英語5分間トレーニング　徹底活用学習ブログ

[Englishtown.com] カテゴリの記事

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  英作文課題　My first task of writing an essay in English

  I'd been working on my first writing task given by Englishtown the whole yesterday evening. The subject was "Writing about your best friend from 100 to 150 words."It seemed easy with no difficulty at first. But, it wasn't.I havn't exercised myself in getting my thought in shape withing the restricted number of words since I quitted my job, that is, since I became a mother. This time, I had many good points about my best friend I wanted to write. But if I wrote those things just as they came up in my mind, my essay became so distracted that people couldn't understand what I wanted to say. It was a very good brain excercise for me, but it was also true it had been hard and I got tired.Anyway, my first writing task is below. It can't avoid to give an impression that I put the last sentense just to finish my writing.I'm looking forward to giving it back to me after it is checked by a native instructor.My best friend is ****. She lives in Tokyo, Japan, with her beloved son. We met each other and became friends in our university days. I respect her very much because she's a practical person with the ability of making a good analysis. Here's a good example. She was a housewife three years ago. Then her husband left her for a woman he met on business. In such situation, I suppose most women may spend just crying out of desperation. But she didn't. She considered what she could do, though she was in great sorrow of her husband's betrayal, and swiftly moved into action for job hunting. Now she works as a school counselor and takes care of her son by herself.I'm looking forward to getting together for lunch and talking to her next time.イングリッシュタウンのライティング課題に初めて挑戦しました。「親友について１００～１５０字で書きなさい」なんて簡単じゃんと初めは思ったものの、難しかったです～。だいたい仕事をやめて主婦になって以来、自分の考えを決められた字数内にまとめて表現するなんてことを１度もやっていません。書きたいことはいっぱいあるのに思いついたままに書いてしまうと散漫な文章になり、結局何が言いたいのか分からなくなります。ともあれネイティブインストラクターが添削して返してくれるので、それを楽しみにしています。

  2007.03.01

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  旧正月　　Ｔhe lunar New Year

  In Chinese culture, today is the lunar New Year. So in the chat room of Englishtown, they, whose cultures follow Chinese one, seemed very excited! They have two New Year's Day. But the lunar New Year is much more important than Jan. 1st for them. They say, "Happy New Year!" on this day, and acturally, in the chat room, I could often hear the word "Happy New Year!" exchanging.One woman told me that she had cleaned her room and washed her clothes to celebrate this lunar New Year. She was supposed to visit her relatives and parents. And there was a woman from taiwan talling me that she was going shopping. They sounded happy! If I hadn't joined Englishtown, I woudn't have known the fact that today is the most important day in the countries which have a Chinese culture. Thanks, Englishtown. And "Happy New Year!" from me!中国文化の国々では今日は旧正月です。彼らには正月が２つあることになりますが、１月１日の正月より旧正月である今日のほうがずっと大切だそうです。イングリッシュタウンのチャットルームでも「ハッピーニューイヤー」が頻繁に交わされていました。旧正月を迎えるにあたり部屋を掃除して服を洗ったという女性は親戚や親を訪問するそうです。買い物に行くのよ、という台湾からの女性もいました。総じてみんなうきうきしているようでしたよ。旧正月なんて、私、今まで意識したことすらありませんでした。またひとつ、イングリッシュタウンで世界が小さくなりました。「ハッピーニューイヤー！」

  2007.02.17

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  主婦に万歳！　 Hurrah for housewives！

