Opinion Classes in the Trees By JOHN GATHRIGHT	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
木の上の教室 木の上の教室 木の上にツリーハウスを作って子供たちに 利用してもらっている筆者。 最近、友人やその子供たちと木に登ったとき up a tree という英語表現が 自然に口をついて出てきたことから、 いろいろな英語表現を紹介しあうようになって…。

I am writing this article now, while 18 meters in the air, in a large Japanese oak behind my home.

Climbing trees is a passion for me and something I take very seriously. The passion took hold while on a tree-climbing trip to Oregon last year.

The fact that Mother Earth is a great teacher and that we can learn much from nature is no secret. But recently, I learned that she can teach many things, including English.

My friends (two dads and their children) and I spent an entire day up in the treetops. Climbing a tree is serious business. It took us 30 minutes to choose the right tree and three hours of practice using safety ropes, harnesses and other gear. Our treetop destination was 23 meters above the forest floor, and it took us about 30 minutes to get everyone up and safely perched in the treetops.

Once everyone was settled, the first thing to pop out of my mouth was, "Hey, do you know the expression `up a tree'? It means to be in trouble without an escape or solution. Many animals, like bears, climb trees for safety but can't descend when the danger is gone. I feel sort of like a bear. How about you?"

The conversation burst into a very lively cultural exchange, with the dads saying they felt more like monkeys and how Japanese say, "Even monkeys fall out of trees."

By the way have you heard of busy beaver? Beavers' front teeth never stop growing, so they have to busy themselves chewing wood to wear down their teeth. If they didn't, their teeth would become so big that they would not be able to move their jaws. Thus they have to become busy beavers.

The expression "squirrel away money" stems from watching squirrels run around darting all over the forest gathering nuts and pinecones. They can only carry a precious few on each trip. But by the end of autumn, they will have saved as many as 10,000 nuts for the long winter months.

Foxes build many entrances and exits to and from their burrow to escape being caught. Thus we have the expression "to outfox someone." The time just flew, as we shared nature expressions, interspersing our chatter with bird watching and forest appreciation.

What I found enlightening was that the kids up in the trees with us that day were actually kids who had dropped out of school. They said, and believed, that they "hated learning"!

The love of learning has more to do with presentation than content. What better learning atmosphere could there be than fresh air, on the top of the world, up a tree? Right now, all over North America kids are taking to the trees and actually doing just as we did. They study in the trees!

There is also the very active Tree Climbing International Association in America with hundreds of tree-climbing members.

In Japan, efforts are being made to revamp the education system. I read that the Ministry of Education is going to try to bring more nature into the classroom. I would like to see more schools adopt Mother Earth as a teacher and let nature provide the classroom. But please don't spend lots of money on bringing animals and plants from the outdoors to the indoors! Funnel those funds and efforts into bringing the classroom out into nature.

Shukan ST: May 7, 1999

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