by Akemi Ashida

19 November 2008

Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan: On my final day in Kyrgyzstan, I experienced something I'll never forget. Staff at my host NGO staff and children with diabetes gave me their thanks in English via their notebooks. In their notebooks there were many words which I had introduced to them during my English classes.

I am Akemi Ashida, and I’m a university student in Japan. From 22 May to 18 August 2008, I worked in Kyrgyzstan as a University Volunteer. My host NGO was a hospital for diabetics, and I offered English training both to the staff and people and children with diabetes.

During my classes, I taught English without using their mother tongue. It was a challenge for me to offer the training only in English and teach my second language. Many people asked me: “Why are you an English teacher? You are Japanese.” At first I couldn’t reply to this question. However, I found my answer.

A few weeks after I started to offer the English, I noticed one point. I could understand their feelings about speaking English very well. For example, they often hesitated to speak English because they were afraid of making a mistake. Also they didn’t have the confidence.

When I studied English, I also faced the same situation. Therefore I could advise them from my own experience. I think that the mother tongue is not so important when we study another language, and we can teach a language to others even if it is not our native language. I am not a native speaker of English, but I taught them the enjoyment and importance of studying other languages. This is my answer to that question.

Next, I will tell you about my life in Kyrgyzstan. This was the first time I stayed in Central Asia and an area where people speak Russian. At first, I was confused. I haven’t studied Russian; therefore I couldn’t understand it and I couldn't explain myself when downtown.

However, I wanted to speak to other people and decided to acquire Russian. Therefore I started to use Russian actively. This became fun for me to acquire Russian, and I better enjoyed the culture of Kyrgyzstan. Sometime I was troubled by cultural differences, for example the style of work and life. But there were also fresh things for me. It was useful for me to exchange ideas with my colleagues and friends in Kyrgyzstan.

I would like to turn this experience to advantage in the future. I learned a lot of things in Kyrgyzstan. If I had stayed in Japan, I would never have gained this experience. I appreciate this experience very much and all people who I met in this programme, plus my parents and friends in Japan.