英語教育の明日はどっちだ！ TMRowing at best

昨日の夕方ランニング中に大雨に降られたからか、少々頭痛で今日は休みにした。

娘と日向ぼっこをしながら、冨山房の『英米故事伝説辞典』（井上義昌編、1972年）を繙く。

我が家では、近くに自家焙煎珈琲店があるのだが、愛媛のジャルダンから豆を取り寄せている。お昼前に珈琲が届いたので、小休止。至福の一時。エチオピアは新たな生産（者）のシステムを採用するとのことで、特定の農園や集荷場を指定しての買い付けが難しくなるとのこと。

午後からは『翻訳の常識』再読。だんだん元気になってきた。夕方は、部屋の模様替え。軽食を済ませて、一昨日知った、友部正人のライブを見に、歩いてライブハウスまで。近くて何より。観客は２０名ほどでこぢんまり始まり始まり。友部氏は以前東京のライブで見た時より確実に若く見える。ボストンマラソンに出ると聞いて納得。私も河川敷で走ります。

帰宅して、メールを開けると、フィギュア界の重鎮Sonia Bianchettiさんから返信が届いていました。私はMizumizuさんのブログで紹介されていた記事（→ http://www.soniabianchetti.com/writings_hope.html）を読んで、たまらず賛同のメールを出していたのでした。レスポンスの速さだけでなく、その誠実さ。本当に凄い人だなと思う。あらためて、お許しが出たので、このブログで紹介したいと思います。スポーツを愛する人々にとっては大事なことですので長文ですが、お付き合い下さい。

Dear TMRowing,

Thanks for writing to me. It is always a great joy for me to receive letters from fans expressing their thoughts, their suggestions or critics. The opinion of the fans is vital because you are the lymph for any sport to survive. And I do regret that the present ISU leadership does not seem to listen to you at all! This is a real shame. In Los Angeles we have seen a few outstanding programs: Yu Na Kim, Joannie Rochette, Miki Ando and Mao Asada in ladies, Chan, Lysachek, Contesti in Men, Davis/White and Virtue/Moir in ice dancing and the Germans in pairs.

Mao, in my opinion, made a mistake in attempting a second time a triple Axel when the first one was successful. It was not necessary and too risky. Out of more or less two hundred competitors, this cannot be considered a success. Practically there was not one single program without mistakes or falls. I fully agree with you that once more we can say that the beauty and the art of figure skating have been killed by the new system. And I really cannot understand how the ISU President could declare during his press conference in Los Angeles that "the standard is very high and we are improving the quality" (see attached article). Besides the quality of skating, also the judging was very disappointing and some results questionable. In no way the Domina / Shabalin and Belbin / Agosto could be first and second! Not to speak of the results of the Men' short program that should have been just the reverse: Chan, Lysachek, Joubert.

As I say in my article the number of Program Components is much too high and all the requirements listed in each one just make it impossible for any judge, in my opinion, to properly assess the marks. And it is totally useless, because, as you can see, there is no difference from one mark to another. The marks of the PC are mainly based on the reputation of the skaters and previous competitions. A real scandal. Besides nobody in the arena and at home can understand the marking now, which is one of the main reasons of the loss of interest in the sport. Since the introduction of the new system the popularity of figure skating has gone downhill! This is why I make the proposal to reduce the PC to two and judge on a relative scale, using marks from 0 to 6. I am very happy to hear that you agree with this proposal.

Now the big question is: how can we get our voices heard? I can tell you that in Los Angeles there were discussions about the state of figure skating and how to improve the system. Of course any important change will only come into force after the Olympic Games. Myself, with a group of coaches, are studying some proposals to be submitted to the TC for consideration at the next Congress. What could help would be, if you could, somehow submit your ideas to the Japanese Federation or create a web site where to discuss this matter. You could also join Face book and become a member of the "bring back the 6.0 judging system" group which has already 1200 members. If you want I can add you name to my mailing list.

Thanks again for your support and encouragement.

Sonia

いよいよ年度初めの準備で忙しくなってきます。更新はLong Slow Distanceという感じですかね。

本日のBGM:　ユニコーン（友部正人 Live at DADA 2009）