English Recordings

I go to a day-care center to work as a volunteer once a week.

I chat with elderly people and dry dishes in the kitchen.

They are nice and warm. Besides lunches served there are always tasty.

So I am really looking forward to having lunch with them every week.

I go there to do a volunteer activity but I think I am learning a lot from them.

I work in a cram school usually untill late at night.

If I have nothing to do in the morning, I just sleep.

That's mottainai. ( waste of life) so I started to do volunteer activity.
いいね!

Is creativity magical? Not according to those now teaching it as a skill, discovers Colin Barras. Are there really secrets to unlocking your imagination?

Is it possible to be learn what it takes to be creative? If you look at great artists, musicians or entrepreneurs, it can seem that creativity is a gift possessed by the lucky few. It’s something the rest of us can only admire.

Yet in recent years, there have been growing calls to nurture and teach creativity from an early age in schools and universities. While the secret to unlocking creative genius remains elusive, research suggests that it’s possible to prime the mind for creative ideas to emerge. And creativity is even taught as an academic discipline in some places. So, what are the ways teachers are drawing out that creative spark? And should these techniques be taught more in schools?

The belief that schools are failing to nurture creative skills has grown in recent years. The educator and author Ken Robinson, for example, argued in an influential TED talk in 2006 that current education practices crush student’s innate creative talents. Robinson clearly touched a nerve – this became the most watched TED talk of all time (see below).

Waving your arms, wriggling your fingers and striding around a room can help you learn faster, says Colin Barras. How does it work?

Ever got to grips with a problem? Picked up a new skill? Grasped a difficult concept? The language of learning is full of references to parts of the body outside the brain. Perhaps that’s because these phrases hint at something deeper. Researchers are discovering that learning is easier, quicker and more long-lasting if lessons involve the body as well as the mind – whether it’s gesturing with the arms or moving around a room. Can these insights enhance teaching and learning in the future? And should it inform the way technology is employed in the classroom?

In some ways, the idea that the body can aid learning should come as no surprise. Consider that many of us probably began to understand basic arithmetic by counting on our fingers before learning to count in our head instead.

“In the past, people have argued that as we learn we become more able to think abstractly,” says Andrew Manches, a teacher turned psychologist at the University of Edinburgh in the UK. “Young children depend on physical objects to help them, but if I’m asked in a meeting now to work out a calculation and I get out a set of blocks to help me – obviously I’m going to look silly.”

Conventional thinking might suggest that teachers should help wean children off physical objects and body gestures to prepare them for the adult world. But in truth, the physical world never really leaves our thinking. For example, when we process verbs such as lick, kick and pick, medical scanners show that the parts of our brain that control the muscles in our face, legs and hands, respectively, light up with activity. And even the most abstract of concepts may have grounding in the real world.

An international study published last month looked at how students in 65 countries performed in math, science and reading. The winner was: Confucianism!

At the very top of the charts, in all three fields and by a wide margin, was Shanghai. Three of the next top four performers were also societies with a Confucian legacy of reverence for education: Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea. The only non-Confucian country in the mix was Finland.

The United States? We came in 15th in reading, 23rd in science and 31st in math.

I’ve been visiting schools in China and Asia for more than 20 years (and we sent our own kids briefly to schools in Japan, which also bears a Confucian imprint), and I’ve spent much of that time either envious or dumbfounded. I’ll never forget pulling our 2-year-old son out of his Tokyo nursery school so we could visit the States and being handed a form in which we had to list: “reason for proposed vacation.”

Education thrives in China and the rest of Asia because it is a top priority — and we’ve plenty to learn from that.

Granted, Shanghai’s rise to the top of the global charts is not representative of all China, for Shanghai has the country’s best schools. Yet it’s also true that China has made remarkable improvements in the once-awful schools in peasant areas.

Just 20 years ago, children often dropped out of elementary school in rural areas. Teachers sometimes could barely speak standard Mandarin, which, in theory, is the language of instruction.

These days, even in backward rural areas, most girls and boys alike attend high school. College isn’t unusual. And the teachers are vastly improved. In my Chinese-American wife’s ancestral village — a poor community in southern China — the peasant children are a grade ahead in math compared with my children at an excellent public school in the New York area. That seems broadly true of math around the country.

For a socialist system that hesitates to fire people, China has also been surprisingly adept — more so than America — at dealing with ineffective teachers. Chinese principals can’t easily dismiss teachers, but they can get extra training for less effective teachers, or if that doesn’t work, push them into other jobs.

“Bad teachers can always be made gym teachers,” a principal in the city of Xian explained to me as she showed me around her kindergarten. In China, school sports and gym just don’t matter.

(That kindergarten exemplified another of China’s strengths: excellent early childhood education, typically beginning at age 2. Indeed, the only element of China’s education system that really falters badly is the university system. Colleges are third-rate and should be a national disgrace.)

But this is the paradox: Chinese themselves are far less impressed by their school system. Almost every time I try to interview a Chinese about the system here, I hear grousing rather than praise. Many Chinese complain scathingly that their system kills independent thought and creativity, and they envy the American system for nurturing self-reliance — and for trying to make learning exciting and not just a chore.

