The students from Seriryo go to GRC (Green River College) because it is our sister college. It has two campuses. One is Kent Campus, and the other is Main Campus. Which campus you go to depends on your English skills.

Kent Campus

(Kent City)

Level 1

The students at Level 1 study about basic English, especially the alphabets.

Level 2

The students at Level 2 study English of a Japanese junior high school level. You also improve your speaking skills and writing skills.

Level 3

The students at Level 3 study English of a Japanese junior and senior high school level. You also learn how to write essays, and improve your reading skills.

Main Campus

(Auburn City)

Level 4

The students at Level 4 have good speaking skills and writing skills. The level is more difficult than Level 1 to 3.

Level 5

The students at Level 5 have high English skills. They take academic classes like regular GRC students.

The students can go to GRC as an academic student for two years or transfer to other universities in the U.S. after they complete studying at Level 5. The students who join the study abroad program at Seiryo basically study st GRC as an IESL student. Students who already have high English skills can study at GRC as a regular academic student.

A lot of students from foreign countries are in GRC, so some events and activities are ready for them during the orientation week.

Day 1

It was the first day to go to GRC. I handed in my personal information and copied my passport there. Also, you need to submit the information about your insurance if you had bought your own insurance in Japan.

Day 2

We leaned about the classes and the life in America from the advisers and played a game with other IESL students to make new friends. We also took a placement test, which was for reading and listening.

Day 3

We took another placement test. Then, Jean and Clara, who were IESL advisers, talked about the school life. After that, we went to a camp called CORE. We enjoyed horseback riding, paint ball shooting, archery, and jump rope. Moreover, we were singing and dancing with other IESL students and some volunteer staff while we were making a campfire.

Day 4

We had a chance to enjoy activities which we hadn't tried the day before, and played volleyball and basketball at a huge park. Then, we went back home in the afternoon. CORE is a good opportunity to make new friends and meet academic students because a lot of students join the camp. I recommend making new friends of academic students, and they will give you some advice for anything.

Day 5

An adviser announced about our levels in IESL. Then, we got our email address at GRC and got our student identification card issued.

Day 6

We joined the Seattle trip. It was for free. We went to downtown Seattle and the Puget Sound area. I enjoyed walking around at Pike Place Market because there were many stores which had wonderful things.

The students who study at GRC for the first time must take a class called FFS. An adviser and academic students taught us how to use the campus and about the school life. We were devided into small groups, and an academic student took part in each group. The program includes going somewhere in groups and playing some games outside the class. The class schedule depends on your level, so you must check your schedule. My group had Chinese, Vietnamese, and Japanese. We became good friends to go out with.

Going to a Restaurant

Enjoying Skating

The team began in the fall quarter in 2016. Jean and Clara, who were our advisers, helped the team improve English skills, make new friends, and achieve something within the team. The advisers thought that IESL students had less interesting events than academic students.

It is optional to join the team, but you can get confidence if you join it. I joined it in the fall and winter quarters.

Fall Quarter

We had a leadership training and organized a pizza party. Only those who are in the engagement team are allowed to join the leadership training. The event taught us about thinking of our opinions and having our ideas. The pizza party was open for any students in IESL to join. It was a big event for the engagement team. We planned about the place, the time, and the contents. We held the party after school at Kent Campus. Amazingly, nearly 50 IESL students came. We ate pizza and played some games. It was a very great time.

Winter Quarter

We had a few days off because we had one of the heaviest snowfall in recent years, so we didn't have enough time to plan any events. Therefore, we concentrated on organizing a culture party. The purpose was to introduce our countries as well as learn about other cultures. Nao and I made a poster about the Japanese language. On the day of the event, we saw many people interested in “Japanese English,” such as “pan (bread),” “stove (heater),” and “American dog (corn dogs).” I had to communicate well enough with the visitors to the event that day. I was glad to join the event.

GRC has four quarters, and I spent the time there in the fall and winter quarters. The students in IESL study English each quarter. Then, they take final exams to go up to the next level or stay at the same level. I started from Level 2 by the placement tests which I took during the the orientation week.

At Level 2, one instructor teaches students grammar, reading/writing, and listening/speaking classes.

