An ELC staff member participated in an online Speaking Session and reported on their experience.

Having made a reservation through TUFS online reservation site, I received an email from ELC on the day before the session for the date, time, and Zoom URL(the black square in the photo below actually contained the Zoom information).

I clicked on this URL short before the session start time. Finally the session began! Today, I participated in Regular Session B1(Basic). Fortunately, there were no other participants except me, so the session was one-on-one.

You may get nervous about one-on-one sessions, but actually it will be better than group discussions to study at your own pace. I also enjoyed the relaxed mood of the session.

Honestly, I am a beginner English language learner and have never had the experience of studying abroad, so I could only speak using a limited English vocabulary at a slow pace. However, the English Advisor who conducted the session understood what I was trying to say and corrected my grammatical mistakes. When I couldn’t catch what they said, they repeated it for me over and over again.

After the session, I realized that you don’t need to worry too much about your English skills. However, I feel it is important to prepare in advance. By choosing topics to discuss, looking up words and idioms that you might use, and practicing before the session, you will be able to relax and speak with confidence during the session. You can also expand your vocabulary.

On the other hand, I experienced some difficulties during an online session. It was harder to find the right moment to start speaking compared to face-to-face discussions. I think it is better to enable video so that you can see the person you are talking with. Video makes it possible to communicate in a more natural style because it is clearer when you are supposed to speak, and you have visual cues which helps with timing. 

Most of all, I am so jealous of TUFS students who can attend these sessions free of charge. I highly recommend that you attend the sessions. Please feel free to join us!