〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓 2009.12. 4発行.No12（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)
〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓〓
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． IELTS(アイエルツ)へのリンクインシステムの有効性とご質問への回答
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５)
４．スティーブン自叙伝(第９話)
５．編集後記(メルマガ編集者らによる雑感コーナー)
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〓 １．気になる最近のニュース 〓
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●理科支援員の配置事業「廃止」
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/kyoiku/news/20091127-OYT8T00246.htm
●「教育、仕分けになじまない」
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/kyoiku/news/20091130-OYT8T00451.htm
●小学英語、仕分けで「教材廃止」
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/kyoiku/news/20091130-OYT8T00216.htm?from=yoltop
●大学入試：来年のセンター試験志願者数、前年度比１．７％増
http://mainichi.jp/life/edu/archive/news/2009/12/20091201ddm012100090000c.html
●高校の授業料無償化、所得制限案で検討へ
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/kyoiku/news/20091203-OYT8T00715.htm
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〓 ２．IELTS(アイエルツ)へのリンクインシステムの有効性の質問への回答〓
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■先週号のメルマガでご紹介したニュースですが、学校関係者様から多数の問い合わせを頂
いております。
IELTS
aiming to become Japan's 'new' English test
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/language/20091124TDY10004.htm
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
IELTS(アイエルツ)とは、英国ブリテイッシュカウンシルが運営する
“International English Language Testing System” のことであり、国際的な英語能力
の検定手段として、特に海外留学や研修のために英語力を証明する必要のある方に最適な
テストとなっております。したがって、英国、オーストラリア、ニュージーランドといっ
た英国圏のみならずカナダ等の高等教育機関では、TOEFLよりもむしろIELTSの方が主流
のテストとして認知されています。最近、米国でも TOEFL に代わる英語力判定テストと
して、入学審査の際に採用する教育機関が増えています。
このテストの内容は、Listening、Reading、Writing、Speakingの４技能の審査をすること
であり、２〜３技能審査の実用英語検定試験(いわゆる日本の英検)よりも、英語力の正確
な測定が可能となっております。上記ニュースによれば、日本の英検協会とブリティッシ
ュカウンシルとの提携によって、日本の英検協会がIELTSの普及促進活動や受付申込・
試験実施等を全面的に引き継いだうえで、ブリティッシュカウンシルは今後ともノウハウ
提供で共同運営に参加することができ、日本の英検協会がこれまでに構築してきた検定試
験運用のノウハウおよびネットワークをIELTSに活用していくことで、「試験会場の増設
に伴う受験機会の拡大」「受験料決済手段の多様化」「受験情報の質的・量的拡大」など、
受験者の大幅な利便性向上が見込まれます。さらに、ご承知のとおり、英検は日本国内だ
けしか通用しない英語検定試験で年々受験者が減少傾向にありますが、IELTSは、世界最
大規模の英語検定であり、今後、グローバル化が進む中、米国同様に日本でもその存在感
を強めていくはずです。
先般、弊社が頂いたお問い合わせの声と言いますのは、
「アイエルツの試験科目(読む・書く・聞く・話すの４技能)の対策として、弊社のリンク
インシステム(４技能統合型授業を実現するシステム)に興味があるので、詳しい話を聞か
せてほしい」との内容でした。弊社はこうしたご要望があれば、貴校へ訪問の上、
簡単なプレゼンをさせて頂きますので、お気軽にお問い合わせください。
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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５) 〓
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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。
The Daunting Podium
“Ms. Angela?”
Yesterday a student I had never met before popped her head into the teacher’s
office and asked for me. She held in her hand a questionnaire for an upcoming
school publication. The first question was, “What were you like as a child?”
As a teacher, this is a question that is often on my mind. In search of insight
about my students, I ask myself if I raised my hand in class, how I approached
homework, and also what kind of personality I had.
The answer to that last question—and this is the first word I wrote on the
survey—is shy. As a child, I was the little girl who always hid behind her mom when
introduced to someone new. I was also one of only two students with non-speaking
roles in my kindergarten class play. My high school drama career continued the
theme of minimal stage time; I mostly managed sets and moved props. This aversion
to public speaking persisted through college; I still remember giving an awkwardly
hurried speech on Margaret Sanger and my teacher’s constructive but clearly
disappointed comments afterwards. Indeed, even as recently as five years ago,
if you had asked me if I could see myself teaching junior high school, I would
have laughed at you. Me? Stand in front of a classroom and speak with authority?
