt enjoyable. And Before I went to British Hills, I worried about eating because I have many things which I can't eat. But Buffe and course dinner is very tasty. I should have more.

Finally, what I felt couldn't be better is to spend with everyone who went with me. I have to thank them because they give good memory to me. In the free time, I played the badminton and table tennis with them. Before we go to bed, we talked for a long time. Without them, I couldn't make good memory.

7. Mr. HASHIMOTO Nozomi (a second-year student)

I had two purposes in the program. First, it doesn't be afraid to speak English. Second, it's about speaking positively. I believe I have achieved these things.

The classes were mainly discussion, so I was always conscious of speaking. I enjoyed chatting with the teacher and the reception. The teachers were friendly and I was very easy to talk to. All the classes were exciting, and time seemed to pass very quickly.

Critical thinking was very interesting. It was good to think from the five items. Business Experience was the most difficult of all. It was very hard to think about everything, products, pricing, investment, financing. But it was also fun to find the variety of ideas.

In this program, I played chess for the first time. It was very fun. I got addicted to it and heated fights with my roommate in pubs. The pub also had darts, we did it. I also played snooker for the first time. Its rules were a little different from billiards and interesting. Cross-country Skiing was also a little different from skiing, I was scared but I had fun.

The Sherlock Holmes lesson on the last day was very difficult. I could only solve 1 or 2 out of 10. I realized once again that Sherlock Holmes is amazing. All of these lessons were great.

Buffet dinner & breakfast was so wonderful. Different menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner, with a variety of delicious dishes served. There was a course dinner on Wednesday. The main course was the best steak. The table manners class was very informative as I learn things I didn't know. We enjoyed our free time doing all sorts of things. We played sports, darts, chess and just English. It was a short five days, but it's very fantastic and growing five days.