There's a way.

I set up an English workshop for mothers in Fukuoka around four years ago. Now there are more than 8 members in it, and we have been learning together with a native English teacher.
When we had a workshop yesterday as usual, a lady showed up and asked me whether she could join us.
"Sure thing!" I said.
I was amazed by her. She spoke English fluently and gently; she had a large vocabulary. What's more, it turned out that she could speak Chinese as well! I've never seen anyone who had a command of two foreign languages. As you know, I've just started to study Chinese. Sometimes, destiny works in a wonderful way.

I've been struggling with my limited listening skill these days. I'm apt to feel lost when I'm listening to CNN news or an interview program in English. I'd say it doesn't happen to me all the time. I suppose I have no trouble when I'm in conversation with people. Why is that? If I don't get what they are talking about, I can ask them to explain to me. However, I have no chance to do it especially when I'm taking a listening test. I want to fix my weakness.

This is why I've just started to study how to pronounce from the start. If I can pronounce words properly, I should be able to understand them appropriately. I need to make progress for my listening.

This is "my pronounce" you can hear.

I took several English classes last week, such as "Reading and Listening class," "Advanced English speaking class," "Intermidiate English speaking class" and "English writing class." All of these classes inspired me a lot. I thoroughly enjoyed studying with a teacher.
One of teachers told us an interesting theory. He said we should start to learn a second language by the age of 9, because our listening skills are dwindling down after the age of 10. He also said that if you are over 9(already, unfortunately), you can't master a second language exactly the same way as little children do. According to his theory, there's no difference between the age of 10 and 80 when they study a foreign language. Curious, isn't it? In a way, I think he is right.

My 7-year-old son understands Japanese grammar perfectly. He has never been taught what the Japanese grammar is. When it comes to mother tongues, children don't need to take any grammar classes. They can learn things from people being around.

So, what should adults do for improving English skill? The teacher insisted on just listening.
"Don't waste your time to read grammar books. Listen to music. Listen to people speaking English. You'll get what I want to say," he assured.

I set up an English workshop around 4 years ago, and since then I've been studying English with my friends twice a month. I've got some new words from today's lesson. I'll make some example sentences using them.

1) embark on ... to start something
I wanted to embark on a new plan in my career, but I failed to.

2) sluggish ... moving slowly than normal
I don't know what I should do with a sluggish worker.

3)　hamper ... to restrict someone's movements or activities
Learning English shouldn't hamper child-rearing.


It'd be nice if you'd correct my sentences.

My friends visited me for an English workshop today and we spent lovely time together again. Since we were a bit hectic during our kids' summer holiday, we didn't have enough time to prepare for today's workshop. However, we spoke English to talk about our lives and learned a lot from each other.

Although we can study by ourselves, it's pleasant to have some company to aim at the same goal.