１０月になりました！ 本山町に来てからもう二ヶ月たちましたけど瞬きのように早かったです。 ｢瞬きのように早かったです｣は変ですか？ 英語では”in the blink of an eye” と言って早く感じた時間を瞬きの瞬間に例えることわざがあるのですけど、日本語で同じような表現のはありますか？これは誰かに聞かないとだめですねえ。 とにかく、契約に後十ヶ月しかないと思うと寂しく思います。
私は本山町には大分慣れてきて沢山の新しい友達を作りましたが、生徒たちはまだ僕の事を良く知らないと最近気づきました。 ですから先週の金曜日に初め、生徒達に僕の子供のころの写真を見せようと思いました！ ５歳から１８歳の僕が移っている写真をいろいろとお見せしました。 中学二年生のクラス写真、ナイアガラの滝の景色とか、ハロウィーンの日に忍者の格好をしている自分の姿とかいろんな写真を見せました。 もちろん見せるだけじゃなくその写真の説明とか含めて生徒たちにカナダやトロントの事をいろいろと教えました。 例えばクラス写真を見せたとき皆にはクラスメイト達がいろんな違う人種である事を説明しました。 トロント市の半分ちかくの人は白人じゃない人種だと知っていましたか？ トロントの市民の約５５％はヨーロッパ系の白人なのですけどそのほかの人は中国人、インド人、黒人、南米人、フィリピン人、韓国人、中東人や日本人とか世界中のいろいろな人種なのです。
時々僕は日本人でありながら差別を受けたことはないのかと聞かれますけど、自分の経験ではあまり無かったです。もし子供の頃に差別されていても差別されていること自体がわかっていなかったと思います。どの国でもいじめっこやこの国やあの国の人が嫌いだと決め込んだ人はいます。でもトロントの学校では人種差別をゼロにする為、大変努力しています。 日本は外国人が少ない国だと知られていますが、本山町は特に少ないですね。 ですからこういう話は子供達だけじゃなく、本山町の皆さんが興味あることを願っています！
Finally its October! It has already been two months since I first came to Motoyama, and it truly feels like my time here has gone by like the blink of an eye. I tried to translate this saying into Japanese but I’m not sure that they use it in the same way. In any case, it makes me sad to think that I only have 10 months left in my contract!
I have gotten pretty used to living in Motoyama, and I’ve also made a lot of great friends, but unfortunately I feel like the students still haven’t warmed up to me quite yet. So starting last Friday, I began showing old child hood photos of myself during classes. The photos ranged from when I was 5 years old to around 18, and included my grade 6 class, a shot of Niagara Falls, and a photo of me and my brother in our Halloween costumes. I also talked a lot about my life as a Japanese Canadian in Toronto while I showed the pictures. When my class photo came up I talked about how nearly half of the population of Toronto are visible minorities, and how my friends consisted of people with backgrounds from all across the world, such as China, India, South America, Phillipines and the Middle East. People ask me often if I was ever a victim of racism in Canada, and although I don’t think it would be fair to say I’ve never experienced racism against myself, I really couldn’t think of a personal example off the top of my head. If I WAS discriminated against as a child I probably didn’t even know what was going on. Every country has stereotyping and bullying for various reasons, and Toronto is not different. That’s why we’ve been educated since we were kids to be open to different cultures and not define people by the colour of their skin.
I have gotten pretty used to living in Motoyama, and I’ve also made a lot of great friends, but unfortunately I feel like the students still haven’t warmed up to me quite yet. So starting last Friday, I began showing old child hood photos of myself during classes. The photos ranged from when I was 5 years old to around 18, and included my grade 6 class, a shot of Niagara Falls, and a photo of me and my brother in our Halloween costumes. I also talked a lot about my life as a Japanese Canadian in Toronto while I showed the pictures. When my class photo came up I talked about how nearly half of the population of Toronto are visible minorities, and how my friends consisted of people with backgrounds from all across the world, such as China, India, South America, Phillipines and the Middle East. People ask me often if I was ever a victim of racism in Canada, and although I don’t think it would be fair to say I’ve never experienced racism against myself, I really couldn’t think of a personal example off the top of my head. If I WAS discriminated against as a child I probably didn’t even know what was going on. Every country has stereotyping and bullying for various reasons, and Toronto is not different. That’s why we’ve been educated since we were kids to be open to different cultures and not define people by the colour of their skin.
1 件のコメント:
Hi!
Wow - sounds like things are going just great. :) I bet the photos went over really well. That was a terrific idea.
About "in the blink of an eye", well I experienced that very same phenomenon. It's amazing how quickly the time zips by, isn't it? What do you think about 「あっと言う間」as a corresponding translation? It's the one I ended up using, because when I tried to translate "blink of an eye" or "time's really flying" literally, well, the meaning got lost. As you've noticed.
Good luck, and keep up the good work and fun times! Motoyama's lucky to have you. :)
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