Instructor: Ken

Classmates at Level 2

My instructor was Ken. He is American, and he has a wife from Japan. He really made us focus on speaking. He made a group before we answered some questions and wrote paragraphs. Each group had two or three members to talk to each other. I thought that it was important to improve our English skills. Moreover, we are not allowed to use a dictionary in Ken's class, and we had to give our phone to him beforehand, so we had to talk things out if we didn't understand a word. These rules also improved our English skills. He always taught us kindly if we asked some questions.

We didn't have any fixed class schedules, so we were flexible about what to study each day.

Grammar

We studied about some grammar of a junior high school level, and we took a quiz every day. That way, we each learned our own weak points to improve.

We learned about grammar items such as the present form, the past form, the present progressive form, used to, the past progressive form, the present perfect form, the present perfect progressive form, the future form, would, should, the comparative, and more.

Reading/Writing

We didn't study much about reading.

We studied about writing instead. We wrote a paragraph after we watched a movie or a short animation.

We leaned how to write a basic paragraph, using “first, second, third, then, after that, finally” in the paragraph.

Listening/Speaking

We didn't study much about listening either.

We had to make a presentation, which was for 5 minutes. Ken also chose two students, and they talked for 5 minutes in front of the other students.

Presentation topics were “What we should study to go to Level 3,” “introduce myself,” “introduce a restaurant,” and “introduce a commercial.” We also had to teach some grammar to our classmates using Power Point. It was a good experience for me.

At Level 3, we had two classes. One was the class for grammar and reading/writing, and the other was the class for listening/speaking.

Instructor (Grammar, Reading and Writing): Sue

Classmates

Sue taught us grammar and reading/writing. She spoke very fast, so I first didn't understand what she said. I was disappointed at myself because I had already lived in the U.S. for three months with some confidence.

Instructor: Priscilla

During a Presentation

Priscilla taught us listening/speaking. She was calm and kind. She spoke slowly, but sometimes used difficult words.

Grammar

（70-90 mins）

We also learned some grammar of a junior high school level, but it was more difficult than Level 2. However, the instructor taught us some basic grammar carefully, so we got good grammar skills.

In addition, the instructor taught us quickly, so you should ask the instructor guestions if you don't understand.

We learned about grammar items such as the past participle form, the present perfect progressive form, gerunds, infinitives, the comparative and the superlative.

Reading/Writing

（70-90 mins）

Sue recommended two textbooks, and we learned with them. They were small and thin books, but we read them closely. The books had a lot of words which I didn't know. Also, Sue requested us to read fast. Reading was difficult for me, but I thought that my word power and reading speed impoved.

We read two books. One was about Rosa Parks, who was an activist of the civil rights movement, and the other was about Ernest Shackleton, who was a polar explorer. Then we answered questions and memorized some words about those books.

We wrote paragraphs and essays in the writing class. We had to write an essay within a limited time at the final exam. I didn't have writing skills very much. However, I finally made it and finished writing a good essay in the final exam. Some essays had different ways to write from those in Japan, and I got cofused sometimes.

We learned some styles of an essay such as Listing、Time、 Cause and Effect、 Compare and Contrast. We also learned that we should write a paragraph about the given topic, so we shouldn't change the topic while writing.

Listening/Speaking

（90 mins）

We took a quiz after we watched a comedy drama called “Modern Family.” After that, we made a group, and we talked about the drama to answer some questions. We learned many American jokes. The class was very fun. Moreover, I was able to understand English which the characters used at the end of the quarter. Also, I was able to laugh with my friends at the same time too.

We watched a video about something, and took a note. Then, we took a test. Also, the instructor taught us idioms and difficult words before we watched the video. After that, we answered questions.

We had to make a presentation after we watched a video about something. The style was either a solo presentation or a group one. The group one was difficult because I had to make Power Point with my teammates. The presentation was important to talk fluently with correct grammar. It was hard to prepare, but I realized to improve my English skills.

We made a presentation about “the second language,” “sleeping,” and “negotiation.” For the presentation about the second language, we had to interview a person who had the second language. For the presentation about sleeping, the instructor gave a different topic to each student, and we had to make a research for the presentation. Also, for the presentation about negotiation, we had to make a pair and use different styles such as “win-win,” “lose-lose,” and “hard-hard” for the presentation.