2009年11月 Archives

◆〔Fri〕From the Horse's Mouth

The World of Sweets. Part 4

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金曜日更新担当の講師チーム"From the Horse's Mouth"から
今日は講師・Eddie先生が更新です！

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Hello everyone, I hope you are doing well. Maybe you might remember a while ago I wrote a lot about sweets, well let's return to the world of sweets!

One type of sweet that I really like is Mince Pies. Maybe the name does not sound so great, but believe me, they are delicious! The are small pies filled with something called Fruit Mince, which is a mixture of pieces of fruit including apples, raisins, currants, sultanas, cherries, marmalade and mixed spices (eg cinnamon). All this stuff is mixed together with a little brandy, and left in a bowl to stew for a couple of days. All of the flavours mix together. After this, the mixture is wrapped in pie crust and baked in the oven. It is best to eat them while they are warm. They are good! We usually have them around Christmas time. I have been in Japan for about five years now and I have heard many, many Japanese people say "We Japanese do not like such sweet food" Mince pies are sweet, but not too sweet, so I think Japanese people might like them.

Actually when people say Japanese people do not like sweet food, I think they are lying! There are sweet shops everywhere in Japan, people line up outside them sometimes! If you are still reading my blog, it proves that you like sweets too! ANYWAY There is a kind of Italian soda that I love, called Chinotto (Ki No To). It is made from some kind of Italian citrus fruit , with a number of herbs added. It is black and looks like cola, but the taste is quite different. Not many people like it, but I love it. The best brands to buy are San Pellegrino or Bisleri. I am not sure if you can get it easily in Japan, but it must be available somewhere in this country. Otherwise, you can buy it on the internet. Of course, you can get it in Italy, but we also have many Italians in Australia, so you should be able to find it easily in Australia (maybe this depends on the place - Cairns and the Gold Coast might not have so much Chinotto, but Sydney and my home town of Melbourne should be no problem) Please try some!

Something else we have in Australia is a kind of grape flavoured soda called Portello - that is pretty good. There is another on called Creamy Soda, which has a kind of Caramel flavour - that is also nice, but very sweet.

When I went to Spain, I tasted the best Cocoa I have ever had in my life. In Madrid, for breakfast, you can get a large cup of Chocolate (Cho Ko La Te) in a cup that looks like a small bowl. The cocoa is not like you might imagine - it is thick. What do I mean by "thick"? It is like honey. It tasted like chocolate but it is like honey; you can drink it slowly, or you can eat it with a spoon. It is like having a big cup of chocolate sauce!

Every morning I ate some warm churros, which are like donuts (they sell them a Mr Donut, but at Mr Donut they are honey flavoured - in Spain they have no honey) You can dip a piece of Churro into the cocoa. It is good stuff. If you go to Spain and do not try some Spanish cocoa, you are missing out on a great opportunity! I can't speak much Spanish, but I can tell you how to get some of this magic drink - "Chocolate per favor" (Cocoa please) or, if you also want to get some Churros (which I recommend) you can say "Chocolate con churros por favor" After you finish, you can say "Muy bien) (very good) I hope you like it!

▼▽▼▼【講師】Eddie先生のバックナンバー━━━━━━━━ ・【Safety】2009.10.30 (Fri)

ブログランキングに参加しています。
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Posted By: Eddie Palmer on November 27, 2009

Seminar/Course Info

Winter Special Blog

Hi everyone.

As you all know, the Winter Special is coming up soon. If you a regular Kaplan student, this is a great opportunity to experience many new one-off special classes. A lot of the special classes will be informative and fun. I have several classes myself which I am really looking forward to teaching and I can recommend many of the courses of my co-workers.

Students will have a great chance to experience the styles of many different teachers and brush up many of their skills while studying interesting content. You can learn about US/ UK and Canadian culture; practice discussion and reading through the World News 2009 classes; and expand your vocabulary and knowledge with the special Noteworthy Profile classes. These are just a few examples.

