Focus! 2014 ～世界で輝く城西生～ 2014 年 11 月 24 日発行 vol.2 10 月はハロウィーンやホームカミングなど、多くの行事があり、文化の違いを肌で感じながら、沢山の刺激を受けている様子が伝わってきます。また、二ヶ月が経ち、それぞれに英語力の上達を実感しているようです。高校 1 年生竹下みなみさん【アメリカ・Sweet Home High School（本校姉妹校）】「部活動の募金活動でトップセラーに」 It has been two month since I came to America. Every day goes by so quickly for me. I sold “cow pie” raffle tickets for my dance team’s fund raiser. It is a game like a lottery and it is held during the Homecoming football game. People buy a ticket with a number on it and the person who wins the game can get money when a cow drops its “pie” on the number in the pasture on the winning ticket. Our coach said selling at football or volleyball game is better so I tried that. At first, I tried to sell tickets to my host sister, Michele. It was very scary and I cried because it was my first time to sell something to someone. At the Homecoming football game, I sold many tickets because I was more comfortable selling to people and now I can talk to more people without being scared about it. My mind is a totally different and change when I was in Japan. I can talk to somebody easier after selling tickets at school. I have a college now. I feel I could grow up. At the end of the ticket sales I was the top seller ― The team member who sold the most! I did a great job talking to many people. It felt awesome. We have a career day in the middle of October. On this day we can think about our future. Our seniors heard about the entire year in the morning assembly. In the afternoon, every high school student learned about many kinds of jobs. Adults tell us about their jobs and the interested thing they do. I am very interested in the U.S. military. In America they have five branches of military. I heard about three branches of the military; U.S. Navy, U. S. Air Force, and U. S. Coast Guard. It was a great time and experience for me to learn about the U.S. military structure. I had interest in fighter airplanes a long time ago so it was a wonderful time for me. I thought it was a good event to hold at school. スイートホームに来て約 2 か月が経ちました。時が過ぎるのがとても早く感じています。ダンスチームの募金活動でカウパイを売りました。カウパイとはフットボールの試合のハーフタイムなどで行われる賭け事のようなゲームです。番号の書いているチケットを買い、自分の番号が当たった人が賞金を貰えます。ちなみにその募金活動で私は top seller になりました！また、10 月半ばには、career day がありました。自分の将来についてそれぞれが考えることの出来る日です。アメリカの軍隊の仕組みを聴けて良い経験になりました。昔から戦闘機などに興味のあった私には素晴らしい時間でした。高校 1 年生大舘壽輝くん【アメリカ・Salem Academy High School（本校提携校）】「聖書から力を」 We have soccer practice after school every day. When we practiced soccer on one day it rained, and we saw a double rainbow at the same time. They were the biggest and most beautiful rainbows I’ve ever seen. Everyone who had seen them was so excited. Then a member of our soccer team suddenly kicked a ball to 城西大学附属城西中学・高等学校〒171-0044 東京都豊島区千早 1-10-26 ※本記事の文章および画像の無断転載を禁ず the rainbows. So someone said “The ball is going to the rainbow” and we said “Wow” watching it. Then “You guys don’t wanna play soccer?” coach said and got angry. So everyone said “I wanna play!” and the practice restarted instantly. Even if American students are scolded, they tell their reasons then they try to make the person who got angry laugh by saying something amusing. I sometimes feel so. When the practice finished, we couldn’t see them, but I was deeply impressed by the two awesome rainbows. The bible says that a rainbow is the sigh of the covenant that God was making between God and us and every living creature with us. Salem Academy is a Christian school. Therefore we have a bible class everyday. The bible teaches new points of view to me. Now they are my support. We have Homecoming at Salem Academy on this month. All of the schools in America have it at this time of the year. Salem Academy has events from Monday to Friday, and then we have Homecoming. There were events where we wore the clothes of the theme the school had decided. On Monday I went to school to be excited. Our school in Japan requires us to wear a uniform, so I felt the difference of the cultures. On Friday, at last the day of Homecoming arrived. After school we had a big football game, after that we had a party, so we were hyper. I played basketball, and then danced with my friends because we were ever so hyper. The dance was so funny that when I remember it, I laugh. The football game started, but five pairs of princes and princesses came in front of our seats to get in convertibles that looked incredibly expensive. When I saw that, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The Crusaders, the name of Salem Academy’s sport team, made some touchdowns. The band and the cheerleaders performed every time to make a touchdown, so we were very excited. The Crusaders won the game 56 to 0. I had never seen a football game in Japan, so I was very excited. I guess that no sport is as popular as football in America. American people sure do like it, and they often wear the T-shirt of the football team. サッカー部の練習は毎日あります。