今、刈谷校の水曜日の小学生クラスが面白い。入会１年以内の生徒が多いので、初期の生徒が使う「I am Tom」という教材を４月から使用していますが、これはLesson1「I am Tom Smith.」からLesson12「You can speak Japanese in a year.」までの簡単な英文が各lessonに12~13文ずつ載っています。毎回の授業に中で２回だけ全員で読みあげ、その後、一文を一人ずつ(1人2,3文)読み上げてもらいます。そして月末に各自3~4文を暗記します。

説明が長くなりましたね（笑）。何が面白いかと言いますと、一人ずつ読みあげる時の身振り手振りを付けて英語を発する言い方です(分かりますか？お笑いの人がやるような、例のアレです)。最初は6年生のT・S君がふざけて言っていたのですが、いつのまにか半分強制？で皆がやるようになりました。ふざけてやってはいるのですが、皆の発音が綺麗で、実に英語らしくなります。普段は恥ずかしいのか、テキストを読む時は声が小さくて、ジャパニーズ英語なのですが、声を大きく出して身振りを付ける(笑)だけでも、こんなにも変わることが分かりました。10か月間それなりに音が入っているから為せる技ですが、ちょっと驚きでした。

そしてその中で最高傑作なのが、5年生のF・S君です。ここで説明しても100分の1くらいしか、その面白さが伝わらないので、ビデオで撮ってユーチューブにでも載せたいくらいです。身振り手振りを付け、口を尖らして言う彼が、余りにも上手過ぎて全員大笑いです。面白すぎるので、私も毎回リクエストをしているくらいです。そして先日、月曜日の子が振替で来たのですが、そうやっている彼を見たその生徒は「唖然」といった表情をしていました。

When I lived in England, I watched a lot of TV. I especially watch game shows. When I came to Japan, I saw a lot of entertainment shows on TV, but I did not see many game shows. Also, when I did see a game show, the format was very different from the U.K.

My favorite game shows in England were: Who wants to be a millionaire, Countdown, Wheel of fortune, The Generation Game and Family Fortunes. I often watched them with my family and we would play together at home. These TV programs were very popular. You could buy board game and video game versions of them to play at home, too. One major difference with U.K. TV game shows is that only normal people can go on the game show. Famous people and celebrities only go on if it is a charity event and then they have to give all their prizes to charity, they cannot keep the prizes.

           
Who wants to be a millionaire is a game show where people get a chance to win one million pounds. They have to answer some multiple choice questions. Each question has four answers. If they get one wrong, they lose all their money. They get 3 lifelines where they can get a hint by asking the audience, cutting the answers by 50 percent or phoning a friend for help. The questions get harder and harder as the prize money gets higher. It is fun to try and answer the questions, but it seems very stressful for the players. I think three people have won the top prize in the last 5 years. This show has traveled to other countries too so you can see it in America, Australia and even in India.

Countdown is a game show where two teams of two people compete against each other. It is a word game. In each round they are given 8 random letters. They have 1 minute to make a long word with those letters. The team that can make the longest word gets points. After many rounds, the team with the most points wins. It is fun to play at home with family since you can compete against each other and the people on the TV. As far as I know, this show is only on in England.

 Wheel of Fortune is another word game, but it is much easier. Three people compete against each other. On a board there is a famous phrase, but the letters are missing. The players guess the letters. They can get money for each letter that they guess right. How much money they can get is decided by the Wheel of Fortune. It is a big spinning disc with different numbers on it. It looks like a kind of roulette wheel. If they spin 900, then they can get 900 pounds for each letter that they guess right. The lowest is 100 and the highest is 1,000. Finally, the person with the highest points gets a chance to win a holiday or a car by trying a phrases challenge on his own. He can choose 4 letters, but then he must guess the phrase. It is really tricky. It is like a big version of the simple word game Hangman. This game is also popular in the U.S.

The Generation Game is a fun game show where two families compete against each other. They have team members including 3 generations – children, parents and grandparents. Each round has a different challenge. It could be using their brain (mental), using their body (physical) or working as a team (communication). Some activities are for only one person so they must choose one member to do this challenge. Some activities are a team challenge, so they do it all together. It is nice to watch the families trying to work together, and sometimes having arguments when they cannot work well together.

  
Finally, Family Fortunes is my real favorite. In this program, two families play against each other. It is a public opinion quiz. They get a question like “What is the best flavor of ice-cream?” This question has been asked to 100 English people on the street. So it is like a survey of people’s opinions. The families then try to guess the top 5 answers. They can get money for guessing correctly. For example, if 66% of people said “strawberry” and a family guesses this answer, they can get 66 pounds. It is interesting because we can learn about the general public’s opinion one everyday questions lie “Where is the nicest place to go on holiday?” and sometimes it is interesting because answers are unexpected. For example, when asked “What is the most popular pet?” most people though the answer was cat or dog, but the top answer was a bird! I guess many older people in England keep birds as pets since they are easier to take care of than dogs or cats.

          
I love watching game shows so I tried to watch Japanese shows, but I just could not find many. Some game shows were game shows where celebrities had to do silly physical challenges or difficult kanji quizzes. They were ok but I wanted to see real people playing, not famous people. English game show programs are funny because sometimes normal people give some really strange, stupid or unusual answers. I also thought it was odd that famous people could keep the prizes that they won, but later my friend told me that they get low salaries so it is ok for them to keep the prizes. I saw a few programs where real people did challenge on TV shows, like Hexagon (a quiz show) and another game show where people tried to complete a difficult physical assault course in the quickest time. They were quite interesting. I guess I miss a lot of good game shows when I am at work. In England, most game shows are on in weekday afternoons, but I do not know if that is the same in Japan. What do housewives and students watch in the afternoons? Maybe I will find out one day…

中学生まであと2か月を切っているので、今は、読み、一斉訳、「一斉暗記」、ワードオーダー(英文の並び替え)、代名詞テストなどを行った後は、ＪＡＣＫ(文法問題集)を中心に進めています。潜在的にはこの1年間たくさん入れてきたので、そろそろ顕在化しないと、定期テストの点数に反映しなくなってしまうからです。1学期の中間なんかは問題ないですが、それ以降は、上手く顕在化できない生徒はどんどん点数が落ちていってしまうので要注意です。

それでも、ウザワシステムで英語を習っていて本当に良かったな〜と感じてもらえるのは中2以降だと思っているので、この4月からの1年間はとても大切になります。幸い、今残っている中1の子たちは上手い具合にきているので、全員をこの子たちのようにしてあげなければと思っている次第です。