My name is Makika, and I’m originally from Japan. I’ve been living in New Zealand for 10 years now. Japanese is my first language, and before coming here, my English was at an elementary level — although I did spend a year in Australia on a working holiday, which helped a little. A friend recommended DynaSpeak to me, and I’m glad they did! This semester, I’ve been studying Level 3 General English. It’s been a great experience — I’ve met lots of people and had many chances to practise my listening and speaking. Since studying here, I feel more confident communicating with my kids, my family, and my classmates. My goal is to keep improving my English. I used to be a primary school teacher in Japan, and I’d love to work in a similar field here in New Zealand one day.