フローリング 床材 建材　輸入キッチンの紹介

英語教育 （ えいごきょういく ） は、外国語としての英語の教育の総称。日本においては、中学校 ・ 高等学校の６年間、さらに、大学 ・ 短期大学 ・ 専門学校などにおいても英語の授業が課されることが多いため、一義的にはこうした公教育機関における英語の教授を指します。しかし、この他に、小学校やそれ以前の段階における早期英語教育 （ 児童英語 ）、高校受験 ・ 大学受験などを対象とする受験英語、英検 ・ TOEIC ・ TOEFLなどの英語検定対策、さらには年代を問わず趣味から各種専門分野にまで及ぶ英会話、など関連する分野は多彩であり、日本国内において広範なマーケットを形成しています。

英語教育とは教授者視点の呼称であり、学習者視点から見れば英語学習ということになります。この２語は視点の違いによるものであり、指している現象自体は、事実上同一のものです。

(T)ESL と (T)EFL
英語教育 （ 法 ） に相当する英語には、(T)ESL と (T)EFL があります。
・ (T)ESL は (Teaching) English as a Second Language （ 第二言語としての英語 ）
・ (T)EFL は (Teaching) English as a Foreign Language （ 外国語としての英語 ） の略称です。

English as a second language には、 [ 母語に対する第二言語としての英語 ] という意味と [ 英語が広く使用されている環境における第二言語としての英語 ] という二つの意味があります。English as a foreign language は後者に対して [ 英語以外の言語が広く使用されている環境における第二言語としての英語 ] という意味を持ちます。（ 英語が [ 公用語 ] であるかどうかは無関係です。）

上記表記における T (= Teaching) が表記されない場合には、学生側から見て 「 受講する英語のクラス 」 という意味合いになる場合があります。

なお、類似した用語に TESOL があります。TESOL とは Teaching English to the Speakers of Other Languages の略で、英語教育に関する世界最大の学会の名称であると同時に TESL と同じく英語教育という分野の総称として使用されます。このほかに欧州では ELT (English Language Teaching) という用語も広く使われています。

情報提供：ALS英語学習サイト

Of melting pots, stewpots, and salad bowls
The metaphor of the melting pot was once used to refer to American culture. The idea was that all of the different cultures and races who came to America all melted together to become one. This melting did not truly happen though and over the years the metaphor of the stewpot replaced that of the melting pot. In the stewpot, there is the part of the stew that is the same and ties everything together. Yet, within the stew the different parts both melt into the whole stew and retain their own identity. Part of the potato, for example, remains the potato and part melts into the stew. With some people, however, the stewpot metaphor fell from favor and was replaced by the idea of the salad bowl, where everything is mixed together, yet retains its separate identity. Some people refer to this salad bowl as a mosaic.

None of these metaphors are perfect and there are problems with all of them for describing immigrants and how they become part of the American fabric. Looking at the changing metaphors provides us with a picture of how American culture is changing. America once demanded that immigrants learn English, forsaking their native languages and cultures. America still demands that immigrants learn English, but no longer demands that immigrants forsake their native languages and cultures. We have reached a state where many Americans look upon it as positive to be bilingual or bicultural. There are still many who do not, but as a percentage they are shrinking.

We have the same issues with race. Not that long ago, white-looking Americans with Native American or Afro-American ancestry would often try to hide their ancestry and join white America. Acknowledging that ancestry would exclude them from being part of White America. Today, we hear of Americans who look White acknowledging Afro-American grandparents or great-grandparents, telling Afro-Americans about this in an excited way, and seeking a common ground together. While this is probably not yet majority behavior, this does show a marked change.

America has finally realized and acknowledged that we will never all be identical. We will retain different degrees of ethnic, cultural, and linguistic differences, while still being Americans. Slowly but surely, although there are setbacks and people who have not yet joined the modern era, America is becoming a more understanding nation of diversity and difference.

And this is a good thing.

情報提供：ALS英語学習サイト

American primary and secondary education
The story of America is one of striving for balance, working to create a balanced system. Our government is a balance of three branches: president, Congress, Supreme Court. State and Federal governments compete, creating another balance. Primary and secondary education follows this pattern; American education is produced by a balance of local, state, and federal power. The three powers compete, influencing education for economic, political, social, and other reasons.

