I want to tell you about something interesting I learned about language learning. It started when I read a news story from Australia.
In Australia, a library tried something new – they combined dancing with reading books for young children. The children loved it! They wanted to read more books after this fun activity.
This reminded me of my own story from university days. When I was learning French, our teacher made us do something unusual. We had to move our arms and legs while saying a short French model story. At first, I thought this was strange. “Why are we doing this? We are university students, not children!” I wondered.
So I asked my French teacher, Mr. Roberge, about it. He gave me a very important answer: “Language comes from our body feelings and movements.”
Now, after many years of teaching English, I understand what he meant. Let me give you two simple examples:
When you say the word “go” in English, you naturally feel like you are moving forward.
Many English words use special parts called “prefixes.” For example:
“ad-” feels like moving toward something
“ab-” feels like moving away from something
This is true for all languages – they connect to how our bodies move and feel. When you study English, try to feel the words with your body. It can help you learn better!
In my Japanese classes, I showed students special movement exercises to help them learn English grammar and prefixes. These exercises helped them remember better because they used their whole body to learn.
Keep studying, and remember – learning a language isn’t just in your head, it’s in your whole body too!
Best wishes,
Jiro
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