  I enjoyed chatting online at Englishtown twice today. The first time was in the afternoon and the second was in the evening. And there, I joined Japanese women! I talked with 5 or 6 Japanese women today and they were all housewives! Wow. It was an exciting experience for me.Now, I don't have any chances to join and talk such many housewives at one time because I can't go outside so often due to my broken leg. For that matter, I talked with all of them for the first time. One of them was in her 50's, but I thought she was in her late 20's at first! I was so amazed to know she was in her 50's! Her voice sounded so younnnng! She said she had younger friends and it helped her keep in a young condition.We talked about yoga exercise and how much money we could spend as an allowance in a month.In the evening, we talked about Girl's Day, or Doll Festival. And there was one girl from taiwan, so we tried to explain to her what Girl's Day was and what kind of food we usually cooked on this day. I think we could explain well after all, because she was very pleased to know that.Through today's chats, I got the impression that they'd kept learning English even though their student days had been very far away. They seemed to enjoy gathering there and keep trying to improve their English speaking skill.Now I can think housewives are not so bad after all! We still have a bright future ahead of us! Hurrah for housewives!今日の午後と夕方のイングリッシュタウンのチャットでは、珍しいことに日本人の、それも主婦の方ばかりとご一緒しました。なかでも驚いたのは、20歳後半ぐらいと思っていた女性が実は５０代だったということ。その方の声、すごく若々しかったんです。若いお友達がいらっしゃるそうで、だから自分は若くいられるんだろうとおっしゃってました。１か月のお小遣いはいくらぐらいかに始まって、ヨガの話で盛り上がり、ひな祭りのことをみんなで台湾の女性に説明してあげたり。普通の英会話教室やサークルにいくと、きっとこうやって盛り上がれるんでしょうね。今日のチャットで、日本の主婦もまだまだ捨てたもんじゃない、と確信しました。みんな集まって英語のスピーキング力をあげようと一生懸命な感じを受けました。主婦の前途はまだまだ明るい！　主婦にばんざ～い！

  2007.02.16

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  フィンランドはオーロラ　Speaking of Finland, auroras are famous.　

  Last evening, I was on the chat line of Englishtown with one woman. She was from Finland.Finland! Speaking of Finland, my only knowledge is that it has much snow in winter and that it's very cold country. I didn't know they can swim in summer in Finland. So I asked her some questions, which sounded very queer to her, from my ignorance. But she spared me some time to talk, though she said she had some work to do.And I knew Finland is very famous for auroras.Auroras!! Wow! Sounds amazing to me!And she said auroras are not special in Finland. They can see them quite often. In fact, she said she'd seen them many times. And auroras are more beautiful to see in a northren part of Finland. How lucky she is that she can see beautiful auroras so often!Thanks for her, I could spend very interesting time and I was glad to get to know that Finland is famous for not only its coldness but other things such as auroras. This is a website she taught me. She lives in this city, Kemi, which is near the border with Sweden.On the chat line of Englishtown, I can talk with many people from various countries. Yes, they are from much more various countries than I've expected! So sometimes I have few knowledge about their countries and I may ask them queer questions like this time. I'm very happy to know about their countries and the people living there through this Englishtown.イングリッシュタウンのチャットでフィンランドの女性と一緒になりました。フィンランドといえば、雪がいっぱいあってすごく寒いんだろうということしか知りません。まさか夏には泳げるなんて！　無知ゆえに、私、ずいぶん変な質問を彼女にしました。そしてフィンランドはオーロラで有名ということを知りました。彼女いわく、オーロラはフィンランドではそんなに珍しいものではないそうです。実際に彼女もこれまで何度も見たとか。お国柄とはいえ、うらやましいなあー。イングリッシュタウンには想像を超えるたくさんの国の人たちが集まってます。だからときにはその人の国のことをほとんど何も知らないということもあります。でもお話しすることによって世界の国々のことがもっとわかるようになれるのが嬉しいです。

