少人数制で楽しく身につく英会話教室・英会話スクールなら「アミックインターナショナル」

Person, persons, people and peoples.

Person
A person is a human man, woman, or child. It is a singular countable noun. 

• There was one person at the door.
• When did you see this suspicious person?
• She’s a very interesting person. You should talk to her.

People and peoples
The plural of person is people. It refers to a group or a number of human beings. It is a plural countable noun.

• There were three people at the door.
• How many people do you know?
• The people who live here are very rich.

People can also mean nation. Peoples is the plural form of this meaning. Peoples means nations.

• The Aztecs were a people that lived in the Americas.
• The English are a strange people.
• There are many peoples living on the Earth.
• When the peoples of the Earth unite, we will have peace.

Persons
Persons is a more formal, more polite form of people. It’s a plural countable noun and is most often seen written down – such as on signs, in newspapers and in the context of the law.

• This lift can hold a maximum of 15 persons.
• The police expect to catch the persons responsible for the theft.
• My client has never seen these persons before and so he is innocent.

Most of the time, I greet my students with a hearty ‘Hello!’ and ‘How are you?’ at the beginning of class, followed by a “Goodbye!” or “See you!” at the end. 

But in English, there are so many other great ways to say these things, especially when hanging out with friends. 

Instead of ‘Hello’ and ‘How Are You?’, try…

1. Hi
2. Hiya
3. Hey
4. Hey there
5. Howdy
6. Holla
7. Good morning
8. ‘morning!
9. Good afternoon
10. G’day
11. Good evening
12. How’s it going?
13. What’s up?
14. Sup?
15. Sup dude (men only)
16. What’s happening?
17. What’s going on?
18. Hola*
19. Yo
20. What’s good?
21. How have you been?
22. How are things?
23. What’s new?
24. What have you been up to?
25. Hey man (men only)
26. How’s life?
27. How’s your day going?
28. Long time no see

Instead of ‘Goodbye’ or ‘See you’, try…

1. Bye!
2. Bye bye
3. Good night
4. See you later
5. Talk to you later
6. Catch you later
7. Later
8. Later alligator
9. Have a good day
10. Have a good night
11. Have a good one
12. Adios*
13. Take care
14. Take it easy
15. So long
16. Peace
17. Peace out
18. I’m out
19. I’m off
20. See you next time
21. I’ve got to get going
22. I ‘ve gotta go/jet/dip/bounce/split/roll/head out/hit the road
23. Good seeing you
24. Good talking with you
25. I’m outta (out of) here
26. I’m going to call it a day/night
27. See you on the flip side
28. See you on the flippity flop

*Spanish, but sometimes (American) English speakers say it for fun

Some music, whether songs or full albums, are able to evoke complete atmospheres; an exploration in emotional landscapes if you will. We are nearing the end of the rainy season (I hope), but I wanted to share an album that always complimented rainy days for me. The album is Disintegration by The Cure. While Robert Smith directly conjures images of rain in his lyrics and song titles, the music really makes the listener feel it. The album starts out very romantic and dreamlike but steadily descends to this gloomy, sunken place where it perpetually rains on dark vegetation (that album cover really captures my imagination). But don’t worry, there are also lighter pop moments that give you shelter along the way. Here’s a very literal “rainy” song but please give the whole album a listen to understand the journey!

Joe

2013 was a magical time for social media. Although YouTube and Instagram had been around for a while, someone decided that the world needed a balance between long-form video and static images. Twenty minute long videos and scrolling through feed after feed of pictures could no longer hold our entertainment-saturated, A.D.D-addled brains. Thus, to fill the void, Vine was born.

What is Vine, you ask? Much like YouTube, a user could film themselves or a subject using an app. The catch? The video was only six seconds long. In order to get those coveted “revines”, a user had to make sure to jam pack their content with something that could hold the viewers attention for at least six seconds. It’s harder than it sounds! Sure, there were some duds, namely a lot of videos of people simply lip-synching to music or chatting with friends.  However, quite a few YouTubers got their start and built their fanbases using Vine; the Logan brothers and Lele Pons, for starters.

Although Vine was put on indefinite hiatus in 2016, its legacy lives on in current app features such as Snapchat’s 10 second and Instagram’s 1 minute video sharing. Thankfully, Vine has archived all of its current videos which leave us with gems like this:

Enjoy.

アミックのブログを見てくれてありがとうございます♪

前回に続いて今日もプチドイツ語をちらっと。

日本語でもよく聞く”アルバイト”。

これ、実は英語ではなくドイツ語に由来しております。

“Arbeit” eiでアイと読むドイツ語では、そのままアルバイトと読みます。

しかし、ドイツでアルバイトと言えば、正社員のことです。

フルタイムでの、仕事のことを指しますので、日本語での意味と少しずれがありますね。

また、英語の”work”にあたるアルバイトなので、”職”という意味の仕事意外にも、

It was such a hard work. のように、仕事量のことを指していたりもします。

ドイツ語でも同じです。　Es war sehr harte Arbeit.