Yet somehow, here I am, teaching for five hours a day and actually enjoying it.
I gradually lost my stage fright (out of necessity), and as the fear dissipated,
it was replaced by a passion for teaching that I never expected to find.
Nevertheless, there are still times when I dread the classroom; there are days
when I am not sure that I have what it takes. So when my students hesitate to raise
their hands for fear of making a mistake or standing out among their peers, I
can’t blame them. I understand how they feel, and I haven’t yet forgotten how
difficult it was be a thirteen year old girl.
What I can do is try to encourage them, just as my teachers did for me. When my
students aren’t raising their hands (which is increasingly often as they get older
and more self-conscious), I call on them by name. That smile that comes from the
shyest girl in the class when she answers a question—that’s what keeps me coming
back to the podium.
Who knows?
Maybe in fifteen years she’ll be standing in front of a podium herself.
“The man of genius makes no mistakes; his errors are
the portals
of discovery.”
—James Joyce
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〓 ４．スティーブン自叙伝(第９話) 〓
“Sending Out A Search Party – continued”(その３)
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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。今回も前回からの続きとなります。“
Sending Out A Search Party continued ....
With the sun still shining brightly and its warmth encouraging beads of beads of
sweat out onto our foreheads we picked ourselves up off the floor, scattered the
straw we had been sitting on back into the field and we set off again with our
final destination still far off into the distance. We were now walking at a fairly
fast pace and making good time, so another hour or so and we would be making a fire
and eating some food. We still had to go through a turnip field, this field would
hopefully provide an ingredient for our stew that we were hoping to cook on the
open fire, that is if we were able to find some sort of vessel to cook it in.
One of my mates mothers had given him some potatoes and another mate’s mother had
given him some green beans, some carrots and a tin of Heinz vegetable soup so
we were set for making a good stew.
The good thing about summer time in England is being able to go out into the
countryside and collect wild fruit, mushrooms and other wild vegetables and on this
particular day we were very lucky because we came across an abundance of wild bush
fruit. Where I come from wild bush fruit either meant endless jars of jam or
preserve being made and kept in a pantry or the fruit being frozen, so summer time
fruit could be put into pies and eaten during the winter and spring months.
What happened to fruit after one had picked it all depended on what generation
one’s mum came from. Most of my mate’s mums were considerably younger than my mum,
so when it came to wild fruit picking my mates were never that interested, but
seeing all these ripe and juicy looking brambles or blackberries hanging off their
very prickly bushes was too much of a temptation to resist, even for my mates,
for me it was like a dream come true.
Brambles or blackberries are really delicious and nutritious to eat, but they
can be quite difficult to pick and collect, one really has to wade into the bushes to
get at the big juicy berries and if one is not wearing the right sort of clothes one
has to be prepared to get scratched to high heaven in the process. There are also
the bees and the wasps and hornets that one sometimes has to fight off as well,
everyone wants to get the big juicy berries and insects are no exception to this
desire. Although I have to say that from my experiences I have always picked
brambles in less than the right garb and I have never been stung, maybe this is
because I always leave enough fruit on the bushes for nature to have its fill and
more. It is all about give and take in life, and if as kids we are open enough and
aware enough through our understanding and possible interaction with nature as we
are growing up, this will help to teach us and prepare us for many of the trials and
tribulations that we will face later on in our lives. If you are stung in nature
you will be stung in life, leaving enough fruit on the bramble bushes for nature to
have its fill has always served me well as a good enough metaphor for
understanding and explaining the true meaning of “Give and take”to others.
Anyway, back to the bramble picking part of my story. A couple of my mates had
thin jackets and summer sweaters wrapped around their waists which they took off and
put on in reverse, so they could protect their arms as they reached into the bushes.
