Hiromich Hayashi works on road maintenance as a public servant.

I work as a public servant. I work on road maintenance, planning new roads to be built, and coordinating with related organizations. Even now, six months after I started working here, I still have a hard time because my job is all new to me, but I am determined to tackle everything without fear.

What are your memories of attending KEC?

As for my memories of KEC, I feel that it was a fun place to learn English. In fact, when I was attending, I felt like I was playing with English. One memory that I particularly enjoyed was the Christmas party. We had a very enjoyable Christmas, exchanging gifts with everyone, singing songs, and eating sweets.

What does “English” mean to you?

I think English is one of the most important elements that make my personal life enjoyable. When I traveled abroad during my college years, I had the opportunity to speak English locally and managed to get people to understand me with my faltering English, body language, and a smile. I still remember talking with the local people as a very good memory. Of course it is fun to travel abroad and visit tourist attractions, but I realized that talking with local people is also one of the pleasures of traveling. I came to realize through this trip that English is essential to enjoy the pleasure of speaking, and that my personal life would be more enjoyable if I could speak English.

What are your dreams and goals for the future?

My dream for the future is to have a happy family and travel abroad with my family. In that case, I hope to be able to speak English. To achieve this, I plan to work hard now and listen to English conversation CDs whenever I have time so that I do not forget English.

Message to everyone at KEC

I attended KEC from kindergarten until 6th grade. At that time, I enjoyed learning English and looked forward to going to my weekly lessons. I would like to encourage everyone to go to KEC not as if you are going to learn English, but as if you are going to have fun. If you do that, you will naturally get used to English and you will come to like English. KEC is a school with teachers who make you love English.

A word from Matoba

He was a soccer boy since he was little and all black. He had cute white teeth when he smiled. Although he was a bit rebellious at times, he rarely forgot to do his homework and would often show me his notebooks, saying, “Look what I did, teacher. He did what he had to do without parental instruction, and I was impressed that he was an only child who had developed a sense of autonomy. I still remember that when he was about to graduate, he happily took out the blue cell phone that his mother had bought for him and said, “Sensei, please be my e-mail friend. When I heard that you became a public servant, I said to him, “Make it a good place to live for us, the citizens of the prefecture! I gave him a shout out.