ちなみにドイツ語でアルバイトのことは、mini jobといいます。

ミニ　ジョブ。なんだかかわいいですね^^)/

こんにちは、アミックBlogを訪れてくださりありがとうございます♪

今日はキッズクラスのレッスンについてご紹介です。
大学入試改革や小学校の英語教育改革に対応すべく、Amicでも今春からレッスンプログラムが新しくなりました。4技能（読む・聞く・話す・書く）を総合的に学んで、使える英語が身に付くプログラムです。

教室からはいつも子どもたちの楽しそうな声が聞こえてきます。
英語をただだけでなく、英語で自然や科学など、色々なことを学んでいる様子！

こちらは、Animalについてのレッスンを終えた小学生たちの作品。
My favorite animal is～（私の好きな動物は～）と、その理由を書いています。

こちらのレッスンでは、nature（自然）について学んだようです。

園児クラスでは、こんな楽しそうなアクティビティも♪♪

バナナとビスケットを使ったTeddy Bear作りです。食べ物の名前や顔のパーツも、実際に作りながらだと英語が自然と出てきます。

レッスンについてもっと詳しく知りたい方、最寄りのスクールにお問い合わせください☆

教室案内

無料体験も随時受付中です！

無料体験レッスン

Too and Very

Both too and very are intensifiers. They are used to make adjectives and adverbs stronger.

Very
When we use very, it’s not clear whether what we are describing is a good or a bad thing. 

• The building is very old.

This could be a good thing: ‘the building is old and beautiful’. It could also be a bad thing: ‘the building is old and falling down’.

Too
When we use too, it means there’s a problem.

• The building is too old.

This is a bad thing. The building is too old. It might fall down and could be dangerous.

The World Cup has always been a perfect mesh of two of my favorite things: sports and geography. Ever since I was little, the tournament’s ability to bring the world together for a month during the summer has captivated me. It may not always be the highest quality soccer, and some of the organizer’s behind-the-scene actions are shameful, but I simply can’t not watch.

Although this is the first World Cup in my lifetime that America hasn’t qualified for, I’ll still be following the tournament closely this summer. Even with their absence, previous US National Teams at the World Cup have given me some fond sporting memories I can always relive on YouTube until Qatar 2022 rolls around. 

Landon Donovan’s Equalizer Against Algeria (2010)

One of those came at the 2010 iteration of the tournament. A senior in college, I unfortunately had to work during the day of a pivotal match against Algeria: a loss or draw could eliminate the US from the tournament, whereas a win would potentially allow them to win their World Cup group for the first time since 1930. 

Since I couldn’t follow the game live, I recorded it on a VHS tape (remember those?) to watch later that evening. After managing to avoid finding out the result, I raced home to watch the game alone in my parents’ basement.

At about 70 minutes in the score remained deadlocked at 0-0. Right around then, my mom came downstairs with my childhood pet cat in her arms: Spice had not been doing well for some time, and my parents decided they were going to take her to the vet that evening and that I should say goodbye right then. I was upset of course in the way that anyone would be, but also at the timing of the whole situation, with my nerves already on edge from watching the match. 

Now awash with heartbreak on top of the emotions the match was already loading on me, I watched the minutes tick down apathetically, prepared for a heavy dose of sports disappointment. 

Then, in the final minute, this happened:

I hit the roof (figuratively and literally) out of pure ecstasy, a moshpit of one bouncing around the room. And for at least a little while, my heart didn’t hurt quite so bad. As cheesy as it sounds, the moment (and maybe Spice from the beyond?) made me feel that everything was going to be alright.

I often dust off tracks from whatever phase of my life to match the current mood I’m in or to try to feel a desired way by pulling myself into an atmosphere unlike the one I’m faced with. It’s the middle of the work week and while I do enjoy my job as a teacher, being this social for hours on end takes its toll on my introverted nature. So here I am picturing myself alone in this ancient grotto with moonlight shining in on soft moss before I really get today’s work started.

Joe

 Scientists have identified five communities where the citizens regularly live to be over ninety years old. The people of Okinawa, Japan, Sardinia, Italy, Nicoya, Costa Rica, Icaria, Greece, and Loma Linda, California, USA are known to live longer lives than anywhere else in the world. Not only are they living longer, but they are also known to live healthier lives free of dementia or other general old-age illnesses.

What do these people do to live longer, healthier lives? It turns out they aren’t doing anything exceptional. Data has shown that these communities are more likely to eat a plant-based diet, do moderate exercise, and spend a lot of time with their loved ones. This means that these communities of elderly people are living semi-vegetarian lifestyles with diets rich in legumes. They most likely aren’t doing the latest HIIT workout, but probably going for regular walks and taking the stairs instead of the elevator. They are also spending time with their community and socializing. The families living in these communities are also usually multigenerational with children and elderly people living together. Engaging with others has been proven to increase happiness in people and to give life a “sense of purpose”.

It seems like living a long, healthy life is easier than we initially thought!