I just had a T shirt on, so as usual I had to be careful, I started picking
brambles pretty much as soon as I came out of the womb and my mum and dad were old
school when it came to bramble picking and the like which meant that I had somewhat
of an advantage over my mates. All we then needed was something to put the brambles
in. One of my mates found an old two litre plastic bottle which he cut in half with
a piece of flint, he kept running the sharp edge of the flint up and down the length
of the bottle until he had scored a deep enough line to allow the bottle to be pulled
apart. Another mate found an old supermarket bag that had been blowing around in the
wind and go caught up in the hedgerow. That left only me without something to put
my fruity find in. I looked around all over the place, but could not find anything
at all, so I decided to try to make something. I remembered my father showing me how
to weave a sort of basket using twigs and thin tree roots so I thought I would have a
crack at making something similar. I managed to find the twigs and roots that I
needed and sat down and made/wovbe my basket, it did not look anything like the one
my dad had shown me how to make, but for a nine year old it was not so bad, and it
would certainly do the trick.
During the time I had been fashioning my basket my mates had been picking lots of
brambles and putting more in their stomachs than into their containers, they had
not been too fussy about checking for creepy crawlies or maggots and other insects
that tend to live on the outside of the berries before eating them either, so a couple
of my mates were complaining of stomachache. It is obviously better to wash wild
fruit in water before eating it, but we did not have any water, so at the very least
a quick check for creepy crawlies and then a blow was in order before eating it, that
is what I was taught to do anyway. I set about picking and quickly amassed a large
amount of brambles in my basket, I must have picked about five pounds of them and
they were all big juicy ones. I decided I had picked enough and I was still friends
with the insects that had accompanied me through my picking, I was pretty much
unscathed in terms of scratches and nettle stings, well, compared to my mates anyway,
who were scratched and stung all over. My mates and I all had short pants on and
wading in should have been an absolute no no, but if you have ever been berry
picking you will know that the event itself can be so exiting and so overwhelming
that it is easy to forget about things like not wearing enough clothes because
all you are focused on at the time is picking the biggest and juiciest looking fruit.
My intention was to hide my brambles somewhere nearby and then pick them up on the
way back and take them home for my mum to bake pies with and make jam. I asked
my mates if they were going to take their brambles home as well and they all said
No, so I ended up with all my mates ones as well. Some of my brambles were falling
out of the basket onto the floor because they were right up to the brim, so I
picked them up and put them very carefully and very gently back into the basket.
I then went off to find a hiding place, I found a good place under a nearby tree
and covered the basket with straw and twigs to conceal it completely. I kept a
few brambles in a bag to take along on the journey, I thought these would provide
a bit of a desert for us later. For me, the hiding was the fun part, wondering
if what I had hidden would be there on my return journey. We were finally off
again on our travels, but not for long.
We were just about to cross over from one field into the next, which meant
jumping across a dyke, when we were pounced on by what must have been twenty five
or thirty boys. Of course we knew who most of the boys were, they were all older
than us and they all had reputations for being what we would call rum lads,
bullies, thieves, and general trouble causers. First the farmer, now a gang of
boys that were out to put four nine year olds through something that still remains
in my memory as a very frightening experience. To be continued next week.