ある日、これまで見たことがない、とても大きく美しい二つの虹が見えました。すっかり虹に見惚れていると、コーチに怒られてしまいました。セーラムアカデミーは、クリスチャンの学校なので、聖書の時間が毎日あります。聖書によると、虹は神と全生物との誓約とされます。聖書の時間は新しい見地を私に与えてくれ、今では、支えにもなっています。今月は、ホームカミングというイベントもありました。月曜日から金曜日まで決められたテーマの服装で登校しました。最終日にはフットボールゲームがあり、セーラムアカデミーは 56 対 0 で勝ちました。とても興奮しました。高校 1 年生三瀬星くん【アメリカ・Valley Catholic High School（本校提携校）】「至るところハロウィーン一色に」 Two months have passed since I came to the United States. I still feel the classes of religion and geometry to be difficult, but I can live without any problem. My school will hold a Halloween party. My American friends said people show disguises to each other, take photographs and eat sweets. But I’m disappointed because it will be held on the 31st, so I can’t report it in this report. Halloween is imminent, and the neighboring supermarket and convenience stores are full of 城西大学附属城西中学・高等学校〒171-0044 東京都豊島区千早 1-10-26 ※本記事の文章および画像の無断転載を禁ず decorations for it, too. Halloween limited menus were given in some restaurants. The entrance of the school became full of pumpkins, too. I have really improved in English, but I still feel difficulty when I watch movies without subtitles and when I try to understand what the teacher says. However I came to be able to talk smoothly with my host family and friends considerably in comparison with a beginning when I came here. So recently, I feel happy to use my English. I want to learn a lot of things in class, and I want to feel more happy to use my English. I’m surprised because two months have passed in no time since I came to the United States. Time passes so fast, so I’ll make an effort to raise my ability as much as possible. アメリカへ来て二カ月が過ぎました。「宗教」など、苦戦する科目はあるものの、順調に過ごしています。学校では、10 月 31 日にハロウィーンパーティが予定されています。レストランには期間限定メニューもあらわれ、至るところでハロウィーン一色です。ホストファミリーや友人とのやり取りは、以前と比べてずっとスムーズになり、英語力も上がってきていると感じられますが、まだまだです。この二ヶ月、あっという間に時が過ぎると感じているので、能力向上のため、精一杯に努力しようと思います。高校 1 年生遠藤晨恵さん【アメリカ・Sweet Home High School（本校姉妹校）】「英語で夢を」 October is Halloween season. One of the events I am looking forward to is Halloween day, October 31st. In Japan, some people distribute cakes at Halloween, but we didn’t dress up and wear costume like in America. My host family and I made a Jack-o’-Lantern. I got to carve a very big pumpkin. I’m so excited, I talked to my friend Aidie and told her how excited I was about Halloween. She invited me to attend her Halloween party and sleep over. I invited Minani Takeshita to go with me to the party. At the party we played games, watched a movie, ate food, and stayed up late talking. I had a great time. That night I had a dream. This time my dream was in English, not Japanese. I remember Mr. Akiba telling me of an exchange student last summer. He said that dreaming in English is cool and it means you are understanding more English. That made me happy. There was an event called Homecoming. Homecoming is where all of the students of the school use their cell phone and computers to vote for a Homecoming Queen and Homecoming King, and compete in games among different grade levels. Homecoming Queen this year was Alison. She was a short-term international student who visited Josai last summer. Also in October I finally made a new friend at lunch break. I’m very happy about that．We sometimes leave campus at lunch and go to a place called Corner Cup were we have food and drinks. The food at Corner Cup is inexpensive and very good. it’s a popular place with students. 城西大学附属城西中学・高等学校〒171-0044 東京都豊島区千早 1-10-26 ※本記事の文章および画像の無断転載を禁ず In later October, I went to a haunted corn maze with Molly and Lola who visited Josai last summer. Haunted corn mazes are usually made during the Halloween season. The corn maze had scary clowns, ghosts, zombies, and scary chainsaw-wielding people. Molly and her mother picked me up at my host family’s house to take me to the corn maze. That was the first time I had been to a corn maze. Anyway, I ran away once in the dark and crashed into someone, but it was very fun and very exciting. アメリカで迎えるイベントの中でも楽しみだったハロウィーン。大きなパンプキンでホストファミリーとランタンを作るなど、大いに楽しみました。お友達の家に泊まった夜には、初めて英語で夢をみました。ハロウィーンに続くホームカミングというイベントでは、この夏に城西に留学へ来ていたアリスンさんが今年のホームカミングクウィーンに選ばれました。お昼休みに共に過ごすお友達も増え、十月の終わりにはコーン畑迷路も体験しました。城西大学附属城西中学・高等学校〒171-0044 東京都豊島区千早 1-10-26 ※本記事の文章および画像の無断転載を禁ず