知ってる内容を英語ルートで理解。
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I hope you’re doing well. I want to share with you an amazing book I recently read. I was so into it that I couldn’t stop reading until I finished it in just one day!
The author, Pat Moore, is a few years older than me and well-known for starting to promote “universal design.” This book is about her experiences when she was 26 to 29 years old. As a graduate student, she came up with the idea of pretending to be an octogenarian to see how people would treat her. She traveled to more than one hundred cities in the USA and Canada.
What made this book so interesting to me are two things. First, I could relate to what she went through during her research, especially after I retired at 63. She talks about how elderly people were not treated well in America at that time. For example, in a store in Manhattan, she was treated coldly when she tried to buy a typewriter ribbon. The next day, when she went back as her actual 26-year-old self, the same clerk treated her respectfully and even opened the door for her.
In Japan, her experience might include being treated like a silly little girl, with people talking to her like, “Yeees, vvvvvvery, goooood. You are a goooood girl1” if you know what I mean.
The second reason I loved this book is that it helped me understand what prejudice and stereotypes really are and how to deal with them. Prejudice is a preconceived idea about a group of people, ignoring their individual differences. It’s important not to believe or support these ideas, as the most harmful part is that victims themselves start to believe these stereotypes deeply.
This is true not only for stereotypes about old people but also for stereotypes about women, nationalities, and more. Let’s live our own unique lives!
See you again!
私立学校に英語教師として勤務中、40代半ばに差し掛かったころ、荒れたクラスを立て直す策として、生徒に公言して英検1級に挑戦することを思い立つ。同様の挑戦を繰り返し、退職までに英検一級(検定連合会長賞)、TOEIC満点、国連英検SA級、フランス語一級、スペイン語一級(文科大臣賞)、ドイツ語一級、放送大学大学院修士号などの成果を得る。
アメリカで生徒への対応法を学ぶ為に研修(地銀の助成金)。最新の心理学に触れた。4都県での全発表、勤務校での教員への研修を英語で行う。現在も特別選抜クラスの授業を全て英語で行っている。「どうやって単語を覚えればいいですか?」という良くある質問に答える為、印欧祖語からの派生に基づく「生徒には見せたくない語源英単語集」を執筆中。完成間近。常日頃洋書の読破で様々な思考にふれているが、そうして得た発想の一つを生かして書いた論文がコロナ対策論文として最近入賞。賞品の牛肉に舌鼓をうっている。元英検面接委員