2000 School Magazine

friends from abrood

COMMUNICATION WITH OTHERS - SOMETHOUGHTS BYTWOTSUSHIMA GIRLS' HIGH STUDENTS

What do you use when you communicate with others?

Most of you uselanguage when you communicate.

What do you do when you want to communicate with a person who speaks a different language?

We have become aware that it is very important to make ourselves understood in English here in Australia. Before we came to Australia, we thought it's not too difficult, but we were wrong. At first we could understand what the other person was saying, but we couldn't tell everything we wanted to say in English. It was a serious problem for us. But as time passed, we were able to do that because of the people who helped us. Our host families, teachers, friends ... all of them helped us to make our English better Before that, it was allwe could do to keep smiling. We think we were not wrong. Smiling is one of the ways to communicate with others' It tells the other person that"I'm happy to talk with you" without any words. Facial expression and gestures are important as well as language, especially when communicating with people who speak different languages.

Bushimo Girls High tm Ayumi, FFko ond Mayuri

We will keep smiling all the time from now on too.

Ayumi Okowo May urni Umedo

were not going to see ach other for a year. Australian people always hug and they make sure that they love each other. I think it's one of the reasons that Japanese people are afraid of what others think about them, because we don't have the way to make sure if we love each other or not. I have shown some differences between positive people and negative people. it sounds like they're very different from each other but what they really want is the same, I think. They both want friends and family whom they can trust and respect. The only difference is that you're straight and we're still awkward with communications. Maybe, we should invent our own way to show our feelings, the same as you give a hug to each other because actually it's beautiful to express our feelings from inside to outside of us.

WHAT 15 THE ANSWER FOR "NEGATIVE + POSITIVE"?

We don't know how to tell our feelings. We don't know how to communicate. We don't know how to express our love. We're afraid of everything because we all are awkward towards each other. Who are we? We are Japanese people who are completely negative. You're not afraid of everything. You're not afraid of others' eyes. Who are you? You're Australian people who are completely positive. What's the difference? Here's an example. When a Japanese person gives a gift to someone, they say, "This is a boring gift" even if they think it's a nice gift. Probably Australian people would say, "I hope you'll like it"or something like that. It's simple but it's the appropriate words, I think. The reason why those Japanese people say that is so that she will not expect to get a nice gift. They are worried about what she would think about the gift. They have forgotten what the most important thing is. It's that they give her a gift, their kindness. In Japanese we don't give friends and family a hug at all. When I left Japan a couple of months ago, weiust said, "Good-bye, " no hugs, and I got on the plane though we knew we

aiko Chordni

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Enka Chordni & Mane Meek

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Enko Chotoni with Yeor 9 students