~ My English Learning Journey ~ I began studying English in junior high school, which equates to grade 7 (7th grade is more commonly said) in the USA. I just thought of English as a subject because it is one of the major subjects in our education system, which means I was forced to study it in order to graduate. However, I hadn’t been studying English since I graduated from college until I moved to Canada a year ago. When I first came here, my english was like beginner level; I could only speak one word or short sentence. Last year, I took full-time ESL classes at a language center for three semesters, which was about nine months in total. The ESL program was only focused on academic English, and it was quite beyond my level. I felt overwhelmed because I needed to spend approximately 6-8 hours a day finishing assignments for the second and third semesters. For me, it was impossibly tough and stressful to catch up with the program. Most frustratingly, I realized that even though I had been studying English intensively for almost one year, my speaking skills hadn’t improved at all. I couldn’t even communicate with native speakers properly when I was purchasing something in a coffee shop or grocery store. These have made me lose confidence in speaking English to others. Actually, I am an interesting and confident person in my own language, but I feel that my lack of speaking skill limits my “English personality.“ In order to rebuild my confidence and get a social life while living abroad, I took up online one-on-one tutoring classes two months ago to improve my speaking skills. I wish I could feel more confident soon and be able to speak fluently in authentic conversations.