Latest News

I hope you all enjoyed  “silver week,” and now it’s time for another weekend.

This week’s topic is vocabulary, and there is work for you to do!  Certain vocabulary is given as well as situations when you might possibly use these words, but you have to discover their meanings. Spend some time looking at the various links; some interesting information about word origins is also provided.

Don’t forget to try the exercises … and maybe even have a conversation about the weather.

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/vocabulary

Have a nice weekend,

K. Rhodes

Over the last two weeks we have been using a range of experiences to enhance understandings in all areas.  In maths we have used board games  to learn how to play by the rules and use strategies.

In his book “Ways We Listen to Music” composer Aaron Copland attempts to explain the various ways we listen to music in the following three planes.

“Sensuous Plane—–Expressive Plane——Sheer Musical Plane

The split is not to say that we only use one or the other of these planes but   we correlate them–listening in all three ways at the same time.  ……….The third plane requires more preparation on the listener; to increase awareness of the musical elements and what happens to it.”

At HIS, when students graduate G12, we aim to be able to interact with music on a “Sheer Musical Plane” along with other planes; that is to be able to interpret, perform, listen to music purely for musical reason.

Why do we get on the bus and sit in the chair? Aren’t we really in the bus and on the chair? These uses of prepositions may be debatable, but the truth is that there are few rules regarding prepositions (yet their many uses are necessary in the English language). Many people feel that we should not end a sentence with a preposition, although this rule was late to arrive in English grammar books.

What are prepositions? (According to http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/preposit.html )

A preposition links nouns <http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/nouns.html#noun>, pronouns <http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/pronouns.html#pronoun> and phrases <http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/bldphr.html#phrase> to other words in a sentence <http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/subjpred.html#sentence>. The word or phrase that the preposition introduces is called the object <http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/writcent/hypergrammar/objcompl.html#object> of the preposition.

A preposition usually indicates the temporal, spatial or logical relationship of its object to the rest of the sentence as in the following examples:

The book is on the table.
The book is beneath the table.
The book is leaning against the table.
The book is beside the table.
She held the book over the table.
She read the book during class.

When I was first introduced to prepositions, our teacher told us to think about an airplane and a cloud. Prepositions are the words that tell us what that airplane is doing to the cloud (going /through/ the cloud, /over/ the cloud, /under/ the cloud, etc.).

This week’s website is a nice overview of the uses of prepositions as well as examples and exercises:

http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/prepositions

Hopefully the use of prepositions will become easier for you!

K. Rhodes

Here is an access link for Hiroshima City Forest Park,(the Japanese link below has a map, but all in Japanese) where we will meet for a family picnic  at 10am, on Tuesday September 22nd. Potluck or your own packed lunch? It’s up to you. Bring your picnic equipment and outdoor play gear, and hang out together in the park. Let’s meet at the upper play area near the Insect House. See you there!

これは広島市森林公園のアクセスリンクです。９月２２日、午前１０時上の方の昆虫館の近くの公園で集合しましょう。皆でシェアー出来る一品か、自分のお弁当か、どちらでもいいです。ピクニックと公園で遊べるおもちゃなど持って来て、皆で交流しましょう。