Sunset

今日　レッスンの休憩時間にベランダに出てみたら、空がとってもキレイ
思わず　パチリ

少しは涼しく感じられる風に吹かれて、ホッと一息。
ビートンボックスからの眺めは　本当に癒されます

でも、この夕焼けも一瞬
10分後(６時４０分)にもう一度見たら　もう外は真っ暗でした
ついこの間まで　７時でもまだ明るかったのに・・・

日中はまだまだ暑いですが、確実に秋に近づいていますね・・・


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World summer

今日の東京も、ジリジリジリジリ肌が焼けていくのを感じ取れるくらいの真夏日ですね！そこでふと、世界の気温が気になりネットで調べてみました

まずは中国・・・３３℃　日本とあまり変わらないようです
そしてシンガポールも同じくらいでした

ではアメリカは？・・・２４℃　一番過ごしやすいといわれている気温ですね
続いてヨーロッパ、パリとロンドンは・・・・・・・・・・・・

１９℃と１７℃
日本と１５℃近く違いますね確か、Sonがこの間パリに行った時は半そでを着ていた気がしたのですが。。。　日本よりも一足先に秋めいてきているようですね

来週から９月に入りますね。寒い時は夏が待ち遠しいけれど、今は涼しい季節を待ち遠しく思う方も多いのでは？

 

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Tim先生の One-Point Lesson #23

Overused words: Hope.

Hello everyone. Today and next week, we are not thinking about actual mistakes in English. Instead, we are thinking about a few common words that are simply used too often by learners of English. By expanding your vocabulary in these areas, you can make a lot of progress in sounding more like a native speaker.

Today, lets consider the word 'hope'.

'I hope to meet you tomorrow'.

The above sentence is completely fine, grammatically. But it does not sound natural. Also, the meaning is not as specific as it could be. Consider:

'I will see you tomorrow.'

Here, we express a lot of certainty, it seems we have made a definite plan.

'I would like to meet you tomorrow.'

Here, there is no certainty, and the sentence is more of a request.

'I wish I could see you tomorrow.'

Here, the connotation of 'hope' is still there, but it sounds as if the hoped-for thing (i.e. meeting you), will not be possible.


Let's look at some other cases.

'I hope it is not so hot today.'

This is incorrect. You cannot use 'hope' for present situations you already know about. Here, you should be saying 'I wish it wasn't so hot today'. You COULD say, for example, 'I hope it is not hot at the beach today', if we are planning to go there, or maybe if people we know are already there. This is only possible because we don't already know if it's hot or not.

For clarity, here is a case where 'hope' is 100% correct: 'I hope it does not rain tomorrow, because I am going to the beach.'

Remember: the important thing about 'hope' is that we DON'T KNOW if what we are hoping for is already true or not.

Finally, it's very unnatural (but not a mistake) to say 'That is my hope', or 'My hope is...'. Try using words like wish, expect, desire or 'my ambition' instead for sentences like these.

-Tim

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Homework (review)

こんにちは

あと1週間で9月。
もうすぐ新学期が始まりますね。
（最近は、授業日数確保のために　すでに新学期が始まってる学校もあると聞きますが・・・）

今頃　宿題に追われているお子さんも多いと思います。
私も子供の頃はそうでした
「宿題なんかなければいいのにー」と思ったものです。
でも、宿題がないのも問題かも
1ヶ月何もしないでいたら　授業で習ったことはすっかり忘れてしまいますよね
英会話もそう。
せっかくレッスンで習っても、そのまま何もしないで1週間経てば忘れてしまいます
やっぱり復習はした方がいいです絶対にです
インストラクター達も口を揃えて「Review is very important」と言っています


ビートンボックスでは「a word a day」～毎日1つずつ単語を書いて一ヶ月で30個覚えられる単語カードのようなもの～を生徒さん達にお渡ししています。
これをフル活用して　復習に励んでくださいね


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A shaved ice

処暑・・・暑さが一段落し ピークを過ぎ後退し始める頃・・・8月23日頃
今　まさにその頃ですが、
どうでしょう？
まだまだ暑いですよね

暑さを忘れるために、かき氷の話題をひとつ
皆さん　「天然氷のかき氷」　ってご存知ですか？
冬　天然に出来た氷をおがくずの中で保存しておいて　その氷で作るかき氷です。
フワッフワッでとっても美味しいそうです。
「かき氷」　というと　頭がキーンと痛くなるイメージがあって　私はあまり食べないのですが、この天然かき氷は　ちょっと食べてみたくなりました