In Xian, I visited Gaoxin Yizhong, perhaps the city’s best high school, and the students and teachers spoke wistfully of the American emphasis on clubs, arts and independent thought. “We need to encourage more creativity,” explained Hua Guohong, a chemistry teacher. “We should learn from American schools.”

One friend in Guangdong Province says he will send his children to the United States to study because the local schools are a “creativity-killer.” Another sent his son to an international school to escape what he likens to “programs for trained seals.” Private schools are sprouting everywhere, and many boast of a focus on creativity.

For my part, I think the self-criticisms are exactly right, but I also deeply admire the passion for education and the commitment to making the system better. And while William Butler Yeats was right that “education is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire,” it’s also true that it’s easier to ignite a bonfire if there’s fuel in the bucket.

The larger issue is that the greatest strength of the Chinese system is the Confucian reverence for education that is steeped into the culture. In Chinese schools, teachers are much respected, and the most admired kid is often the brain rather than the jock or class clown.

Americans think of China’s strategic challenge in terms of, say, the new Chinese stealth fighter aircraft. But the real challenge is the rise of China’s education system and the passion for learning that underlies it. We’re not going to become Confucians, but we can elevate education on our list of priorities without relinquishing creativity and independent thought.

That’s what we did in 1957 after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik. These latest test results should be our 21st-century Sputnik.

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/16/opinion/16kristof.html

581 Is Santa real ? / Does Santa really exist? / Is there really a Santa?
582 She still thinks Santa is real. / She still believes in Santa.
583 Santa, Please bring me what I want. / Santa, please bring me what l asked for.
584 I'll hang big stockings. / I'll hang out big stockings. /
585 I'll bake a Christmas cake.
586 Let's have a Christmas party!
587 I want to invite Kate for Christmas.
588 They're caroling. / They're singing Christmas carols.
589 Did you get your Christmas tree up? / Did you put up a Christmas tree? / Did you set up a Christmas tree?
590 Do you know how to put up a Christmas tree?

1561 It's getting hotter these days. / It's getting hotter and hotter these days. / It's getting hotter day by day.
1562 It's getting muggy. / It's getting hot and humid.
1563 Aren't you hot dressed like that? / / You must be burning up in those clothes.
1564 Bad weather lately, huh? / The weather's been bad lately. / The weather's been horrible lately.
1565 It's gloomy. / It's a depressing day.
1566 It's humid, isn't it? / The humidity is high, isn't it?
1567 It's a little cloudy today.　/ We have a few clouds today.
1568 It's cloudy. / It's overcast.
1569 The weather is getting worse and worse. / The weather is going to get worse and worse.
1570 It's going to rain on and off. / We'll have scattered showers. / It'll rain occasionally.

1521 I have to have the AC fixed before summer. / I have to have a repairman fix the air conditioner before summer.
1522 I can hardly wait for summer break.
1523 See you in September! / I'll see you in September!
1524 Have a nice summer! / Enjoy your break!
1525 The iced tea really hit the spot. / The iced tea is exactly what l needed.
1526 This Coke has gone flat.
1527 It's the season for newly picked tea. / It's the season for fresh tea.
1528 This year's tea is now available in stores. / This season's tea is now available at stores.
1529 The fresh spring tea tastes so good. / The new spring tea tastes so good.
1530 Bamboo shoots come into season this time of year.

Who attacked Mr Wealthy ? Yesterday two men robbed Mr Wealthy. Mr Wealthy is a very rich man and he had a lot of money in his safe ! The two men arrived at ten in the evening and parked their van under a tree, behind the house. They climbed up the tree and jumped into the garden. Then, they walked to the kitchen door and opened it. Mr Wealthy didn't hear them because he is very old and a bit deaf. They attacked poor Mr Wealthy with guns and asked him the secret code to his safe, then they tied him to his armchair,(he wanted to watch the end of the match on television !) and they escaped with the money ! In the morning, the police discovered two masks and two water pistols in the garden...and Mr Wealthy asleep in his armchair!

theme park
a theme park
the theme park
the airport
the bus stop
the church
the hospital
the prison
the hairdresser's
the shopping centre
the library
the zoo
the park
the stadium
the ice rink
the beach
the sports centre

Jenny: - Hi John
John : _ Hi Jenny,
Jenny:- How are you?
John :- Fine thanks. I've just come back from Australia
Jenny:- Waow, Fantastic! Who did you go with?
John : - I went with my parents and my younger brother.
Jenny: - Lucky you! And how did you go there?
John: -We went by bus up to Brussels and there, we
travelled by train up to Paris; ones there, we
flew to Melbourne.
Jenny: - Awesome! Where did you sleep?
John: - We slept in a hotel. It wa svery nice and the
people were very friendly.
Jenny: - And tell me, what did you do? Did you meet
famous rugby players?
John: - No, I didn't. I didn't meet anyone famous. I
visited a zoo and I saw loads of animals, like
koalas, kangaroos, monkeys... Then we went to
see a play at the Sydney Opera House, it was
fabulous!Finally, I went on a tour, by boat, to
discover the Coral Reef, it was amazing!
Jenny: - Lucky you, I wish I could go there one day
too...!