After seven months on The Linguist, Yuko Furusho has earned the title of Linguist Learner of The Month. She is a 32-year old Japanese lady living in Kagoshima City. She learned English for eight years at school and she tried to study English on her own when she was in her twenties, but she wasn't satisfied with her progress. She read several grammar books and she was able to read short sentences in English, but she couldn't communicate properly with native speakers. When Yuko studied English at school, it was for 2 or 3 hours per week and the focus was on grammar and grammar rules. The teachers usually spoke in Japanese to explain the vocabulary and grammar. There wasn't any opportunity to speak or write. Yuko says, "I studied hard but I didn't have an opportunity to meaningfully use the Language." Yuko enjoys The Linguist for many reasons. First, she can study content that is interesting to her and that is at her level. In high school, Yuko's teachers gave her homework that was too difficult. It took all the fun out of learning English. Second, Yuko enjoys reading Steve's blog and The Linguist learners' blogs. The posts provide her with useful tips and she enjoys being able to share information about the content with other learners who are enthusiastic about English. It encourages and motivates her. Finally, Yuko said that the REVIEW section has really helped her. She saves many words and phrases every month and she enjoys learning over 100 new words a month by devoting 15 to 20 minutes a day to the REVIEW section.
As Yuko has a full-time job, she didn't think she would have enough time to study English, but by downloading our audio files she finds it easy to spend a lot of time listening. She explains, "I make a playlist on my ipod that contains 10 content items each month, and I listen to them everyday. I always take my MP3 player with me so I can listen to these content items repeatedly. Thus, I can make better use of my time now." Before Yuko joined The Linguist, she didn't think she would be able to participate in English discussions. However, after 4 months of intensive input, she felt ready to start speaking. Now, she really enjoys speaking! Yuko says, "The tutors are very friendly and I really enjoy speaking with learners who live all over the world. We can exchange opinions and information about a variety of subjects." Most importantly, Yuko notices her improvement. Several years ago, she tried to read Harry Potter in English before the Japanese edition was published but she couldn't read it at all. By increasing her vocabulary, her reading ability has improved a lot. Now, reading English books is one of her favourite hobbies.