皆様もお試しあれ～

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Harry Potter

こんにちは

今日はインスタラクターの机にこんな本が置いてありました。

『Harry Potter and the order of the phoenix～ハリーポッターと不死鳥の騎士団～』

英語版ハリーポッターです（ビートンボックスのBookコーナーにあります）

みなさんは、ハリーポッターを英語で読んだ事がありますか？私は読んだ事がないので、本の厚さを見てびっくり、さらに中を見たら目が回りそうでした

しかし人気のこのハリーポッターシリーズ、最終章が日本でもこうすぐ公開されるそうですねしかもPART1とPART2に分かれてるようで、全編初の３Dだとか

これはハリーポッターファンにはたまらなく楽しみですね＾＾PART1は11月19日から全国で公開。「PART2」は2011年夏公開。「PART1」公開までのカウントダウンを刻む時計も点灯され、新宿ピカデリーのロビーほか、大阪、札幌、名古屋、福岡の各会場にも設置されてるそうです

字幕で見るもよし、吹き替えで見るもよし、秋からまたHarry Potter旋風が巻き起こりそうですね＾＾

 

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Son has returned from Rome and Paris

こんにちは


今日は　約10日間のローマ＆パリ旅行から帰ってきたSonの感想を聞きたいと思います

I returned from my trip to Rome and Paris 2 days ago. It was really fun. I visited many places like the Vatican, the Colosseum, the Louvre Museum, and the Eiffel Tower. I especially enjoyed going to Versailles to see the palace of King Louis the 14th. The palace was very grand and the gardens there are very beautiful. The food was also very delicious. I liked paninis in Rome and crepes in Paris. Overall, I had a great time. Please ask me about my trip the next time you see me.

Sonのお土産話を聞きにチャットルームにいらしてくださいね


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Tim先生のOne-Point Lesson #22

Going to...

Hello everyone! As promised, todays lesson will be a few thoughts about using 'going to'.

This can be confusing sometimes. What is the difference between the 'going to' in 'I'm going to America', and the going to in 'I'm going to buy a hat'?

The confusion comes from the fact that 'going to' is used in two ways. One is the simple meaning, to move towards, or travel to, some place. The other use is part of a grammar form, meaning 'I intend to...', or 'it seems that...' (that is, a prediction, such as 'it's going to RAIN').

So, when 'going to' is followed by a verb, as in 'I'm going to BUY a hat', we are using the grammar particle meaning 'I intend to buy a hat'. In 'It's going to rain' we are again using the grammar particle, this time meaning 'It will rain'.

When 'going to' is followed by a noun, usually a place, we are using GO as the verb of the sentence, and so in 'I'm going to America' we mean 'I'm travelling to America'.

But of course, when we say 'I'm going to America', we usually don't mean that the actual travelling is happening right now at the moment of speaking. So 'going to' here is actually BOTH expressing the intention and acting as the verb. How can this be?

The truth is, there is something missing from the sentence 'I'm going to America', and that is, strangely, the verb 'go'.

Really, the sentence should read 'I'm going to GO TO America'.

Here, you will notice, we are back to using the particle 'going to' followed by a verb, in this case 'go'. So this is back to being a simple sentence expressing intention to (verb), in this case, the intention to 'go'.

Why can we leave out the verb 'go' in this construction, but we can't leave out the verbs 'buy' or 'rain' in the other examples of the same form?

The reason for that is, we are actually not omitting the verb at all, but omitting the 'going to' intention particle! In the same way, we can actually omit 'going to' from 'I'm going to buy a hat', and change the verb to continuous, so we end up with 'I'm buying a hat', and it still expresses intention.

That's some quite advanced grammar. So it might help to simply remember it like this:

'I'm going to... (verb)' means 'I intend to (verb).'
'I'm going to... (place), means 'I intend to go to (place).'

Just remember: 'going to' has several different uses, and they can be tricky. When you hear or use 'going to', just take a little extra care.

