Mr Sachio Katane reflects on his 'English plus Voluntary Work' course in Torquay

The reason why I came here is to talk to as many English people as possible. To tell the truth, I stayed in a small town in England last year, where the school was small but good. My host family was so friendly and kind that they took me to many places. I enjoyed studying English there. During my stay I was also able to take the Cambridge Exam FCE and fortunately pass it. However, despite my host family's hospitality, I sometimes felt isolated for some reason. I was in England, but I didn't always have a lot of opportunities to talk to the local people except for the teachers and my host family.

So when I got a chance to come to England again thanks to my family's understanding, I immediately thought that I would do some voluntary work there and I tried to find schools which have an English course but which also offer the possibility of voluntary work. Using the Internet I found that one of them was International House. I chose the school in Torquay, which is called 'The English Riviera' as it sounded attractive to me. In fact, Torquay is fantastic! There are a lot of beautiful landscapes, the weather is pleasant and even in December it's quite warm. The special thing for me is that the Princess Theatre is nearby and cheap. I can go there almost every week to see musicals, dance shows, music shows etc.

Anyway the school arranged two homes for the elderly for me to visit. One was a residential home called 'Georgian House', where the old people live and the other was a day-care centre called 'St Edmunds', where the old people visit once or twice a week to socialise. This new life started in September. I go to school to take English lessons in the morning and I go to the homes as my voluntary work in the afternoon.

I went to 'Georgian House' for the first eight weeks and now I'm going to 'St Edmunds'. My duties are chatting to the elderly people, joining in with their card games, helping them with jigsaws, and making tea etc. I'm really enjoying myself everyday and I'm sure they enjoy themselves with me.

In addition to this, I would say two more things; one is that Makiko, a Japanese counsellor for us, introduced me to two English people who are learning Japanese, so I share a few hours with them talking to each other in English and Japanese once a week. The other is that I'm taking two dance lessons - Salsa and Merengue, and Ballroom dance - which are held at a college on Monday night and last for 10 weeks.

I'm so lucky that I have had more opportunities to speak English with many people than I expected. Well, a Christmas tree was decorated at 'St Edmunds' a week ago and today a kind of Christmas party will be held. What shall I entertain them - dancing or singing? I'm sure that not only am I enjoying the life in Torquay but also my English is improving too!

Mr Sachio Katane