For prospective students, I also urge you to take some of the trial classes for our courses at Kaplan. This is a unique opportunity to sample the techniques, material and atmosphere of the school.

Both regular and prospective students have a chance to join our workshops too to make sure you can all keep up your English over the holiday season.

I hope all of you will join as many classes as possible.

See you soon!

Anthony

▼下記以外にも12/14（月）～27（日）の期間中に様々な講座を開講いたします。
1講座からお申込可能ですので是非この機会にご参加ください！
Winter Special ★138講座の内容詳細、講師スケジュール等はこちらをご覧ください。

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

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■「World News 2009 」
【受講費：3,000円】　●12/20（日）13:00-15:00
●12/21（月）17:00～19:00　●12/23 10:00-12:00　於：カプラン表参道校
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
年末恒例の2009年世界の重大ニュースを、
グループディスカッションも取り入れながら英語で振り返ります。
今年のsurprisingな、興味深い出来事を扱いながら、関連語彙や
イディオムも扱う、社会派のあなたにオススメの講座です。

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■「Noteworthy Profiles」
【受講費：3,000円】●12/17（木）17：00～19：00　
●12/19（土）13:00-15:00 　●12/23（水）13:00-15:00 於：カプラン表参道校
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通常のカプラン・ワークショップ講座の一つ、
「Noteworthy Profiles」（通常50分授業）の拡大版授業です。
著名人、歴史的な出来事や国など、多岐に渡るトピックを題材に、
リーディングやディスカッションを行います。
知識・教養を身につけながら、英語力向上を図ります。

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■「American Culture」
【受講費：3,000円】●12/18（金）19:00～21:00　
●12/21（月）15:00-17:00　於：カプラン表参道校
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■「British Culture」
【受講費：3,000円】●12/16（水）13:00～15:00　
●12/18（金）10:00-12:00 於：カプラン表参道校
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■「Canadian Culture」
【受講費：3,000円】　12/22（火）17：00～19：00　於：カプラン表参道校
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カプランネイティブ講師による異文化紹介講座です。
郷土料理、生活様式、スポーツ、教育、儀式、祝日、趣味など、
興味深いトピックを取り上げます。自国の紹介ということもあり、
各講師も熱くそれぞれの国について語ります。

◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇

お申し込み、お問い合わせは、
お電話にてカプラン銀座校（03-5524-5851）
またはカプラン表参道校(03-5774-6968)までご連絡をお願いします。

We thank you for your continued support!

Posted By: Anthony Gardner on November 25, 2009

◆〔Wed〕Zen and the Art of Aptitude

Gross National Happiness

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水曜日更新担当の講師チーム"Zen and the Art of Aptitude"から
今日はSandy先生の更新です☆
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I live in Asakusa, about 1500m from the new Tokyo communications tower, dubbed 'Tokyo Sky Tree.' It's got a triangular base, and as it rises, the cross-section morphs into a circular shape. When completed, it promises to rise 634m from its base in Sumida Ku, and help me find my home on mid-night bike rides.

The height itself is not exactly arbitrary. 6-3-4 spells 'Mu-sa-shi' in Japanese, which is the old name for Tokyo area. Originally, however, the tower was planned to be 610m. The additional height was only announced recently, when officials heard news of a 610m tower being built in Guangzhou, China. The Sky Tree had to be bigger.

Of course there's a competiveness when it comes to being the next Olympic City. Even having the world's tallest tower may attract a few more tourists. But there's already a much taller building in Dubai, so forget that title. It's a worthless competition. In fact, it almost suggests that Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and other competing cities are trying to make up for something by building the biggest phallus they can.

If Tokyo wants to spend the extra yen, I think it should be on something that will make Tokyo people happier. An extra 24m height on the Sky Tree may not be the answer. I don't claim to understand this culture or its people. So I don't know. But take a look at what Bhutan's got going: Gross National Happiness (GNH.)

