〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓 2009.11. 27発行.No11（毎週金曜日発行）〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓
株式会社 セイガンスピーク メールマガジン
Sagan Speak Co., Ltd English Educational Newsletter
(このＨＴＭＬメールはインターネットに接続した状態でご覧下さい)
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このメールは、これまでの弊社とお名刺を交換させて戴いた学校関係者様にお送りしています。
〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓 今 週 の Ｉ Ｎ Ｄ Ｅ Ｘ 〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓
１．気になる最近のニュース
２．弊社開発の新英語授業システム「リンクインシステム」のセミナー開催(その２)
３．弊社所属の外国人派遣講師による日本の英語教育への提言(その４)
４．スティーブン自叙伝(第９話・後編)
５．編集後記
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〓 １．気になる最近のニュース 〓
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●IELTS aiming
to become Japan's 'new' English test
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/language/20091124TDY10004.htm
上記の関連報道
●英検協会とブリティッシュ・カウンシルが英語検定IELTSの共同運営で合意
http://www.eiken.or.jp/news/kyoukai/091117r01.html
●義務教育費の国庫負担金「抜本的見直しを」 事業仕分け
http://www.asahi.com/edu/news/TKY200911250378.html
●推薦入試廃止８県・・・埼玉、千葉など公立校
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/kyoiku/news/20091120-OYT8T00845.htm
●義務教育費 日教組への甘い顔
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/life/education/091127/edc0911270315003-n1.htm
●学費滞納、なお高水準 県内私立中高、長期の割合増加 神奈川
http://www.asahi.com/edu/news/TKY200911240368.html
●発注ミスで「つくる会教科書」発注 学校負担で別の本購入へ
http://www.asahi.com/edu/news/TKY200911250236.html
●全国こども英語スピーチコンテスト：難波さんらが１位
http://mainichi.jp/life/edu/archive/news/2009/11/20091123ddm041040088000c.html
●政権交代の波 「少人数学級」
http://mainichi.jp/life/edu/archive/news/2009/11/20091124ddm002010039000c.html
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〓 ２．弊社開発の新英語授業システム「リンクインシステム」のセミナー開催(その２)〓
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
■去る１１月１６日、世田谷区の某校におきまして、弊社開発の新英語授業システム
「リンクインシステム」(特許出願中)に関するセミナーを開催いたしました。
リンクインシステムとは、簡単に言うと、日本人英語教師による通常の英語授業と、外国人
英語講師により番外編的に実施されていた英語授業とを結びつける(リンクイン)ことで、
お互いの授業が有機的に関連させ、よりこれまで以上の効果と結果を生徒にもたらすという
授業システムです。具体的には、日本人教師が教科書を使って教えた英語授業の内容(読解・
文法等)をその後に行われる外国人講師による全編英語の授業において、展開・発展、堀下
げていくというものです。当然、生徒にとっては反復的・復習的効果がもたらされますので、
両授業のリンクの有無で外国人講師の授業の効果が一変します。せっかく、費用をかけて
採用している外国人講師の存在です。一週間の中で限られた英語授業の時間数という有限
資源を有効的に活用すべきではないでしょうか？今回のセミナーの参加者様からのご質問
をご紹介いたします。
●ご質問その３
「学校側にとって生徒達の大学入試の成功が当面の課題です。そこで、試験対策とし
てリンクインシステムが効果的かどうか教えて下さい。」
弊社側回答
→「海外の部署に勤務している日本人ビジネスマンの大多数の実感として、たとえ学校卒
業後に自力で習った英語力を駆使したとしても、いまだに英語での会話の中で多くの損を
し、多くの恥もかいているとのことで、そんな経験から、英語を話す力はできるだけ若い
うちから身につけることが重要であるとのことです。ご承知のとおり、これまでの日本の
英語教育による英語は実用性が低いと言われ続けております。確かに、学校にとっては、
大学受験試験のための試験的英語も重要です。しかし、今後は、入学試験での英語問題の
内容も実用的な内容へと変わってくるはずですし、試験以外でも、文系の学生ならば当然
に、たとえ理系やスポーツ系に進学して就職したとしても、必ず将来、生徒にとって英語
の力が必要になるはずです。さらに言えば、もしも、社会人なって英語も話せなせないよ
うであれば、いい仕事もできないだろうし、ある意味、仕事の成功もできないとも言える
かもしれません。その意味で、リンクインシステムの導入は、未来の有能な人材を今まで
以上に輩出していこうとする学校にとって、有効的な英語教育システムであり、これから
の学校にとっては必然的なものかもしれません。その意味で、学校は今迫っている大学入
試での生徒の成功も尊重する一方で、受験の先にある社会人としての生徒の成功も尊重す
べきではないでしょうか？最近、日本はオリンピック開催地招致活動に失敗しました。
その理由は英語でのロビイング活動が不十分だったからと言われております。国際化が進
む社会で、英語教育の重要性は今後ますます増加してくるでしょう。実用英語を重視すれ
ば、受験英語がないがしろになるという懸念を耳にしますが、そもそもどんな英語であれ、
英語は１つです。実用英語は試験英語に通じていますし、試験英語は実用英語にも結局通
じています。そもそも、弊社のリンクインシステムの理念は４技能統合型英語授業の実現
によって、これまでバラバラで実施されていた日本人英語教師の授業成果と外国人英語教
師をリンクさせて、生徒の理解を従来よりも数段高めることにあります。当然、従来の英
語授業をよりも、導入後の英語授業の方が入試対策に十分に資すると考えております。」
（以上、来週に続きます。）
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〓３．弊社所属の外国人派遣講師による日本の英語教育への提言(その４) 〓
