先月のVOA特集記事の投稿が遅くなり、申し訳ございません。毎月私カスタマーサポートの岩田が一つ記事を選び、つたない英語ながらも要約作成と感想を書くことに挑戦しているコーナーです。自分はこう思ったけどこういう意見もあったのか、今度この表現使ってみよう、自分ならこういう表現で言うな、など少しでもお客様の学習の参考になれば幸いです。
先月の特集記事はこちらです。
Meet the Creator of Emoji
★★★Summary★★★
Emoji combines the Japanese words for “picture” and “letters.” Emoji have become a worldwide language for mobile phone messages. Shigetaka Kurita started it all. He created the first set of 176 emoji pictures in 1998. In those days, mobile Internet services limited the number of characters they can send. Users, therefore, would look for shorter ways to express their thoughts. After his creation, emoji immediately became popular in Japan.
For his creation, he collected common images, including public signs, weather signs and even comic-book style images. He also made five faces — happy, angry, sad, surprised and confused. Some images easily translated across cultures.
However, emoji’s have changed a lot compared to his original designs. Unfortunately, he is not well known in Japan outside of the technology community.
★★★opinion★★★
For me, using emoji is such an enjoyable thing. They are a part of my life. I always use them whenever I send messages to my family and friends. I can’t imagine the internet world without emoji.
They are very useful and they can help us in expressing our feelings effectively. It’s easy to convey emotions. If we don’t use emoji, it’s too simple and probably misinterpreted or even can give a bad impression. I think they soften the expression.
I’ve come to know a research in Japan that shows 65.1 % of people use emoji. Say, for men 59.0 % and for women 72.7%. This means many people enjoy using it. So we can say Mr.Kurita’s invention is one of the most influential invention of the 21st century.
It is developing. We can create and sell new emoji or stamp in an application LINE by ourselves. I’ll keep on using and enjoying it continuously.
今回はtoday’s pick upではなく、実際の授業でこの記事を扱うと、どんな質問をされるかをご紹介します。これは私が実際にCherry講師の研修で、彼女の授業を受けた時にされた質問の一部です。みなさんも、ぜひ答えを考えてみて下さいね。
内容理解に関する質問
・When were the first emoji created?
・Where does the word “emoji” come from?
意見交換
・Do you think that emoji are good at conveying emotions? Why? Why not?
・Do you agree that emoji are a worldwide language? Why? Why not?
・Would you say that the smartphone is the most influential invention of the 21st century?
VOAの授業は、基本的には下記のような流れで行われます。
１．音読、単語の確認（要約の確認）
２．内容理解に関する質問
３．意見交換
４．授業のまとめ
ただ自分で読んで終わりではなく、やはり人と意見を交わすことで理解が深まることを実感しました。皆さんもぜひVOA講座（もしくはレベルアップしてCNNの英語でニュース講座）を受講してみて下さいね。
バリューイングリッシュは英検１級を中心に英語資格対策に強いオンライン英会話学校です。少数精鋭のスキルの高いフィリピン人講師と一緒に英語のレベルをアップさせましょう。