  2007.02.15

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  ヴァレンタインデー Valentain's Day

  Ken and Paolo are talking about how to spend Valentain's day of this year.Ken Ok, it's settled. I'm taking Amy to the first restaurant we went to on the date.Paolo Sounds romantic! Where is it?Ken It's the small pizza place near my apartment.Paolo That had been torn down, didn't you notice? I think I'll cook Emily a romantic dinner at her apartment. I've ordered roses for her, too.Ken Wow, that's sounds amazing! Can Amy and I join you?Paolo Ken, it's Valentain's day. We are best friends, but I can't spend Valentain's day with you!◆torn down < tear down＝If you tear something down, you destroy it or remove it completely.Ken Ok、決まりだ。僕はAmyを最初のデートで行ったレストランに連れて行こう。 Paolo それはロマンチックだね！どこの店だい？Ken 僕のアパートの近くの小さなピザ屋さ。Paolo あの店は潰れたよ。気づかなかったのか？僕はEmilyに彼女の部屋でロマンチックなディナーを作ってあげようと思ってるんだ。プレゼントのバラの花も注文済みさ。 Ken　Wow、すごいな！Amyと僕も参加していいかい？　Paolo　Ken、バレンタインデーなんだぜ。僕たちは親友だけど君とバレンタインデーを一緒には過ごせないなあ！ I think there are a very few in Japan who cook dinner for his special girlfriend like Paolo. Actually, I believe my husband is one of such a very rare type of men. He cooked me dinner on our second date. I still remember that steak, though it got burned a little! This was my first experience that a man, except my father, cooked for me! 日本ではパオロのようにガールフレンドのために料理を作ってくれる男性ってあまりいないんじゃないでしょうか。実は私の夫はその数少ない稀有な存在の１人です。２度目のデートのとき、夕食を作ってくれました。ちょっと焦げたあのステーキ、今でも覚えてます。父親以外の男性が私のためだけに料理してくれたのは、あれが初めての経験でした。

  2007.02.14

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  世界七不思議 The Seven Wonders of the World

  What do you recall when you hear the word "The Seven Wonders of the World"?Great Pyramid of Giz? Hanging Gardens of Babylon? Actually, they're called "The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World".And if you recall Great Wall of China or Leaning Tower of Pisa, they're categorized as "The Seven Wonders of the Medieval World". Now you can imagine that we have "The Seven Wonders of the Modern World", "The Seven Wonders of the Natural World" and so on.Which do you like better, "The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World" or "The Seven Wonders of the Modern World"?I prefer "The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World" because I'm interested in history. So when I see these pictures, I can feel the certain existence of the people and it makes me excited.They are what we were talking at my first time englishtown live lesson.At the end of the class, we were given 3 questions. We didn't need to answere all of them, but we chose one and answered it with a reason.I chose the question; "Is there anything in your country that could be a wonder of the world?” Well, well, do we have something in Japan we can introduce to the world as a wonder?Oh, yeah!! We have!Next time, I'll try to summarize on the blog what I told them in the lesson.　イングリッシュタウンの初ライブレッスントピックは「世界七不思議」でした。私は歴史が好きなのでピラミッドやバビロン空中庭園などの話は好きです。古代の息吹を感じますね～。「あなたの国には不思議なものがありますか」という質問に、さーて、何があったろう……。しばし考えたあげく思い出しましたよ、昔、歴史の先生が言っていたことを！それはまた次回。

  2007.02.09

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  初英会話ライブレッスン　Took English conversation "live lesson" for the first time

  I joined the "live lesson" of englishtown online for the first time today. It was so interesting for me!When I entered the classroom, there were already 4 students, who were from China, Korea, Mexico, and Costa Rica. Two of them were males and the other two were females. And the instructor whose mother tongue was English was female, too.She welcomed me warm-heartedly, and after we introduced ourselves one by one, today's lesson was started! (I was so excited!)The topic of today's lesson was "The Seven Wonders of the World". First, we were given several words and phrases which we used on this topic. Then we could ask the instructor the meaning we didin't know. "Ingenuity" and "awe-inspiring" were the words which one of the students and I asked. And here are thier meanings the instructor gave us.◆ingenuity＝inventive skill or imagination: cleavernessEx) Mobile phone is a device of great ingenuity.◆awe-inspiring＝amazing, awesome, woderfulEx) The Great Wall is awe-inspiring.And then, we did a warm-up activity.On the screen of PC, the instructor showed us some pictures which were said to be "The Seven Wonders of the Modern World". If we could understand which picture was what, we raised our hand and answered what it was.Actually, at that time, I hesitated to become the first to raise my hand even though I knew some answers.You know, Japanese often act like that because we're used to the thought that we shouldn't stand out among people. We're sometimes relieved to behave in the way others do. That was why I hesitated to raise my hand immediately.But other students raised their hands as soon as they could understand what the pictures were. I could feel their enthusiastic attitudes and they were very likable.Then I noticed I was not in Japan. I was now in the international community; English Town. It was not the time I hesitated! I should raise my hand quickly and appeal to them I was there!After that, I tried to become the first to answere, and the instructor praised me for my enthusiasm. Later, We discussed "The Seven Wonders of the World", and I could take the initiative telling them my opinion. What was my opinion? Well, it's another story. It's already passed midnight. I'm going to sleep.It was a 45-minute lesson, and for me, the time went so quickly. I really enjoyed today's live lesson.イングリッシュタウンのライブレッスンに初めて参加しました。トピックは「世界七不思議」。進んで手を上げて発言すれば誰だってきっと楽しめます！　４５分間があっという間でした。