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■今週も弊社の派遣講師Angela Stark(アンジェラ・ストーク)による、彼女の経験を通した
日本の英語教育への提言です。
Learning in Disguise:
Games
Last week I wrote about a group writing activity that brought together students of
different ability levels. Today, I will to continue on the theme of having fun while
learning with another topic: games.
I am generally not a fan of using games in the classroom, and for a number of reasons.
First of all, games can require a lot of class time to set up – it takes longer than one
would expect to arrange the students into groups, have them decide which order they’ll
go in, and so on. Additionally, many games require only minimal usage of English,
and—worst of all—some can easily deteriorate into chaos. In the teaching community,
classroom game playing consequently has a bad reputation; the popular opinion seems to
be that a quality educator should not lose valuable study time to “fun and games.”
So, you can imagine my surprise when one of my schools asked that I devote the last
ten or fifteen minutes of every class to a game or fun activity. Less than two years
into my teaching career at the time, I felt I’d had enough bingo, karuta
(a card slapping game), and “Fruits Basket”
to last a lifetime.
Fortunately,
I’d also had the opportunity to work with some experienced and highly
motivated
teachers, and thereby pick up a couple of games with minimal set up
time and optimal
English usage. As I employ
these games in my teaching, I continue to see the wisdom
in my school’s request.
This week I used my favorite game, which I would like to tell you about here.
First, allow me
to set the scene for you: We are nearing the end of the semester and
the weather is getting cold.
With summer vacation far behind them and winter break just
out of reach, the students’ energy levels are low. Yesterday was the last class before
finals for two of my conversation classes. This is not the school that requested
games;
as such, I generally conduct these classes somewhat sternly. For the first twenty
minutes of class, I reviewed the material for their upcoming test. I then gave them some
time to study and practice the dialogues with their speaking
partners. After about
fifteen minutes, their motivation was dwindling and they were beginning
to look bored.
“Do you want to play a
game?” I asked. They looked
skeptical, but interested.
Here’s the
game:
Divide the
class into teams of 4-6 students.
Have them decide their play order
(perhaps using rock-paper-scissors). Tell the first student of each group to
stand up,
and then ask a question that reviews grammar they have studied. Watch carefully to see
which team raises a hand first
(if you have another teacher in the room, ask them to help judge).
Give that student about ten seconds to speak. If their answer is grammatically
incorrect,
let another team answer, and if theirs is incorrect, continue to
another team. When you
get a correct answer, give that team a point, and begin the next round
with the second
member of each team and a new question. For variation you can give one point for
short
answers and two points for long answers. If the point spread is such that there
are teams
with no chance of winning near the end of the game, double or triple
the point values of
the last few questions to keep their motivation up.
