第211回目のポッドキャストのテーマは「高校教師として働く魅力」です。今日のエピソードではミキとケンが高校教師としてのバックグランドをシェアしてくれます。2人は教師として働く中で一番好きなことや大変だと思うこと、またクラスにはどんな生徒たちがいて、どのような問題に直面するのかについて語ってくれます。ミキとケンの会話を聴いて、アメリカで高校教師として働くことについて学びましょう。

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会話内容「高校教師として働く魅力」

【Miki】Okay so Ken, can you tell me more about your teaching career and what you do?

【Ken】Yeah, sure. No problem. Um…so I’m a high school chemistry teacher. Um…been doing it for quite a few years now. Uh most of my students are sophomores, so that would be about 15-year-olds. Um, but have some juniors and seniors sprinkled in there. Um…yeah. Overall, I really like teaching a lot.
Um…you know, teaching is really all aboutthe students. So if you enjoy working with young people, then it’s a great job. Um, you know, just getting to know them over the course of the year and developing relationships with them and seeing them grow is really the best part of the job. Um there are a lot of long hours as well, though.

【Miki】Mm hm.

【Ken】You know, grading. That takes forever. And lesson planning and all those things.

【Miki】Mm hm.

【Ken】Um…those are parts of the job that are necessary and maybe not my favorites. But uh, you know, definitely working with the students is my favorite part of the job.

【Miki】How would you describe your students?

【Ken】Um, well I teach chemistry, so chemistry students are um, you know, for the most part, they’re—they’re pretty sharp. They’re pretty smart. Um pretty well behaved and um…so I don’t experience a lot of the behavioral problems that maybe some of the other teachers do.
Um, you know, my biggest problem would be, you know, maybe someone talking too much, which is no big deal. You know? I can definitely deal with that. But the students generally are very polite and, you know, they’ve been great to me, and uh…just really enjoy working with them. Just a great bunch of kids to work with.

【Miki】Well, sounds like you have a really good relationship with them.

【Ken】Yeah, I definitely do. And I think Miki you’ve been a teacher before. Is that right?

【Miki】Yes, I taught for three years. Uh but I haven’t been teaching for the past two years.

【Ken】Oh, what did you teach?

【Miki】So I taught physics and engineering, uh and it was in Downtown L.A. at a really small magnet school.

【Ken】Okay.

【Miki】It was in a converted warehouse that had no windows. So…(laughs)

【Ken】(laughs)

【Miki】So we were all together in this giant building with no windows.

【Ken】Oh wow. Sounds like a pretty challenging setting there. And how were the students?

【Miki】The students like, similar to your students, they were actually very good. Um…it is a magnet school, so, you know, they had to apply to get in and so I didn’t have a lot of the…a lot of difficult students. Um, so, you know, even with classroom management, it wasn’t that difficult.

【Ken】Oh, okay. What was your favorite part of the job?

【Miki】I think it’s similar to you. It’s the student interaction because, like that’s the thing that changes from day to day. So you’re never, you—you’re never going to be bored, ‘cause (because) students are always asking—they’re doing—they’re always doing like crazy things that you never think of, and always making you laugh. So, yeah. I mean if there’s anything that I miss it’s just that interaction with students.

Questions of the day（今日の質問）

1. What high school grade level are the majority of Ken’s students?
   ケンが主に教えている高校生の学年は？
2. What is Ken’s favorite part about his job?
   ケンが自分の仕事で一番好きなところは何ですか？
3. What kind of building did Miki teach in?
   どのような建物でミキは教師をしていましたか？

 

Answers（解答）

1. Most of them are high school sophomores.
   ほとんどが高校2年生です。
   
2. He enjoys most the interactions he has with his students and the relationships that develop between him and them.
   生徒との交流や、生徒との関係を築いていくことです。
   
3. She taught at a magnet school, and her classroom was a converted warehouse with no windows.
   彼女はマグネットスクールの教員でしたが、教室は改装された倉庫で窓がありませんでした。
   

 

Summary（要約）

Ken and Miki discuss their professional backgrounds as teachers of various subjects. Ken himself is a high school chemistry teacher.
ケンとミキが、教師としてのバックグラウンドについて議論します。ケンは高校で化学を教えています。

The majority of Ken’s students are high school sophomores, though he occasionally gets a few juniors and seniors. Overall, he enjoys his job and he particularly enjoys the relationships he develops with his students over the course of the year.
ケンの生徒の大半は高校2年生ですが、たまに3年生や4年生もいます。全体的に彼は教職を楽しんでおり、1年をかけて生徒との関係を築き上げることが特に楽しいと感じています。

Miki taught physics and engineering at a magnet school in Downtown L.A. Her classes were held in a converted warehouse building with no windows.
ミキはL.A.ダウンタウンにあるマグネットスクールで物理工学を教えていました。彼女は、倉庫を改装した窓のない建物で授業を行っていました。

Both Ken and Miki reported having well-behaved students that did not cause too many problems in their classes. Like Ken, the students were Miki’s favorite part of her teaching job.
ケンもミキも、自分の受け持った生徒たちは礼儀正しく、問題を起こす生徒はあまりいなかったと言います。ケンと同様、ミキが教職で一番好きなのは生徒との交流でした。

 

Phrases of the day（今日のフレーズ）

1) Sophomore（高校・大学の2年生）

アメリカでは高校・大学の2年生を、sophomoreと言います。アメリカの高校と大学は4年制で、1年生をfreshman、2年生をsophomore、3年生をjunior、そして4年生をseniorと呼びます。

• Sophomoreはあくまで高校と大学の2年生を指し、小学校や中学校の2年生、または社会人2年目の人に対しては使えないので気をつけましょう。

2) All about（全ては〜）

All aboutは使う状況によって意味が多少異なりますが、何かが最も大切であるということを強調する時の口語表現です。例えば、今日の会話でケンが言った「teaching is all about the students.（全ては生徒のためだ）」は、教育者として最も大切なのは生徒たちであることを表します。

3) Over the course of（〜にわたって ）

「3日間にわたって」はover the course of three days、「2週間にわたって」はover the course of two weeks、「1年間にわたって」は over the course of the yearのように、期間の幅を示す「〜にわたって」はover the course of_____と表現します。

4) Take forever（長い時間がかかる）

Take foreverの直訳は「永遠にかかる」で、作業や手続き、移動時間など、何かが「長時間かかる」ことを表します。

• Take a long timeを強調した口語表現です。

5) Sharp（賢い）

Sharpは状況によって様々な意味をもつ単語です。本来は、ナイフなど先がとがっていて鋭いものを指して使われますが、そこから派生して、賢くて抜け目のない人をsharp personと呼んだり、服装がきちんとしていたりセンスがいい人に「You look sharp.」と言うことも一般的です。

 

Vocabulary（単語）

• Chemistry・・・化学
• Well behaved・・・礼儀正しい・行儀が良い
• Magnet school・・・数学・科学・芸術・スポーツなどに特化したカリキュラムを提供できる小学校、中等学校、高校
• Converted warehouse・・・倉庫を改装した
• Student interaction・・・生徒との交流

Expressions（表現）

• Sprinkle in・・・〜混ざっている
• Work with・・・〜と関わる
• Get to know someone・・・〜を知るようになる
• No big deal・・・大したことない
• Day to day・・・日々