Hadrian’s wall was built by the Roman emperor Hadrian, to protect the Romans in England from the ‘barbarians’ across the border in Scotland. It can still be seen, stretching across the North of England, from Newcastle to Carlisle. In March 2010 a crowd of around 25,000 people gathered to watch a ‘line of light’ being lit all the way along the wall. It made for a spectacular display, with beacons lit, one at a time, 250 metres apart for 135 kilometres:

The line of light only lasted for half an hour, but the wall itself has survived for over 2,000 years. If you are visiting The Lake District nearby, or even Edinburgh, why not pay a visit to Hadrian’s wall? While it is not quite on the same scale as The Great Wall of China, it is still a fascinating part of British history, situated in a beautiful location.

It has been a very busy six-months since Henry was born. In his short time with us, he has flown on aeroplanes, had a dip in the sea, attended two imagine* parties, and worked as a model, to name just a few of his activities. He has recently started crawling, which has brought him a great deal of pleasure, and a little bit of pain (he keeps banging his head – ouch!).

Another development is that he has started to take an interest in food. Mashed bananas or mangoes – yummy! Mashed apples or sweet potatoes – yuck! We are beginning to teach him sign language so that he will be able to communicate a little sooner. So, tapping the mouth means FOOD, one hand clapping is DRINK, and two hands together, next to the cheek, is BED, and a well-earned rest.

have a dip in the sea　海でひと浴びする
crawling　ハイハイする
ouch　痛い
mashed　すりつぶした
yummy 　おいしい
yuck　ウエッ
a well-earned rest 　もらって当然の休息

フリーペーパー『芦屋モンテメール通信』の制作に携わる撮影場所として、先日私たちのイマジン語学スタジオ内をご使用いただきました。このフリーペーパーはモンテメール／大丸芦屋店の店舗情報等を掲載する情報紙です。モンテメールは JR 芦屋駅すぐに位置するショッピングモールで、イマジン語学スタジオのちょうど南側にありますね。

～この春から英会話やフラワーアレンジメント等の習い事を始めよう！～という写真のイメージ設定で、外国人の先生と会話をしている写真を撮りたいというご要望でした。撮影時にはモデル、デザイナー、コピーライター、カメラマン、メイクアップ、そのアシスタントの方々等、総勢10名程の方が撮影のために来られました。後ろ姿程度かもしれませんが、Ed もモデルとしてどのようなフォトイメージが掲載されるか楽しみです。芦屋市の新聞折込に配布される予定ですので、皆さまお楽しみに。

It’s the middle of December and people all over the world are busy writing Christmas cards. It’s an important part of the festivities and a good way to keep in touch with people you don’t see very often, but if English isn’t your first language it can be difficult to know what message to write to English speaking friends. One thing to remember is that we usually include a New Year’s greeting with the Christmas message. Some people write a long message, but most people have to send so many cards they only have time to write a short message.

Here is a selection of some standard messages from cards we have received this year:

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
Season’s Greetings
Best Wishes for Christmas and the New Year
Special Christmas Wishes
May your Christmas and New Year Shine
Christmas Greetings

Any of these will be fine for a message to a friend, family member or colleague. Don’t forget to write the name of the person you are sending the card to, and to sign it. For example:

To Imagine’s members
Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
From us all at Imagine

蒸し暑～い夏が過ぎ、過ごしやすい秋の季節がやってきました。イマジン語学スタジオに生けるお花も、秋らしい色合いです。

さて、「秋」を英語でいうと？　答えはふたつ、「Autumn」もしくは「Fall」。どちらも間違いではありません。イギリス英語だと「Autumn」、アメリカ英語だと「Fall」に。これ以外にも発音が同じだけどスペルが違ったり、その逆もあります。例えば、よく使用する「can’t」の発音をカタカナで表現すると、イギリスは「カーント」、アメリカは「キャント」となります。このどちらの単語も、私が中学の時に英語の授業で習ったものですが、私は、秋といえば「Autumn」と答え、can’tは「キャント」と発音します。