See you next week, when we'll get back to thinking about some overused words.
-Tim



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Sushi and Fireworks

残暑お見舞い申し上げます
猛暑の中　皆様いかがお過ごしでしょうか？

本当に暑いですね。。。
昨日　東京練馬区では最高気温が38度を超えたそうです
ビートンボックスのあるここ世田谷区でも37度あったとか・・・
発熱状態ですよね
でも、この暑さはまだ続くようです。
どうぞご自愛ください


さて、ビートンボックスでは４日間の夏季休暇を頂いていたわけですが、
お寿司大好きKevinとTimは、先週末に築地にお寿司を食べに行って花火を見てきたそうです

「I had the best sushi I think I've ever tried, and saw dafinitely the best fireworks of my life. Of course, we ended up walking very slowly through huge crowds of people for hours afterwards, but it was worth it!」　Tim

とても楽しめたみたいですね


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I fell down ...

こんにちは　と　いつも元気な私ですが、今日は元気がでません

私事ではありますが、今朝　自転車に乗っていて、前にいた子犬を避けようとして 転んでしまいました
右腕足腰負傷・・・痛いです・・・
こんな派手な転び方をしたのは大人になって初めてかもしれません・・・

It hurt and I was embarrassed・・・


ここで、ふと　「転ぶ」にもいろいろあると思い　調べてみました。　
　①fall
　②slip
　③tumble
②は想像がつきますが、①と③の違いは？
インストラクターに聞いてみたところ、
「tumble は　あんまり使わないよ。slipは、滑って転んだ時。普通は、fallを使うのが一般的だね。」


皆様も　自転車にお乗りの際はどうぞお気をつけ下さい


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Tim先生の One-Point Lesson #21

When to use "To"


Hello everyone!

As I promised, today we will talk about the kind of words that use and don't use the preposition 'to'. Usually students learn about this very early in their studies, but it can still be a problem later.

First, let's cover the most important thing about 'go to'. That is, we DON'T USE 'to' before -ing verbs describing activities. For example:

I went to shopping. -> I went shopping.
I will go to skiing on the weekend. -> I will go skiing on the weekend.
I'm going to go to swimming. -> I'm going to go swimming.

We DO use the preposition 'to' for most places. For example: go to school, go to hospital, go to London, go to a concert.

However there are some place words that do not take 'to'. These include:

Here. (Come here. NOT 'come to here')
There. (I'm going there tomorrow, NOT 'I'm going to there tomorrow')
Home. (Lets go home. NOT 'lets go to home')
Overseas. (I have travelled overseas many times. NOT 'I have travelled to overseas many times.')

Generally, words that indicate a RELATIVE place do not use 'to', while words that indicate an ABSOLUTE place do use 'to'.

What does that mean? A relative place means it depends on where you are, while an absolute place is the same place no matter where you are.

Still confused? Think about this. 'Here' means 'where I am right now'. If I am in the kitchen, and I say 'here', I mean the kitchen. If I walk into the dining room and say 'here', NOW I mean the dining room. The meaning of 'here' changed depending on where I am.

So 'here' is a RELATIVE place. We don't use 'to'.

However, if I say a place like 'London', I mean the city in England. If I go into the dining room, or go to the moon, the place indicated by the word 'London' has not changed.

So 'London' is an ABSOLUTE place. We use 'to'.

What about 'home'? Where your home is doesn't change just because you move from one place to another. But, it DOES change depending on who SAYS the word.

Consider: If I say 'London', and then you say 'London', we mean the same place. However, if I say 'home', and then YOU say 'home', we mean DIFFERENT places. 'Home' is still a relative place, so it doesn't use 'to'.

That's a little tricky, but hopefully you can soon learn the difference between the kind of place words that use 'to', and the kind that don't.

Next lesson we will continue thinking about 'go to'. In particular, we will learn more about the difference between the 'going to' in 'I'm going to America', and the going to in 'I'm going to buy a hat'. It's a subtle but important difference, so stay tuned for next weeks blog!

