Second round of Eiken Test

Today, I went to Kanda to take the second round of Eiken Test, the first grade of English Proficiency Test. Because I didn’t prepare anything special for it, I was a bit nervous for this interview test. I knew that I would be asked to deliver a two-minutes speech after one-minute preparation. I also knew that topics are usually related to current affaires. But, two minutes for speech is sometimes felt as if it is eternal, and sometime as if it is just a couple of seconds, so I marched up to Kanda Foreign language University, wishing that my topic would be easy question, at least not difficult one such as “Tell us about how to use AK-47”, or “Briefly describe copulation of hippopotamus”.

When I came in the interview room, there were two interviewers sitting in front of me with enigmatic smile. One was Japanese lady, and another was apparently native English speaker. At first, they asked me to introduce myself briefly. And then, I was asked to flip over a piece of green paper on the desk. There were five questions on the sheet. As long as I remember, one of them was, “What impact will the declining birth rate have on Japanese society?” or something like that. Another one was, “Will increasing indifference of Japanese young people to politics be serious problem?” But, the question that I chose was, “Is patrol by civilian neighborhood effective to lesson the number of crimes?” I chose this question because I am familiar with this matter as a civil servant.

To be honest, I think that my speech was a bit messy. I couldn’t be finished with it when timer went off. But I believe that I could present my opinion briefly and point out reasons why I though so. I could deal with Q & A time after the speech without any fatal gaffe, and even enjoyed conversation with interviewers. Indeed, interview itself is usually a stressful situation, but I often attend Nova Voice room, where sometimes descends into awkward pandemonium. So, I might well be trained unwittingly with this kind of situation, maybe.

I will get the result by July, 27. I shouldn’t be overconfident, but I think that I made it, unless those serious-looking interviewers were offended with my outrageous T-shirt.