佐々木進学教室

Question of the Week- March 8th

Koyuki, a 2nd grader in junior high school, asks four questions. The first question is: “What club were you in when you were a student?”

Hello Koyuki and thanks for your questions. In my school and in most Australian schools we don’t have clubs. After school we went home straight away. But there were some after school activities. My school had a school band so some students practiced after school but not every day. Also my school had driver training to get your driver’s license (in Australia we can get our licence when we are 17 years old).

In Australia, people think students should play a variety of sports and many people are good at more than one sport. Also there are some sports that are only winter sports and some sports that are only summer sports. In winter we don’t play summer sports at all and in summer we don’t play winter sports. We had junior sports clubs we could join to play our favorite sports on Saturday or Sunday but the coaches weren’t teachers and we played with and against members of our school and members of other schools. We did have school sports teams but only for a special sports carnival once a year.

My son, who is a first grader at Hojo Kita Junior High School, is a member of the rugby club. He practices rugby after school all year round, even in summer vacation. I think this is very strange because in Australia rugby is a winter sport. It’s too hot to play rugby in summer!

Koyuki’s second question is: “How tall are you?”

Koyuki, I am 178 centimeters tall, which is average height for Australia. My son, who is only 13 years old, is already 174 centimeters tall so soon he will be taller than me. Oh no!

Koyuki’s third question is: “What kind of Japanese food do you like?”

My favorite food in Japan is yakitori. I want to eat yakitori everyday! I’m lucky because in Imabari there are many good yakitori shops. I also like nabe such as shabu shabu and sukiyaki and I really like kushi katsu. It’s so delicious. But I really don’t like sushi or sashimi because I really don’t like fish.

Koyuki’s final question is: “Where do you like in Japan?”

There are many great places to visit in Japan. Hiroshima is very interesting especially the peace park and the atomic bomb dome. Also I really like Kyushu, especially the Aso area, it’s very interesting to visit a live volcano. But my favorite place in Japan is in Okinawa. I lived in Okinawa for one year and had a chance to visit some beautiful places. But my favorite place is Minnajima. This is a very small but very beautiful island. It has lovely white sand and the ocean is very blue. I recommend you go there if you have the chance.

中学2年生のコユキさんには4つの質問がある。最初の質問は「あなたは学生の頃、部活は何をしていましたか」だ。

こんにちは、コユキさん。質問をありがとう。私が通っていた学校だけでなく、ほとんどのオーストラリアの学校には部活がなくて、放課後はまっすぐ家に帰るんだ。でも放課後に何らかの活動をしている生徒はいたよ。私の学校にはバンドがあって、放課後に練習している生徒もいたけど毎日ではなかったね。運転免許を取るために運転の練習もしていたね。（オーストラリアでは17歳になると運転免許が取れる。）

オーストラリアでは生徒はいろんなスポーツをしたほうがいいと思われていて、2つ以上のスポーツを得意としている人が多いんだ。冬にだけやるスポーツや夏にだけやるスポーツもあるよ。冬にはサマースポーツは全くせず、夏にはウインタースポーツは全くやらない。ジュニアのスポーツクラブがあって土曜日や日曜日には自分の好きなスポーツに参加できるんだけど、コーチは先生じゃないんだ。自分の学校の生徒や他校の生徒たちとプレーしていたね。学校にはスポーツチームがなかったけど、年に1度開催される特別なスポーツ祭のときだけは別だったね。

息子は今、北条北中学校の1年生でラグビー部に入っているけど、1年中、夏休みでも放課後はラグビーの練習をしているよ。これは変に思える。オーストラリアではラグビーはウインタースポーツだからね。夏は暑過ぎてラグビーはできないよ。

コユキの2つ目の質問は「伸長はどのくらいですか」だ。

コユキ、僕の身長は178センチで、オーストラリアでは平均的な高さだ。息子は13歳だけど、もう174センチもあって、すぐに僕を追い越すだろうね。オーノー！

コユキの3つ目の質問は、「どんな日本料理が好きですか」だ。

僕はヤキトリが大好きで毎日でも食べたいくらいだよ。運がいいことに今治には美味しいヤキトリ屋がたくさんある。しゃぶしゃぶやスキヤキのような鍋も好きだし、串カツは大好きだ。

コユキの最後の質問は「日本の好きな所はどこですか」だ。

日本には訪れるべきすばらしい場所がたくさんある。広島はとても興味深いね。とくに平和公園や原爆ドームは。九州も、特に阿蘇のあたりなんかは好きだね。活火山を訪れるのはとても興味深いことだ。でも僕が日本で一番好きな場所は沖縄だ。1年間沖縄に住んでいて、あっちこっち美し場所を訪れる機会があったよ。でも僕の一番好きな場所は、

ここはとても小さいど美しい島だ。砂は白くて美しく、海はとても碧い。機会があればそこに行くことを勧めるね。

Spring Message

After a long cold winter, spring is here. March is a month of new beginnings. In the old Roman calendar March was the first month of the year and a time to start new things. The beginning of spring is traditionally the time when we specially clean our house and goods. This is called "spring cleaning" in English. Everything should become fresh and new in spring.