See you next week.
-Tim

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Summer holiday

テレビでは、連日　飛行機や新幹線の乗車率や　高速道路の渋滞情報を伝えています。
そろそろお盆休みですね
最近は、休日分散型？とも言われていますが、それでも、いつも変わらずどこも
わたくし、何年か前、新幹線チケットが取れずに立ったまま大阪まで行ったことがありましたが、疲れは最高でした（・・・もう二度とイヤですが・・・）


ビートンボックスも　8/14～8/17　の４日間　夏休みをいただきます。

BBインストラクター達も各々休日を楽しんでいます。
もうすでにオーストラリアを楽しんできたTim。
今　まさに　ヨーロッパ旅行中のSon。
四国旅行計画中のKevin。
Mieke、RJ　は、９月に大きな楽しみを残しているようです

さて、皆様の夏休みは？


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Bana's day

こうも毎日暑い日が続くと食欲も落ちてきますよね？

そんな夏の栄養補給に最適な食べ物は皆さんそれぞれあるかと思いますが、
私にとってバナナは夏の栄養源！！なのですが、今日はバナナの日。
初めて知りました。

そう！単純にバ(８)ナナ(７)

バナナは300種類以上もあるそうで、信長の大好物だったとか。

黒い斑点(シュガースポット）が出てきたバナナがもっとも免疫力を高める力をもっているとも言われますよね。
エネルギーが体にこもるので、夜はあまり食べない方がいいとも聞きます。

BBのインストラクターも食事代わりに食べているのを見かけます

是非、夏の栄養源に



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The amber nectar

毎日暑い日が続きますね
皆様　体調はいかがですか？
この猛暑に　私はすでに夏バテ状態かもしれません・・・



さて、ビートンボックスインストラクターデスクの上には、いつもキャンディーがあります。
今日、Kevinはお気に入りのキャンディーを見つけたみたいです
その感想は～～～

Today, at BB I tried eating a delicious amber coloured sweet (Bekkouame), which Kayoko very kindly brought in. She also brought some Karintou snacks, which were also very tasty. After sampling both, I decided that I preferred the amber sweet, though it was a close call. The phrase 'Amber nectar' is sometimes used to describe a very nice beer, but today I am going to use it to describe Bekkouame.

ちなみに、私もべっこう飴は大好きです



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Tim先生のOne-point Lesson #20

Passive tenses - overview.

 

Hello everyone. As I said yesterday, today will be the first in a series about commonly overused phrases and forms. This lesson will focus on the 'passive voice'.

 

Sentences that follow the standard subject - verb - object pattern focus the attention on the person or thing DOING the action described by the verb. We will call that person or thing the AGENT. However, sometimes the agent is not important, is not known, or is too obvious to mention. In these cases, the passive voice is common. The passive voice is formed by a 'be'- verb (was, are, were, etc), followed by a verb in the past participle. That sounds complicated! But lets look at a few simple examples.

 

Lets imagine some people talking about a robbery.

In the active voice:

"Someone stole my car last night." - here, the agent is 'someone'.

"The police arrested the thief." - here, the agent is the police.

 

But in those examples, the agents are either not known ('someone'), or obvious ('the police' are obviously the ones who arrest people). So it would be much more common to use the passive voice, like this:

 

Passive voice:

"My car was stolen last night." - notice the be-verb 'was', the past participle 'stolen', and that we do not say WHO stole the car. That is, we do not mention an agent, because we do not know who it was.

 

"The thief was arrested." - again we see 'was', the past participle 'arrested', and there is no agent, in this case because it is obvious that the agent was the police.

 

Finally, I want to warn you about OVERUSING the passive voice. Once you understand how to make passive sentences, it can be very tempting to use them all the time, even when the active voice is better. This means we have to think very carefully about how important or obvious the AGENT is.

 

For example, in the sentences 'I had lunch' and 'I got my hair cut', you might think that the agent 'I' is obvious enough to leave out. However, the sentences 'Lunch was had' and 'My hair was cut' sound strange, as if the agent was someone other than 'I'.

 

IMPORTANT: In cases like these, where the agent is 'I' (the speaker), we have to be very careful about using passive voice. In Japanese, it is common to leave out the subject when it is yourself, but in English we nearly always use the active voice when talking about ourselves, and so the sentences should start with 'I'.

 

Remember: Although the passive voice is quite commonly used, and an important form to learn, most English sentences are made in the standard, active voice. Here's a tip: When you are making a new sentence, try to think "who or what is the agent, actually DOING what the verb describes". If you can't think of one, or if it's something vague like 'someone' or 'people', then the passive voice might be best. If you CAN think of the agent, then start your sentence by saying who or what it is, and use the active voice.

 

 

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