Introduction

My name is Yasuaki Hamada and I’m doing a Masters in Migration Studies at Sussex University.

Why did you choose to study in the UK?

I chose to study in England because England is particularly good for research in Migration Studies and nowadays England has fourth generation migrants so I’m curious about their real lives, such as their education programme or business.

What did you learn in the Pre-sessional course?

The Pre-sessional course helped me to improve my whole English. I learnt how to avoid plagiarism and how to write structurally and I also learnt presentation skills and note taking and sometimes I went to the lecture during the Pre-sessional course and that was really helpful for improving listening.

How is your course taught?

My course is one year and we have workshops and seminars every week. Every week we have lots of reading and during the class we participate in class, we discuss some topic and reading. [In the first term] I was assessed by two term papers and the course I took this term is assessed by the rate of participation in the class and a presentation.

How is the teaching different in the UK?

It’s completely different in Japan because the class is organised by the tutor in Japan and the student is more passive; so it’s completely different from England.

How do you participate in seminars?

In seminars I found it difficult to participate because we have never learnt how to participate in the seminar actively, so first of all I was very embarrassed. If you don’t know any words you can ask during the class or even after the class you can ask, I think they are pleased to tell you.

What was it like writing your first term paper?

When I was writing my first term paper I found it was quite difficult to write because first of all I had to do a lot of reading and it took a lot of time so I mistook the schedule. So next time what I’m going to do is I’m going to make a plan, the perfect plan, and then just try to keep to the plan.

What are you going to do after your masters?

After the masters course what I’m going to do is study in doctoral course and my real aim is to find something new in migration studies.