At Green Apple we want to see some fresh, new faces. We have classes for all ages from elementary school to adults. Our class size is small too, so you can get lot of chances to practice English and improve your level quickly.

We use the latest and most modern textbooks that were especially written for use by Japanese students. Our textbooks include CD Roms, listening CDs, phrase books and interactive on-line activities. Please click this link to see information about our textbooks

These days it is becoming more and more important to be able to communicate well in English. English is not only a world language but it's important for you in your daily life. In many companies you need to be able to speak English well and to get into a good high school or university you need to be good at English. But most of all it's fun to talk with people from different countries using English.

At Green Apple we want you to reach all your life's goals and the wonderful world of English can help you to do that.

TEACHER PROFILE
Name: David Williams
Country: Australia
Hobby: Mountainbiking, travel
Favourite food: Yakitori

How Do You Heat Your Home?

Soon it will be March and spring will come. I'm happy about this because it's too cold for me in winter. But one thing I like about winter is the こたつ. This is one of Japan's greatest inventions. My house also has double glazed windows (複層ガラス) so our こたつ is usually enough to keep us warm. But on cold mornings we sometimes turn on the fan heater on the air conditioner. Of course this makes the air very dry so we need a humidifier (加湿器). Long ago we used a kerosene heater (石油ストーブ) but this is a little smelly and takes a lot of time.

I think underfloor heating (床暖房) is great too. Houses with underfloor heating are always very comfortable in winter. I wish my house had underfloor heating.

In Australia the winter is not so cold as in Japan. Many people have wood stoves (薪ストーブ). My parents have a wood stove. In my high school days my job was to cut the wood with an axe and light the fire. This takes a lot of time but our house was always warm and comfortable in winter.

In England, most houses have central heating (セントラルヒーティング) and in every room there is a radiator, like this

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

えWhen people from other countries come to Japan what do they like to do? Of course they want to see Mt Fuji and go to Kyoto and eat Japanese food. But one thing people want to do when they come to Japan is ride on the bullet train!

When I first came to Japan I went from Hiroshima to Kyoto by bullet train. This was very exciting for me. But one thing surprised me. There were many, many tunnels. In Australia there are few tunnels but in Japan tunnels are everywhere, in fact Japan is the land of tunnels and bridges.

Of course in Australia we have many bridges but none as big or long as in Japan. In Imabari we're lucky to have the Shimanami Sea Road and the Kurushima Bridges. About once a year I will ride my bicycle across the Kurushima Bridges. It's always so much fun because the view is wonderful. It's also a little scary.

But my favorite man-made thing in Japan is actually an island. Do you know what island it is? It's Kansai Airport! Whenever I go to Kansai Airport I'm always amazed. I think Kansai Airport is a wonder of the modern world. I love to go there and I always think how clever humans are!

日本にやってくる外国人は何をしたいのだろうか。もちろん、富士山を見たり、京都に行ったり、日本料理を食べたいと思っている。でも彼らが日本でしたいと思っているのは、新幹線に乗ることなのだ！

私が初めて日本に来たとき、広島から京都まで新幹線で行った。この経験は私にとってとても興奮するものだったが、私はあることに驚いた。トンネルの数があまりにも多かったのだ。オーストラリアにはトンネルはほとんどないが、日本ではいたる所にあり、実際、日本はトンネルと橋の国だ。もちろんオーストラリアにも橋はたくさんあるが日本のように大きくて長いものはない。ラッキーなことに、今治にはしまなみ海道と来島海峡大橋がある。私は1年に1度くらい来島海峡大橋を自転車で渡る。景色がとても美しいので、それはとても楽しい。すこし怖くもある。

しかし、私が日本で最も気に入っている人工物は、実は島なのです。何島か知っていますか。関西空港なのです。関西
空港は現代世界の驚異だ。私は関西空港に行くのが大好きで、いつも人間はなんて利口なんだと思う。

Moshi Moshi

My cell-phone is very old. I bought it almost four and a half years ago. I bought this telephone because I could use it when I went overseas. But nowadays almost any cell-phone can be used overseas. Also I have a few problems with my cell-phone. The main problem is that I can't turn it off. To end a call I must close my cell-phone. In the airplane you must turn off your cell-phone but I can't so when I go on the airplane I hide my cell-phone so the cabin attendants can't see it!
So now it's time to buy a new cell-phone. Recently many people have smart-phones. They are really great and very useful. Mr Fujioka, a teacher at this juku, showed me his i-phone. Wow, it's so cool I thought. But I am using Docomo and the i-phone is from Softbank. What should I do? Also a smart phone is very expensive to use. Right now I only pay about 2500 yen per month for my cell-phone but with a smart phone the cost will be 5000 or 6000 yen. I really want a smart phone but it's too expensive. Oh no! What cell-phone do you use? Do you too want a smart phone? Please give me your recommendation.