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〓 ５．編集後記(メルマガ編集者らによる雑感コーナー) 〓
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■ 以前、勤務していた大学附属の中高一貫校(共学)は、大学の附属校という理由から研究の
一環として、一卵性双生児を特別枠で入学させることに熱心でした。その結果、生徒の1/3を
一卵性双生児が占めており、1学年１２０名として、平均４０名つまり２０組がいたことにな
ります。もっとも、男と女の双生児は必ず二卵性になりますが、同性の双生児だからといって
必ず一卵性とは限らないため、入学試験時の検査で、親の認識に反して二卵性の同性双生児と
判明したこともありました。そんな附属校の研究結果によれば、「一方の一卵性双生児が英語
を得意していれば、他のクラスのもう一方の双生児も英語が得意の場合が多い」ことが確認さ
れました。それと関連して、双生児を含めた全ての生徒を対象にした調査では、
「英語の得意な生徒は、数学が得意である」との傾向が認められており、同じ言語系の文系科
目である国語と英語との学力比例の相関関係は、不思議なことに予想外に低かったようです。
この理由として、一卵性双生児のような脳内の思考経路の働き方の相似性が学力成績比例に影
響を及ぼしているとものと考えられ、さらに、仮に他人同士であっても、日本人にとって
「数学の思考経路」と「英語の思考経路」が脳内で似た働きをするため、英語と数学の相関関
係が成立するとの結論に至りました。私にとっては実に興味深い内容でした。この賛否は別と
して、もしも本当に理系生徒に英語上達の素質があるのだとすれば、文系特進クラスだけでな
く、理系特進クラスでも、弊社リンクインシステムは効果的かもしれません。
■先日の日本の国家戦略を担当する菅副総理によるデフレ宣言を発しました。外国紙の反応は
実に辛らつでして、「日本では新たな失われた１０年がまた始まった」と断じて、現時点、日
本が採りうる有力な景気対策がないことを懸念しています。そうなると、自然と中国を中心と
したアジア諸国でのビジネスシャンスに日本は活路を見出すしかありません。年々激化する諸
外国企業との競争において、海外でビジネスチャンスを勝ち取り、日本国内の景気浮揚につな
げていくためにも、これまで以上に、英語の出来る若者を育成し、海外で戦う日本企業へ供給
していくことが必要になるはずです。故に、学校での英語授業は、日本の国家戦略手段の一つ
であるとも言えるかもしれません。
■「日本語は本当に非論理的か」(祥伝社新書・桜井邦朋著)という本によれば、日本語の
「思う」と英語の「think」は全く違うと言っています。「think」とは、十分に思考を重ねて
到達した内容を表す場合に使う、断片的な物言いにもつながるため、何気なく気軽に使う事は
出来ないそうです。例えば、日本人の多くが、「〜へ行きたいと思う」という英語で直訳をす
る場合、「I think that I want to go to〜 」としがちですが、この場合、「I think that 」
は不要となります。もし、直訳の場合、欧米人がこの英文を見たら、
「日本人はこんなことまでthinkするのか！」と驚くだろうとのことです。となると、日本人
の政治家の言い回しで使われる「思う」は、海外のメディアに直訳されても全く支障と言える
でしょう。もっとも、彼らが使う「思う」という表現は、ただ単に、発言責任の回避目的で使
っているに過ぎませんが・・・・。
■先日、東京都北区の星美学園様に訪問させて頂きまして、鈴木裕子校長先生から同校の外国
語教育への取り組みに関して多岐にわたるお話を拝聴いたしました。特に先生が長年いらっし
ゃったイタリアにおける外国語(英語)の在り方について、興味深いお話でした。そんなイタリ
ア語の堪能な鈴木校長先生から、星美学園短期大学にて「イタリア・知と美と食の体験」と題
して、社会人向けイタリア文化の諸講座等のご案内がございましたので、メルマガの読者の皆
様にも下記の通りお知らせいたします。
★「食べて覚えるイタリア料理 −見て、触って、味見する 料理講習会−」
講座内容 シェフ（リストランテ文流総料理長）と一緒にイタリア料理を作る講座です。皆さんには、
シェフの作る料理を見るだけでなく、実際にお手伝いいただき料理の途中で味見も体験していただけ
るイタリア料理講習会です。講習の最後には、シェフと一緒に作った料理を皆さんで召し上がっていた
だきます。
日 時 ２０１０年２月２７日 土曜日 10：30〜13：00
講座料 ６０００円（含む材料費）
定 員 １５名 （定員を超えた場合は、抽選になります。抽選日は2月9日）
持ち物 エプロン、三角巾またはバンダナ、筆記用具
申込期間 １１月２８日〜２０１０年２月８日
詳 細 http://www.seibi.ac.jp/college/el/el_f.html
★「名アリアとミニオペラでクリスマスを」(お話と鑑賞で探るオペラの魅力と歌声の秘密)
内 容 前半はイタリアオペラの名アリアを聴きながら、オペラの魅力と歌声の秘密につ
いて探ってまいります。後半は、クリスマスに寄せて、オペラ「マッチ売りの少女」(アウ
グスト・エナ作曲 飯村孝夫訳詞)全曲をご鑑賞いただきます。
日 時 ２００９年１２月１２日 土曜日 14:00〜16:00 (開場 13:30)
受講料 前売り２５００円 当日券３０００円
定 員 ４００名
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