  2007.02.07

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  イングリッシュタウン　Englishtown

  The headset I'd waited for came to me the other day. Now I can join the live lessons of Englishtown.Today's topic is "The Seven Wonders in the World". I'm going to prepare for it and take my first lesson this evening!「イングリッシュタウン」に入会して楽しみにしていたヘッドセットが届きました。これから初めてのライヴレッスンを受けてきます。今日のトピックは「世界七不思議」。プレパしてから行こうっと。

  2007.02.07

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  あなたは死なない　You won't die!

  This is a dialogue between a woman and her doctor, and it has a punch line. Do you get it?Woman I feel very ill, doctor. I think I'm going to die.Doctor Nonsense! You won't die.Woman How do you know? I have a really serious disease. Many people die of my disease.Doctor Exactly. And that's why I know you won't die. Let me explain. Statistics show that nine out of ten of all the people who have your disease die of it.Woman Nine out of Ten! Then why?Doctor Let me finish. Now, I have had ten patients, including you, with this disease. And nine of them have died already. So you won't die, will you?　 Wow, what a doc he is! １０人中９人の確率で亡くなるなんて、とんでもない病気じゃないの！　「でも、あなたは大丈夫」とお医者さま。「その理由はね、僕が観た患者さんは、もうその病気で９人亡くなっているから」。　え、なに、それ！

  2007.02.05

• ビーチバレー　While playing volleyball on the beach...

  Two boys are talking about their trip. During the trip, they played volleyball on the beach. But something happened and…….（A）いちばん楽しかったのはビーチバレーをしたことだな。できるもんなら毎日ビーチに行きたいよ。（B）僕たちのそばに座ってた女の人にボールが当たっちゃったの、覚えてる？（A）あれは危なかったなあ。君がボールを取りそこねなきゃ当たらなかったのに。（B）何とでも言えばいいさ。あの女がどけばぶつからなかったんだから。（A）彼氏がマジで怒っちゃったよな。あいつ、君をぶん殴りにいくかと思ったよ。もし何かしたら、助けにいったよ。（B）そんなこと信じられるかって。あいつが現れたとたん、「泳いでくる」って逃げたじゃないか。（A）僕を弱虫と思ったんだったら、それは違うぞ。（B）まあ、楽しい旅だったな。もし行けたら来年も行きたいよ。（A）My favorite part was playing volleyball on the beach. If I could, I would be at the beach every day.（B）Remember when the ball hit that lady sitting close to us?（A）That was scary. If you hadn't missed the ball, it wouldn’t have hit her.（B）Whatever. You know, the lady was sitting too close to us. If she had moved, she would have been safe.（A）Her boyfriend got really angry. I thought he was going to beat you up. If he had tried anything, I would have backed you up.（B）Why don't I believe you? As soon as he showed up, you ran off for “a swim”.（A）If you thought I was a chicken, you're wrong.（B）Anyway, it was a great trip. I’d like to go next year if we can.過去の事実に反する仮定がいっぱい出てきて参考になるなあ。あ～、そ～か、”would have pp” を使うのか。

  2007.02.01

全10件 (10件中 1-10件目)

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