These powers can result in great school districts with great schools providing great education, and they can also result in producing schools more appropriate to a third world country than the United States of America. Some of the greatest results of American education, public and private, can be seen in our discoveries, inventions, and art. Some of the greatest failures of our nation can be seen where American education does not work.

The strengths and weaknesses of American education start with the basic building block - money. Education is expensive with most of the money for public education coming from local taxes, especially property taxes. Each school district has to run their schools on the money they have. Prosperous school districts normally do well, while poor school districts do not.

A school district can be as small as one town or a number of towns grouped together. School districts normally have the right to tax and other political rights. In some states, there are not school districts and the government runs the schools. In Hawaii, unlike every other state, the entire state is one school district. School districts, schools, and education vary greatly across the United States of America.

Some of these differences can be seen in the variety of patterns and names of schools. Some of these are elementary school, which is the first four to six grades and usually includes kindergarten; K-8, which is from kindergarten to eighth grade; middle school, which is from about fifth to eighth grade; junior high school, which is from sixth to eighth or sixth to ninth grade; and high school which is from the ninth to twelfth grade or the tenth to twelfth grade. Depending on the school district, the names or grades may be different.

Students usually go to the school nearest to their home, but there are some areas where students go further if they want to go to a special school, or if their school district is attempting to balance students, normally for race reasons. Even for high school, most students go to the high school nearest to their home. In larger cities, there may be one or more magnet schools where students compete to get into special schools for science, academics, art, or music. The vast majority of high school students do not go to magnet schools.

High school is viewed as a time for growing up in America, a time for getting drivers licenses, first jobs, and first loves. While Americans do study and think about college, high school is a time for many things.

We hope this essay has told you what would like to know. If not, please feel free to let us know and we will be happy to write more. As always, we recommend Wikipedia for additional information.

情報提供：ALS英語学習サイト

American food: highs and lows

America is a land of diversity from the cold Alaska winters where it gets too cold to go outside to Montana where many people have seen snow on the ground every month of the year, although perhaps in different years, to the dry heat of the Arizona desert to the hot and humid heat of the American south. American cooking shares this diversity. While the world may know and love American junk food, American food contains junk food and fancier fare.

Determining what is American food can be a challenge. Native American foods are certainly American. Corn, squash, avocado, and turkey are all Native American foods. Some foods in the American diet, such as cornbread, were adopted from Native American dishes. Looking at other dishes though, it becomes more difficult. Many American foods came from Europe, but were reinvented to become uniquely American. The hamburger and the hot dog are two such foods.

Most of the world knows of hotdogs and hamburgers, and many know of clam chowder. New England cuisine, Cajun cuisine, and California cuisine are not as well known around the world. Many people think that America has nothing but junk food. Let’s take a look at California cuisine as an example of one kind of fancy fare that much of the world does not notice.

California cuisine is often thought of starting with Alice Waters at Chez Panisse in Berkeley in 1971. Up until then, Americans had tried to do their European cooking with imported European ingredients. Far off Europe was not the most economical or best way to get fresh food. California, a leading agricultural state, has plentiful fresh food including artichokes, avocados, almonds, pistachios, and dates. Alice Waters moved to use only fresh ingredients, and only ingredients that were in season.

Wolfgang Puck took the next step with California cuisine, making it famous. Puck used French techniques to blend local ingredients, fresh ones naturally. He built an empire of restaurants, including Spago and other cafes and restaurants. He has a number of restaurants in Japan, but California cuisine is still not well known.

America has a wide range of different cuisines. The next time you bite into a hamburger, we hope you will remember that just as there is more to Japanese food than a bowl of beef over rice, there is more to American food than hamburgers.

ラミネートフローリングには多様な色があります。ただし、お客様が通常お求めになるのは無難な色が多く、また中間色を選ぶ傾向があります。ただ、それでも人の好みというものは誠にそれぞれで、若い方は明るい色、例えばメイプルのナチュラルを好まれるようです。外国人はバレンシアオークなどのダークオークがいいと言います。又、流行のようなものが有ってホワイト系が主流のこの頃は、パールチイークも人気があります。私的には日本の消費者には、もっと色彩的に冒険して欲しいような気がします。