hope

 Ms.Gruell had hope. She never gave up saving students as a teacher. She kept believing them.
 In The Freedom Writers Diary, she gave her students hope. There were many kinds of people in her class. They had various backgrounds, and some of them were next to violence, drugs, poverty and so on. They were not interested in studying, moreover they had no hope for their future. They were abandoned by most adults, but she didn't desert them and changed their life. They were filled with hope again.
 The people are full of hope for the future. In fact, I want to improve my English skills so I came to this university. I was very poor at English so I was burdened with my homework. However I was able to work hard and continue it because I had hope that I want to progress my English ability.
 Thanks to hope, we can keep making an effort. Even if we face difficult problem, we never give up.
 My this three weeks were very fulfilling. I was able to experience a lot of things which I have never in Japan. I met many people and talked with them so I could make a lot opportunities to speak English. At first I feared, but I did my best.               　             

self-reliance

 In the freedom writers diary, Ms.Gruell encourages students to be independent thinkers and to question authority. Ralph Waldo Emerson, he is an American writer, wrote about being self-reliant. He once wrote, "Who so should be a man, must be a nonconformist." Ms.Gruell handed out a self-evaluation sheet and asked students to write a belief comment on why we thought we deserved that grade. A student wrote "F", then Ms.Gruell called him and said "FUCK YOU! That's what this is! It's a fuck you, and a fuck me, and a fuck everyone who's ever cared about you!" She told him that excuses will not bring about success and that adversity is not something you walk with, but something you leap over.
 Self-reliance is very important. If we evaluate themself, we can look back on our own behavior in the past. I think that the student wrote "F" because he lost self-confidence. He assumed that he was poor at studying. However Ms.Gruell didn't. She belived his possibility of success.
 Self-reliance is energy to start new things. We tend to be afraid of challenging to start something but if we have self-reliance, we can begin new things and continue them. So, self-reliance makes us more active and leads to do something.

tolerance and acceptance

 In the freedom writers diary, racism is one of the most important theme. Students discriminate each other because of races. They make groups with people of the same race. They criticize other people and sometimes fight. For example, a student drew a portrait of a black student. He emphasized a feature of black people and made fun of him. They have various backgrounds but they are all human being. Ms. Gruell teach them importance of tolerance and acceptance through her class. Thanks to her, they begin to respecting each other. She tells them that everyone has possibility to succeed in the future.

 To tell the truth, I have not considered racism well. I have not faced the race problem because there are few kinds of people in Japan. I was surprised that the terrible happening occurred in the world. However I learned the actual situation and importance of respecting others through the book.

fear and making decision because of fear

I think that Ms. Gruell feared her students when she came to Wilson High School in March 1996, because they are not interested in school at all. She was going to be a lawyer at first but because of a riot, she changed her course and became a teacher after all. So she was full of enthusiasm of saving students. However, they conflicted each race and fought in class. She tried to start class but nobody listened what she said and only few students came to class gradually. I thought she feared that she could not go well as a teacher. However, she didn’t give up. She believed them and kept on teaching. She tried to overcome her fear and do what she can do, then her students were changing. She had just fear, she was able to achieve her goal.  

Also in my experience, fear plays an important role. I feel fear when I start new things. In fact, I fear that I cannot keep up with English classes in a foreign country at first. However, thanks to fear, I can prepare for the hardship. If I ready for it, I don’t need to worry the classes and I can attend them positively. So I can learn more knowledge.

Therefore, some fears are essential for our lives. Fears prove that we want to do something well. We feel fear when we achieve something. So fears encourage us challenge a lot of things positively. Fears seems to be negative at first glance, but they are very important.

Self-introduction

Hi, my name is Natsumi Namekawa. I am an International Christian University student. I am from Ibaraki in Japan but I live in Tokyo now.
I have practiced Japanese calligraphy for eleven years. It is called "Shodo" in Japanese. I like reading books in my free time especially Japanese novels. I belong to an orchestra club at my university. I play the contrabass but I am a beginner, so I practice it hard.
I want to improve my English skills in six weeks. Thank you for reading.