Competition is
the key element here; there’s nothing like losing a point to another team
because one has dropped a preposition or used the wrong tense. The game helps students
assemble the bits of English knowledge they already “own” together into
fluent English
communication, not only because they are incited to form complete and
correct sentences to
win the game, but also as a result of listening to their classmates’
mistakes and successes.
Yesterday, the game had the additional benefits of perking up a class
of sleepy girls
and preparing them for their final tests.
Perhaps games
aren’t always so bad. In fact, I’m
starting to think of them as
“learning in disguise.”
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〓 ４．スティーブン自叙伝(第９話後編“Sending out a search party ”) 〓
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■本メルマガに連載形式にて好評掲載中の弊社 スティーブン・オーストウィック
の前半生です。今回の第９話(後編)は、前回の前編からの続きになります。“
Sending Out A Search Party – continued
When walking through farmers fields one would generally walk at the side of the
field next to the dykes because the edge of the dykes naturally and conveniently
create a pathway to walk on. As you may or may not know, dykes were invented by
the Dutch a long time ago, and they are used primarily for draining water from land,
farmers use them for draining their fields, and they are also great fun for
playing a game called ‘Chicken’ which I will come on to a little later on in
the story. Anyway, when walking down the side of dykes one would sometimes have
to beat down nettles and brush bramble bushes and other such bushes to one side to
continue on one’s journey, but this was part of the fun, and we were always
well equipped with penknives and big sticks to help us to do this.
As I remember the day was a good one, beautiful English summer weather, the sun
shining brightly, beautiful blue sky with just the right amount of clouds mixed in
to make it look like a place that you just wanted to float up to and play in.
England is not a mountainous country, far from it, so one tends to feel that the
sky is a lot lower than it actually is. I think my mates and I tried on more than
one occasion to reach up and touch the sky, as we also tried to jump up and touch
a cloud or two, it really felt that possible. By now we were about a third of the
way into out journey and we were just about to enter a corn field when we heard
someone shouting and a dog barking. We all turned around and in the distance we
could see a man and his dog, the man was carrying a gun and walking at a pace
that had a clear intent of wanting to quickly catch up to us. This worried my
mates and I a lot, so we just stopped and waited for the man and his dog to catch
up to us, as you can imagine we were all wondering who he was and what was going t
o happen to us. After a general consensus of opinion we all came to the conclusion
that we would all be taken to the police station and charged with trespassing,
our mums and dads would be told, and we would all be in deep trouble. To be
honest I used to be frightened of dogs, and every single dog I ever came across
seemed to be aware of my fear, it is true what they say about dogs, they are man’s
best friend, but in my case they were my foe and they all wanted to bite me,
at least that is what I had convinced myself of.
It did not matter if the dog was small, medium sized or huge, they all knew I
was scared of them and they took great delight in seeing the panic in my face when
they started growling, snarling and jumping up at me, so I was not so worried about
what the man was going to say or do, but more worried about what the dog was going
to do. The man got to within five or six feet of us and we could clearly see
then that he was a farmer, he asked us what we were doing and we told him that we
were on our way to Rawcliffe, which was our final destination. He told us that we
were not supposed to be walking in his field, which we obviously already knew, we
sincerely apologized and said that we would go back to where we had come from and
not continue on on our journey. He looked at us all again standing and looking at
him with feelings of fear and expressions of disappointment all over our faces,
each of us with a flask of sweet milky tea or distilled orange juice wrapped
around our necks and holding beating sticks. I think he must have gone back in his
mind to when he was a kid as he looked at us, and I think that was the deciding
factor in his decision to let us continue our journey, he even gave us some
apples and a few boiled sweets that he had in his pockets which were warmly
received. He told us to be careful and informed us that if anyone else stopped us
along the way we should just let whoever it was know that Dennis Huddlestone had
given us permission to be in his fields. He then shouted “Come on Shep”.