GNH is an indicator of the happiness of the nation of Bhutan. The 4th King of Bhutan has been promoting GNH since the beginning of his reign in 1972. Happiness was and is the guiding goal of development. He publicly stated that GNH is more important than GDP. The GNH is just an index, a number, an indicator. But, as the king explains,

'Indicators determine policies. The almost universal use of GDP-based indicators to measure progress has helped justify policies around the world that are based on rapid material progress at the expense of environmental preservation, cultures, and community cohesion. Indicators capture the imagination and help convince lay people about the direction of the countrys [sic] goals and development objectives...Indicators actually drive society in certain directions and even determine the policy agendas of governments.'

What a great idea; the government is encouraging its citizens, teaching that happiness is more important that money. Bhutan is a Buddhist country, but then so are Japan and China. And while I wouldn't say that money isn't important, I think money's importance is definitely exaggerated in most cultures. On the bright side, we'll have a shiny new tower in Tokyo to take pictures of.

▼▽▼▼【講師】Sandy先生のバックナンバー━━━━━━━━

・【Reward Yourself】2009.10.28 (Wed)

We thank you for your continued support!

Posted By: Sandy Bhatia on November 25, 2009

Seminar/Course Info

充実の138講座！1講座から受講可能！Winter Special冬期特別講座のご案内

こんにちは！カプラン事務局です。
このところ急に寒くなってきましたが、みなさん風邪などひいてませんか？
本日は事務局よりWinter Special 冬期特別講座のご案内です！

カプランでは12月14日（月）～27日（日）にWinter Special冬期特別講座を開催いたします。初心者を対象にした「English for Beginners」から中上級者を対象にした「英語即興型ディベートセミナー」、レベルを問わない「英語DEフォトグラフィー」や「英語DEフラダンス」など138講座という充実のラインナップ！1講座からお申込可能です！内部生も外部生もご受講いただけますので、是非この機会にさまざまなクラスにご参加いただければと思います！

◆Winter Special 講座内容詳細、及びスケジュールはこちら◆

☆下記、138講座の1部をピックアップにてご紹介☆

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■「English for Executives 」
【受講費：3,000円】　12/17（木）19：00～21：00　於：カプラン銀座校
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企業の代表や役員等、エグゼクティブにしばしば求められる、
スピーチや社交などの英語を、MBA・英語教授法資格を
保有するネイティブ講師がレッスンします。

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■「ロジカル・シンキングセミナー」
【受講費：5,000円】　12/22（火）19：00～21：00　於：カプラン銀座校
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ビジネスパーソンには必須スキルのロジカル・シンキング。
物事の本質を見極め、論理的に思考するためのMUSTをレクチャーします。
主に上場企業の人材戦略の立案、キャリア開発の支援実績を持つ
企業から講師を迎え、直接指導いたします。

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■無料企画「e-Learning®セミナー（Linc English）」
【受講費：無料】　12/19（土）18：00～21：00　於：カプラン銀座校
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モンタナ大学の数々の専門家が
橘由加氏（モンタナ大学准教授兼東北大学高等教育開発推進センター准教授）
と共同開発した究極の英語e-learning教材を橘氏が直接紹介。
TOEICはもちろん、TOEFLや英検、センター試験リスニングに対応。

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■「Business Negotiation」
【受講費：3,000円】　12/19（土）15：00～17：00　於：カプラン表参道校
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
ケーススタディを取り入れながら、ビジネス交渉スキルを学びます。
英語によるビジネスネゴシエーションに不可欠なストラテジーや、
役に立つ英語表現を学び、スキルの向上を目指します。

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■「英語DE学ぶフォトグラフィー」
【受講費：3,000円】　12/14（月）13：00～15：00　於：カプラン表参道校
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プロの外部ネイティブ講師によるスペシャル講座。
デジタルカメラでも上手に写真を撮れるテクニックや人物写真の
効果的な撮り方など、「写真」をテーマに英語で学びます。

