２学期終業式。
インフルエンザによる休校の補填で、６時間授業。
高１、高２は冬期課外の課題に入っているので、基本は自学自習。
高２の課題に関連して、新たに入手した、Encyclopedia Brown’s Book of Strange But True Crimes (1991) から、本当にあった奇妙な事件の例を音読し、内容を考えさせてみたのだが、次の “blow” のイメージが希薄だったようで、直ぐに反応できず、残念。
- Safecrackers tried to blow open a safe in the Provinsbanken in Mukenbo, Denmark. The safe survived, but the bank collapsed. (Safe and Sorry, p.57)
高３は、センター第３問の対策で、『蛍雪時代』の水野氏の講座を参照。該当箇所がいくら早く分かっても、その英文自体が読めないと意味がないことを忘れずに。
クラスでＫ塾の広島大オープンを受験した生徒の答案分析。この生徒は数学も英語も全体的に点数はよくとれていて、合否判定もAが出ているのだが、英語で英作文 (ライティング) の採点基準がよくわからない。採点欄には内容点20, 文法点20 という配分と思しき数字があるので、それぞれ減点法でつけている模様。
さて、このブログをお読みの皆さんにお尋ねです。
次の英文はいったいどのような出題に対する答案だと思いますか？そして、この英文の内容点、文法点をそれぞれ２０点満点、計４０点満点とすると何点を与えますか？
- I agree to the opinion. I think that it is very important not only for young students, but also for older student. It enable older students to grow up. For younger students, it is familiar to learn from older students whom younger students know well. On the other hand, older students can learn a hardness and happiness to teach, and they can understand a subject that they have learned before more cleary. We have to give them a chance to do so move and I think that it will make them understand what is the true study. (97 words)
出題を細かくここに書くと著作権への配慮など面倒なことになるので、この出題と答案、そして採点と添削に関しても、土曜日の語研の冬期講習会でちょっと言及しようかと思います。
その他、見直した資料などなど。
片岡義男三部作 『英語で日本語を考える』『英語で日本語を考える・単語篇』 (フリースタイル、2000年、2001年)、『英語で言うとはこういうこと』 (角川書店、2003年)
- 文とチャンクの出し入れを再考。『考える』と『単語篇』の「あとがき」、『こういうこと』の「まえがき」に頷くことしきり。
ボブ・ヤンポルスキー 『日本人に共通する書く英語の弱点』 (ジャパンタイムズ、1995年)
- とりわけ、トピックセンテンスの満たすべき要件に関して再確認。
中尾清秋 『基礎と演習英作文』 (数研出版、1977年)
- 所有格と代名詞の用法を中心に読み始めたが、面白い例文が多々あり、ついつい最後まで。
- Teaching English to little children is very much in vogue now. I do not object to this tendency so long as the children are not forced by their parents.
- The teaching of English has been carried on for over a hundred years in this country, but the ideal method of teaching it has not been found yet.
- It often happens that those who relentlessly criticize others are the very ones that are completely blind to their own defects.
- Most Japanese study English for several years in school, but they are far from being able to use it as a means of communication in their daily lives.
- It seldom happens that we view those close to us just as they are. We tend to take hardly any notice of the shortcomings of those people and see only their good points. This is true when we view ourselves. So it is important at times to take as objective a view of ourselves as possible.
- As you will understand if you try to speak in public or write something, it is no easy matter to express your thoughts even in your own language. In the case of a foreign language, it is doubtful if you will be able to use it freely even after devoting your whole life time to its study. The fact that the Japanese cannot speak English even after studying it for years in school is not such a surprising thing after all.
長谷川潔 『新研究英作文』 (旺文社、1980年)
- この当時の自由英作文の出題と模範解答の水準を確認。
- Sukiyaki is a traditional Japanese dish, made with sliced beef or chicken, various kinds of vegetables, soybean curd and a jelly noodlelike substance called shirataki. It is usually cooked in soy sauce, water, sugar and sake or rice wine over direct heat at the table. The name sukiyaki is interesting. Suki is a Japanese spade or hoe and yaki means to roast. In old days Japanese farmers are said to have cooked sukiyaki on the blade of a hoe outside the home, but nowadays sukiyaki is indeed a treat for a special occasion.
- Learning is boundless, and therefore we cannot know everything. Nevertheless, it is not seldom that we come across a man conceited enough to be convinced that he knows everything. He may be fairly well-informed in his line, but there are still many other fields of which he is quite ignorant. In this sense we are all more or less the proverbial frogs in the well. We should be modest about our learning.
Adrian Room, Room’s Dictionary of Distinguishables, Routledge, 1981
- 高校３年か大学１年生の時に購入した辞典。定義に要求される表現形式、修辞法に関して洞察を得るため久々に繙く。
- ‘Humour’ usually depends on incongruities of some kind for its effect, whether verbally or visually. ‘Wit’ is a more intellectual affair, with carefully chosen words or ideas. This is not to say that it depends on careful or lengthy preparation: ‘wit’ can be spontaneous, and indeed the quickness of a witty response adds to its effectiveness. ‘Wit’ frequently uses analogy, especially between unlike things, for its impact, especially when such an analogy is expressed vividly or entertainingly. By implication, ‘wit’ is sharper than ‘humour’, ‘humour’ more kindly than ‘wit’. ‘Humour’ can be unintentional; ‘wit’ rarely is. Furthermore, ‘wit’ is not necessarily amusing, of course – it can be perfectly serious.
How Things Work, Derrydale Books, 1994
- ものごとの仕組みと働きをピーナツのキャラクターと図解入りで学ぶ百科事典的内容。各エントリーの記述はセンター試験の図解問題やモノローグのリスニング問題のスクリプトとしても使えますが、それぞれのセクションにある、こんな扉のことばを読めば、受験なんて関係なく、読み手の興味は掻き立てられることでしょう。
- Machines come in all sizes. They can be as big as a house or small enough to fit in the palm of your hand. They may be made of many parts, or they may be very simple, but all machines are used to do special jobs. Let’s see what machines are made of and how they do their work!
- Even though levers aren't fancy or complicated, you couldn't get by without them. You use them to pry and balance things---even to play! As you look around, you'll be surprised at how much they can help you do.
- Can you hear the sound of a pin dropping? Probably not. There are all sorts of sounds you can hear, though, from the sweet, chirping sound of a tiny bird's song to the big, crashing sound of a brass marching band. How are sounds made, and how do we hear them? Let's find out.
- Hundreds of years ago, people who lived far away from each other could not talk to one another. Letters had to travel by horseback or boat, which could take days or even weeks. For shorter distances and faster delivery, they sent coded messages using flashing mirrors or smoke signals. Now, because of electricity, spreading important news is as easy as dialing a telephone.
- You can't see it, and you can't touch it, but you can move through it. Sound and light travel through it, too. It's all around us, and it's called air. What is air? Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang are here to reveal the mystery and magic of marvelous air.
本日のBGM: Work for the weekend (The Lilac Time)