To his Irish Setter dog, who at this point was thoroughly enjoying himself
intimidating me by snarling, barking and jumping up at me. The dog seemed not
to want to stop enjoying himself, so the farmer had to come in and retrieve him
and drag him away from me, I was so relived when he did because I really thought
I was going to get something bitten off. He said goodbye and off he went with
his dog.
I have to admit that after that I came in for a fair bit of ribbing from my
mates about being scared of dogs, but as usual I was able to retaliate because
there was always one of my mates that was either frightened to jump across dykes,
climb trees or swim in the river, so we ended up about even on the ribbing in
the end. We looked at the apples that we were holding in our hands and decided
it would be a good idea to stop and eat them. There was freshly cut straw in the
field, so we collected a bit of it and made a straw carpet to sit on, I opened
the flask of tea that my mum had prepared for me and my mates did the same with
flasks that their mums had prepared for them. Almost simultaneously we gave
our apples, either a rub on the side of our shorts or the fronts of our T-shirts
to make them shine and we sat down and contentedly ate them. So there we were,
my mates and I drinking hot sweet milky tea and eating a really tasty apple at
the side of the dyke, still having a friendly go at each other for things we
were either frightened of doing or things that we were not so good at doing
with the warm sunshine gently warming and tanning our fair skins. It was now
about 11:00 in the morning and we had been walking since 08:30.
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〓 ５．編集後記 〓
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■ 少子化対策とよく言われてますが、この言葉がもたらすネガティブなイメージに疑問を
持っています。
「少子化→社会の活力喪失→人口を増やさなければいけない！→何か対策が必要」、
これが少子化対策の論拠です。しかし、そもそも人口減少とは、経済成長を妨害する原因
ではなくて、経済が成長してきた結果であって、いわば今までの進歩の帰結の事ではない
でしょうか？その意味で、 むしろ人口減を問題視するのではなく、必然的な事象、つま
り、適正規模の人口に向けた調整過程と捉えれば、人口減少はポジティブなものであって、
過度な競争が無くなる住みやすい社会の実現といえるかもしれません。その一方で、競争
の減少が、教育水準や技術進歩の停滞を招くとの懸念があります。
となると、人間とは常に競争を宿命づけられた生き物なのでしょうか？さらには、学校も
また競争を宿命づけられているのでしょうか？
■京都のある小・中学校で、新しい学習科目が立ち上げられたそうです。その名も
「読解科」。なんでも、読解力の育成が目的だそうで、先日、この学校で当該科目の公開
授業が行われたそうです。しかし、この授業の参観した学校関係者たちが思ったのは、
こうした興味深い理念の実現のため新設された授業にじっくりと取り組む時間的余裕が
現場に無いというものでした。なるほど、理念の実現と現場の機能不全は、弊社にとっ
ても興味深いものです。
さて、従来から望ましいとされてきた４技能(読む・聞く・書く・話す)統合型の英語授
業の理念を現場へ負担をかけずに無理なく実現するため弊社が考案した「リンクインシ
ステム」ですが、来月１２月７日(月)と１４日(月)にそのセミナーを開く予定です。
■東京ディズニーランドの昨年度の入場者が過去最高を記録しています。その要因が
９割のリピーターの動員で支えられているそうです。開園以来２６年もの間、様々な
景気の変動や外部環境の変化に直面しながらも、これまで着実にリピーターを育てて
きたという企業努力に感心しております。これまで、東京ディズニーランドは顧客満
足度向上・維持のため、アトラクションの新設増設改良費として毎年４００億円を投
じるだけでなく、これに付加価値を与える人的サービス(イベント・ショー・接客姿勢等)
をも拡充してきました。つまり、ハードだけでなくそれを生かすソフトをも重視してき
たわけです。その意味で、学校校舎や学科コースの新設の機会が、英語教育プログラム
の拡充の機会と言えるかもしれません。
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本メールは、株式会社セイガンスピークより発信しております。
東京都品川区西大井６丁目２４番１４号第５下川ビル２階
株式会社セイガンスピーク アルファベンディ事業部
電 話 ０３-５４９３-８１９３
F A X ０３-５４９３-８１９１