これは教わった先生や使用していた教材にもよりますが、どちらかといえば全体的にアメリカ英語寄りで学んだように思います。その時は、特にイギリス／アメリカと意識したことはありませんでした。イギリス人講師／アメリカ人講師と話しをすることで、やっぱり国によって違いがあるなと意識するようになったのはここ最近のことです。どちらが良い／悪いということはありませんが、知っておくと会話力も少しアップするのではないでしょうか。
比べる対象になるかは分かりませんが、関西と関東の人の話し方の違いがあるように、国が違うのですから違って当然かもしれません。他にも、カナダ・ニュージーランド・オーストラリア等もそれぞれの特長があるように思います。イギリス英語で通すのか、相手によって言葉を替えて話すかはその方の意識の問題となりますが、関西人は、よく関東の人と話すと関西弁で話さなくなる人がいます。東京の人に「あかん！」とか言われると、否定されてもちょっと親しみを持てる感がある私にとっては、相手に合わせて話すのが向いているかなと思う今日この頃です。

It’s very difficult choosing a name for your baby; it’s a big responsibility! A British newspaper published the top ten baby names in England and Wales for last year. Can you guess what they were? Any ideas? They were………… Olivia for girls and Jack for boys. I really like them both, but you can imagine in a few years time every classroom will have several Jacks and Olivias – a tricky problem for the teacher, I’m sure.

After a lot of discussion, my husband and I decided to call our baby Henry David. Henry was a name we liked very much and it’s NOT in the top ten list – hooray! In the UK most people have a middle name. Sometimes it’s the name of someone else in the family, e.g. a father’s or a grandmother’s first name, and sometimes it just makes a nice combination with the first name, like Rebecca Jane . We chose David for both reasons and fortunately, our family and friends approved of our choice – phew! Check out the article for yourself:

Olivia and Jack are most popular baby names | Society | The Guardian

Which name would you choose?

この夏休み前から集中して、イギリスへ留学を控えている高校生が数名入会されました。イギリスに限らず、アメリカ・カナダ・オーストラリア・ニュージーランド等への留学は、子供から大人まで非常に人気がありますが、いざ留学を控えた数ヶ月前が不安になるということはよくあります。英語が得意だから留学を決めたものの、英会話に自信が持てなかったりすることもあるでしょう。行ってから焦るよりも、行く前に短期間通うだけで、それがウォーミングアップとなって海外での生活への不安が軽減されることもあります。講師の出身が留学予定の国である場合、生活事情等も講師から聞くことができます。イマジン語学スタジオでは、月謝制ではなく5回・10回等と回数を始めに設定して、生徒さんのペースに合わせてレッスンを受講することができるので、留学前や転勤前に集中して受講することが可能です。また、留学先の夏休みや冬休み等で帰国されている期間が2週間程あるそうなので、その間だけレッスンを受けることも可能です。

留学から帰って来てどれくらい上達されたか、どんな生活を送っていたか等も再度お会いしてお聞き出来る事は、こちらとしても嬉しいです。短期でも長期でもご自身のペースで通える英会話スクールとして親しまれるよう努めています。

We are delighted to announce the birth of Henry David Price – or Henry for short. He was born in Ashiya Hospital on Tuesday 11th August, weighing 3552g. Henry and Becca are both fine, and doing well.

Many many thanks to all our friends, including all of Imagine’s members, for their help and support. We really appreciate the kindness and understanding that everybody has shown. Henry is sure to be visiting Imagine from time to time, so hopefully you will have the chance to meet him for yourself soon.

Trafalgar Square is in the heart of London, and is home to Nelson’s Column, one of the UK’s most famous landmarks. It also contains an empty plinth (the base for a statue). For the last few years, various artists have contributed temporary artworks to occupy the plinth. Now is the turn of Antony Gormley, one of Britain’s most famous artists.

His idea is to have real people, who have volunteered, to stand on the plinth for one hour, each and every hour between 6th July and 14th October 2009. That will be 2,400 people, doing whatever they want to do for sixty minutes. The project is called One & Other, and it is happening right now. You can watch the event live at this website:

UK Web Archive

If it were you on the plinth, what would you do?

There are some great artists playing at Summer Sonic in Osaka this year, not least Sonic Youth and Aphex Twin. My number one recommendation however, has to be Phoenix. I saw them at Club Quattro in Shinsaibashi in 2006, and it was one of the best gigs I have ever seen. They come from Paris, although they sing in English, and their songs have a very distinctive sound: melodic, simple, and always memorable. Their new album “Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix” has just been released. I prefer their previous album, “It’s Never Been Like That”, but the new one is definitely worth a listen, especially the single “Lisztomania”:

Summer Sonic 2009 – Phoenix – 1901

If you get the chance, see them for yourself at Summer Sonic:
PHOENIX | LINEUP | SUMMER SONIC 09