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■「英語DE学ぶフラダンス」
【受講費：3,000円】　12/15（火）13:00～15:00/12/27（日）10:00～12:00　於：カプラン表参道校
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フラダンスをこよなく愛すカプラン・バイリンガルスタッフによるダンス講座。
易しい英語でフラダンスの基本ステップを学び、音楽に合わせて踊れるように練習します。
あまり硬くならず、とにかく楽しむ講座です！

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■無料企画「マスターセミナー（2009ファイナル版）＆座談会」
【受講費：無料】　12/27（日）13:00～17:00　於：カプラン表参道校
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
石渡誠が年間で５０回近く行ってきた、英語マスターセミナーの２００９年最終版です。
今まで参加された方も、初めて参加される方も、受講生の方も一緒に学べる内容に
なっています。また、普段の英語学習でお悩みのことにお答えする座談会も行います。
現在、皆さんのご要望もお聞きしています。詳しくはこちらのブログもお読み下さい。

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
■「British Culture」
【受講費：3000円】　12/18（金）10:00～12:00　於：カプラン表参道校
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
イギリス出身のカプランネイティブ講師による異文化紹介講座です。
郷土料理、生活様式、スポーツ、教育、儀式、祝日、趣味など、
興味深いトピックを取り上げます。自国の紹介ということもあり、各
講師も熱くそれぞれの国について語ります。

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

▼上記以外にも12/14（月）～27（日）の期間中に様々な講座を開講いたします。
Winter Special 講座内容詳細、及びスケジュールはこちらをご覧ください。

Winter Special開講までピックアップにて様々な講座やセミナーをご紹介できればと思います！講座内容に関してはお気軽にお問合わせください。

お申し込み、お問い合わせは、
お電話にてカプラン銀座校（03-5524-5851）
またはカプラン表参道校(03-5774-6968)までご連絡をお願いします。

We thank you for your continued support!

Posted By: KAPLAN事務局 on November 20, 2009

◆〔Fri〕From the Horse's Mouth

SHOPPING

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金曜日更新担当の講師チーム"From the Horse's Mouth"から
今日は講師・Anthony先生が更新！

▼Please click the banner below.▼
We appreciate your support!

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I hate shopping. This is a strange thing to say in Japan because it is the national hobby here but I simply can't stand it. If I go shopping for food I always have a list in my hand and I go around the supermarket as quickly as possible. This means I don't have time to get annoyed with it. I always listen to music while I do this so that it helps me forget that I'm doing a boring chore.

When it comes to clothes shopping, however, I detest it with a passion. I go clothes shopping just twice a year: once for Winter clothes and once for Summer clothes. You can maybe tell this by looking at my clothes carefully. I wear the same things over and over again. All my clothes are from Uniqlo- even the socks. Uniqlo can afford to sell their goods at a cheap price because the clothes are made in China or Cambodia where the labor costs are low. I find this a little bit immoral but I prefer to buy cheap clothes to buying expensive fashionable clothes.

One time I went to a brand goods shop in Paris. I felt so out of place there. The staff could tell that I didn't belong there. I ended up buying a gift for someone but I felt very uncomfortable there. Maybe that was because I was wearing sandals and shorts and carrying a big, long French baguette at the time. I looked ridiculous and the staff were giving me dirty looks.

That reminds me of when I stayed at the Hilton Hotel in Dubai for one night. It was the only time that I had stayed at a 5-star hotel. I felt like an imposter. The staff were calling me "sir" and treating me very politely even though I was wandering around in swimming trunks and 100-yen sandals (sandals again!). I think I'm not the kind of customer they are looking for.

Anyway, one kind of shopping I do like is book shopping. I can spend ages in a book shop just browsing through the books. I usually get upset that there are so many books that I haven't read and so little time to do it. Hmm...maybe I hate all kinds of shopping then.

▼▽▼▼【講師】Anthony先生のバックナンバー━━━━━━━━
・【The Olympics】2009.10.16 (Fri)

We thank you for your continued support!

Posted By: Anthony Gardner on November 20, 2009