Desire to learn English motivates roommates

Photo by Wayne C. Moore
(Left) Rebekah Isaacs (B.F.A., sequential art, 2005) helps Savannah College of Art and Design English as a Second Language students Yoishi Horikoshi and Tomoaki Iwakura pick a new favorite ice cream at Leopold’s Ice Cream on Broughton Street Jan. 31.

By: Laura Chason

Published: Friday, February 17, 2006

When students seek out universities to attend, they usually search for a school that is a leader in the subject they would like to study. Two students in the Savannah College of Art and Design English as a Second Language program were not only looking at their fields of study, but also something else: American English.

According to Tomoaki Iwakura,  a Master of Fine Arts candidate in film and television, “Filmmaking is group work. We need to talk and make a consensus. So, I need to learn English and be good at speaking English to say what I feel, know and think.” Iwakura realized this while working as a gofer for a studio in Japan. The first problem he encountered was that most of the Japanese film personnel could not communicate with their American counterparts because neither had a sufficient knowledge of the other’s language. Added to this was the difference in the culture surrounding filmmaking in Japan versus that in the United States. He decided to attend graduate school in the United States so that he could master English, understand American film crews’ styles and customs, and, in the process, learn how to produce films.

Iwakura said he chose SCAD because of its commitment to continuing technological upgrades in film production equipment as well as its ESL program.

Yoishi Horikoshi’s story is much the same. After working for a few years in Japan, he decided to return to school and study performing arts, a subject that has interested him since adolescence. He resolved to continue his studies at the graduate level in the United States for two reasons: Japan’s university system does not offer an M.F.A. in performing arts, and he wanted to push himself to gain fluency in American English.

Horikoshi was directed to SCAD by a Japanese consulting company that helps potential students identify and apply to American universities.

Horikoshi attended the Summer 2005 ESL program. When he arrived, he had no English skills, except for a few vocabulary words he had memorized. He said, “When I came here, Savannah was a nightmare. Imagine: I couldn’t speak English. Everyone could speak English or their native language with their classmates [referring to other ESL students]. Inside the class, I couldn’t understand English, and after class, I couldn’t speak with my classmates. If I could have spoken English, it would not have been a nightmare.” He realized, though, that “the situation was inconvenient, but also convenient.” Conditions forced him to use English in all circumstances.

Iwakura, on the other hand, arrived six weeks later for fall quarter 2005. His first few weeks in Savannah were frustrating because he could find neither a room nor a roommate until Horikoshi offered Iwakura a chance to be his roommate. The potential downfall in rooming with a fellow Japanese speaker is that English could be relegated to classroom language and Japanese could take over in all other situations. For both students, it could have slowed down their speed in learning English.

Thus, the two embarked on a useful but difficult competition. During the time Horikoshi was alone in Savannah, he had become accustomed to speaking English in all situations, so the two decided to continue the habit. They do not use Japanese with each other, except when talking about rent and utilities. When one resorts to Japanese, he has to buy the other a soft drink or juice. The friendly bet means that the competition maintains its game-like quality. Usually, the two are able to go a whole week without either having to pay up.

Both claim that their competition produces results. They find that their responses to English speakers are much quicker and they are more willing to ask questions if they don’t understand. Most importantly, their competition increases their ability to use English in more situations. Iwakura said there is a key to learning another language quickly: “Forget your own language. Just kidding!” Horikoshi said, “The real key is please speak English. It may be impossible, but I suggest speaking English as much as you can.”

This quarter, both students are completing Level III of SCAD’s six-level ESL program, which is approved by the American Association of Intensive English Programs.


Chason is an English as a Second Language professor.