Koji, Yuka, and Akito are junior high school students in Tokyo. Olivia is a student from Australia.
They are talking in their classroom after school. |
| Koji: |
What are you reading, Yuka? |
| Yuka: |
I’m reading a book about stars.
I like looking at stars. |
| Olivia: |
Do you know about stars seen from Australia?
(1)They are wonderful. |
| Yuka: |
I know. I have seen them on TV. |
| Akito: |
Oh, are you interested in stars? |
| Yuka: |
Yes. Now I sometimes go to a science museum to learn about them.
I enjoy learning about stars thanks to my sister. |
| Koji: |
She is in elementary school, right? |
| Yuka: |
That’s right.
This summer, I saw stars from the top of a mountain with my family.
She explained about one bright star to me. |
| Olivia: |
Did you become interested in stars then? |
| Yuka: |
Yes. Then I started to learn more about them. |
| Akito: |
(2)That’s nice, Yuka. |
| Yuka: |
Thank you. |
| Akito: |
I’m interested in many things,
but I don’t usually try to learn more about them. |
| Yuka: |
Learning is fun.
I also enjoy science class.
I want to visit Australia to see beautiful stars someday. |
| Olivia: |
That’s nice. |
| Akito: |
Do you have something that you are interested in, Olivia? |
| Olivia: |
Yes. Japanese food.
Onigiri is my favorite.
I tried some in Australia, but I was surprised to see so many kinds of
onigiri in Japan.
And I can get delicious onigiri easily at convenience stores. |
| Yuka: |
I see. |
| Olivia: |
I learned that some of them included local products from different areas in Japan.
For example, I found onigiri with kombu from Hokkaido
and with umeboshi from Wakayama. That was interesting for me.
(3)After that, I started to learn more about Japanese food. |
| Akito: |
What do you mean? |
| Olivia: |
First, I checked some websites to learn about onigiri. I found out why some prefectures have become famous for their local products. Now I know more about the *geography of Japan. Things in daily life can become a good start for learning. |
| Koji: |
I agree with you.
I sometimes learn about English words seen in textbooks and in other places. |
| Akito: |
For example? |
| Koji: |
I learned the expression “free time” in English class last year. Last month, I saw the expression “free ticket” on the Internet.
(4)Then I got interested in the word “free.” |
| Olivia: |
What was interesting about it, Koji? |
| Koji: |
The word “free” was used with different meanings.
I didn’t know why “free” was used in that way. |
| Akito: |
I have never thought about that.
What did you do? |
| Koji: |
I used my dictionary at home and checked “free,” but I didn’t understand the reason. The next day, I asked my English teacher, Ms. Evans, about the word.
She taught me about the word and some other expressions using “free.” |
| Akito: |
I think you enjoy learning, Koji. |
| Yuka: |
Akito, you can also start learning about something you are interested in.
For example, your favorite movies, books, or this town. |
| Akito: |
This town….
When I was waiting for friends near our school, I saw a sign on a street
on a *hill. |
| Olivia: |
A sign?
What did it say? |
| Akito: |
The history of the street was written on it. The name of the street was the name of a famous person from the Edo *period.
That person lived near the street. |
| Koji: |
There are some other streets on hills.
How about looking for signs about them?
I know some of them have names. |
| Akito: |
(5)That’s a good idea.
I think that learning more about this town
may be a good chance to enjoy learning history.
I’ll go around and look for some more signs today. |
| Olivia: |
I want to go with you. |
| Koji: |
Let’s all go together. |
| Yuka: |
Sounds exciting. |
| 〔注〕geography 地理 hill 坂 period 時代 |