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English for Wizards

Mapping out a new neighborhood

By John Moore

NASA の Earth From Space のサイトは人工衛星から撮った写真の地図が載っている
This week we are moving to a new home in Tokyo. My son Peter went out riding on his bicycle, but he was afraid he'd get lost , so I suggested we sit down together and draw some maps of our new neighborhood.

A map-drawing exercise really shows the difference between an adult's perspective and a child's. My map had many big things, like rivers, highways and railroad tracks. Peter's map had various smaller details: his new school, the soft-drink machine around the corner, the big dog next door, and the house of a man named Tanaka Taro. Peter said that's a funny name because there's a popular comic book called "Uchujin Tanaka Taro."

It's fun to study and talk about maps in English, and the Internet has lots and lots of good map resources, of course.

Let's look first at Mapion (www.mapion.co.jp), which is one of the best sites for Japanese maps. Peter clicked on Tokyo and then on Setagaya Ward. We immediately saw our little town. You can zoom in or out by clicking on the scale ratios at the top, and move around by clicking the little blue arrows around the edges.

How about some online activities involving maps? OK. If you go to Kids Web Japan (www.jinjapan.org/kidsweb/), you'll see a whole lot of interesting stuff, including a "Games" menu choice toward the bottom. Peter enjoyed the map of Japan jigsaw puzzle. After you win, it gives you a beautiful, colorful map with lots of English labels. You can click on different regions for more information.

A typical situation for English learners is to go to a strange town and ask someone for directions to the bus station or somewhere. Thanks to the Internet, you can now practice for this kind of challenge all by yourself, without risk or embarrassment. Try going to MapQuest (www.mapquest.com), and click on the blue "Driving instructions" button at the top.

Enter two U.S. locations in the blanks, and then click the "Get directions" button at the bottom. If you don't know any particular street address, just enter 123 Main St. Or you can search for various public places. The MapQuest program will help you out with suggestions.

I got 31 separate instructions to follow for a trip from New York to Miami, over 1,300 miles (2,080km). MapQuest estimated the trip would take 21 hours of driving. Wow!

Peter and I also found some great satellite photos taken from space. Go to NASA's Earth From Space site (http://earth.jsc.nasa.gov/) for a clickable map. You can see Japan from 100 miles (160km) up, typhoons and all. Very cool.


Shukan ST: Sept. 5, 2003

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