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https://worldlife.jp/archives/16192
Dear Readers,
Do you remember your school days? What was your most boring class? For me, it was history. Many students fell asleep because the teacher just talked and we only had to memorize dates and facts for tests.
But recently, I found something interesting! A Japanese researcher studied history classes in four different countries: America, France, Iran, and Japan. She wanted to see how each country teaches history differently.
This made me wonder: Can history classes be more interesting than what I experienced? I started reading about American history classes first.
In American schools, history classes are very different from Japan. Students don’t just memorize facts. Instead, they:
◯Think about why things happened
◯Discuss what happened after important events
◯Share their ideas in class
I wanted to see if this was true. Getting American textbooks was difficult – they are big and expensive! But I found something else: high school entrance exam questions about history.
These exam questions were very different from Japanese ones. They didn’t ask “When did this happen?” or “Who did this?” Instead, they asked students to think deeply.
Here’s a simple example: “Why did Spain explore new lands in the 1400s and 1500s?
1. They wanted spices from Asia
2. They followed Islamic leaders
3. They militarily defeated the Ottoman Empire
This seems more interesting than just remembering dates! But I think there might be some problems with this way of teaching too. History is very complex – one event can have many causes, not just one simple reason. I once read that a single historical event might have more than 100 different causes!
I’ve only read about American history classes so far. Next time, I’ll tell you about how France, Iran, and Japan teach history.
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