LETTER FROM HAPPY ENGLISH SCHOOL　　Jan. 24th 2024

Happy New Year! As you know, there have already been some unhappy events occurring this year, though. On the first day of this year, a most shocking groundbreaking disaster hit the Noto peninsula on the Japan Sea. Then an airplane accident followed on the second day. Now that the worst came first this year, we hope only good things will come afterwards!

The massive earthquake in Noto has destroyed many people’s lives. As of Jan.21st, 232 people have been killed, and as of 20th, 31670 houses and buildings have collapsed. Many people have been displaced and have been forced to stay at shelters or damaged houses without water and electric supplies.

The plane accident happened amid the confusion of the disaster and the holiday season. The Haneda airport control tower was busy handling many planes landing or taking off at that time, without noticing a Japan Coast Guard aircraft, which was supposed to transport supplies to Noto, mistakenly getting onto the runway while the Nikko plane was about to touch down. There seems to have been misunderstandings in communication between the control tower and the chief pilot of the JCG plane.

By the way, we are studying English to communicate and convey our ideas and it is important to memorize words, phrases and grammar and practice listening, reading, writing and speaking to make ourselves understood in English. We should follow the steady process of learning, that is, acquiring new vocabulary and using it by taking every opportunity. For example, when you see or hear English, try to understand it, and learn it by heart and write something and say something using it. You should sometimes get your writing and speaking checked by professionals or apps such as ChatGPT or Google Translate, which may not be accurate at all the time, though, but can help you a great deal. Please keep this in mind and continue to study English to be global at this time of VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity), which is a new business acronym I have learned this year.

I recommend that you should read “Memorization Using One A4sheet” by Ikeda Yoshihiro published by TOYOKEIZAI. It says that you can improve your concentration, thinking power, imagination, language skills, non-cognitive abilities and vitality, following his methods of increasing memory power.

Taking these things into consideration, you should make a resolution concerning English study this year, too and try hard to achieve it.

明けましておめでとうございます。今年は元日や二日から惨事がありました。言わずもがな、能登半島地震と飛行機事故です。年初に最悪の事態が起こったので、この先はただ良いニュースが飛び込むことを祈ります。

この先の見えない時代に、私たちは自分自身を磨くことに精進し、いかなる事態にも備えるようにしなくてはなりません。英語の学習者としては、暗記力を鍛えて英語の練習をし、とにかくレベルアップすることに邁進するべきです。

物事を覚えていなければ、アイデアが沸くはずもなく、イノーベーションを図ることもできません。「自己の成長は暗記がもたらす」といっても過言ではありません。なんでも覚えておくためにはどうすればよいか？それは、インパクトを持って覚えることです。書く、描く、口に出す、体で表現する、ゲームにする、テストする・・・などなど。

「A４・１枚記憶法」池田義弘著（東洋経済新報社）では、A4用紙を使っての記憶力増強について説明しています。A4の用紙を使って実践するのは、時間がかかりそうでできないかもしれないけれども、とても納得できる内容です。実際、著者曰く、記憶することによって、集中力UP、思考力UP、想像力UP、言語力UP、非認知能力UP、行動力UPができるのです。記憶は人を作ります。

今年の英語学習の抱負は何ですか。目標を立てて達成できるように努力しましょう。結果が良ければよいですが、その努力の過程が大切です。

Keep up your good work！