CROSSROADS Language StudioÊs Newsletter, M ay 201
20 1 2

There is an International Cycling week in
May and as Matsuyama is a cycling city
the bicycle is an appropriate subject forMay.
Bicycles were invented in the 19thcentury and now there are estimated to bearound one billion worldwide (There arearound half as many cars).
The first bicycle, known as the “DandyHorse”, was invented and patented inJanuary 1818 by a German gentleman
named Baron Karl von Drais. It had nochain or pedals.
In the early 1860s, the Frenchmen
Pierre Michaux and Pierre Lallement
added a mechanical crank drive withpedals to a bigger front wheel and called it
the “Velocipede”. The French creation wasmade of iron and wood and was later
developed into the “penny-farthing” named
after English coins to represent the size of
the wheels; a “penny” was a large coin anda “farthing” a very small coin. Thesebicycles were very difficult to ride due totheir very high seat and poor weight
distribution (see photo). In 1888, Scotsman
John Boyd Dunlop introduced the firstpneumatic tyre, which soon became
universal. Soon after, the rear freewheel
was developed, enabling the rider to coast.
Derailleur gears andhand-operated
cablepull brakes were also
developed during theseyears. By the turn of thecentury, cycling clubs
flourished in Europe andNorth America, andtouring and racing
became widely popular.

The bicycle is the mostefficient human-powered meansof transportation in terms of theenergy a person uses to travela given distance. Up to 99% of
the energy a cyclist transfers
to the pedals is transmitted tothe wheels, although the use ofgearing mechanisms may reduce
HensonStudios,
USA traveling at aroundthisbyRecording
10–15%.
A LA,cyclist
15–25 km/h uses the same amount of energy
required to walk. In addition, the carbon
dioxide generated in the production andtransportation of the food required by thecyclist, per k/m traveled, is less than 1/10 thatgenerated by energy efficient cars.
Some countries such as Spain, New Zealandand Australia require children and/or adultcyclists to wear helmets. Mandatory helmet
wearing is controversial in the cycling world,
because although it reduces head injuries it
makes cycling seem more dangerous andcumbersome and so some argue that it
actually reduces the number of cyclists on thestreets.

Article by Matthew

NET LESSONS: Are you too busy to come toCROSSROADS?....Try our lessons on the Internet!

* Call for details: 089 9217595
SITE OF THE MONTH:
Here’s a good site on the history of the bicycle:
http://library.thinkquest.org/J002670/past2.htm

Joshua Says: I always hope to get contributions to ournewsletter’s P.3 from students whenever one of you has somethingof interest to offer. For example, news of a recent trip overseas, afeature on your pet (with photos), a poem or a story from the morecreative among you, something about your favorite hobbies; Infact, anything that would be of interest to your classmates and theother students at Crossroads. So, what about it?

Junko Says: Recently, EF has developed many one-week overseas
study programs for busy adults. You can study in N. America,England, Australia, N Z, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, China, etc.
The costs range form ¥60,000 to ¥70,000 and include 20 lessons plus
home-stay and meals. Whenever you do something new you canwiden your horizons, so we recommend you take this chance to go on
one of these short study-courses, if you can.

Matthew Says: What book are you reading at the moment? How manybooks do you read a year? How much time do you spend reading? I
recently discovered a wonderful website which allows you tocatalogue the books you have read, are currently reading and wish
to read in the future. It also allows you to set yourself reading goals
and targets. It’s called “goodreads.com”.

Ludovic Dit: En ce moment, en France, c’est les élections. Le 6 mai,deuxième tour : François Hollande contre Nicolas Sarkozy. Mon choix ?
Je n’aime pas M.Hollande : il est gros et mou. Mais je déteste NicolasSarkozy : il est nul, et a fait beaucoup de mal a la République et auxFrançais. Donc le 6 mai : dehors Sarkozy !

Arno Dit: Le mois de juin annonce le début de l'été. En France, le 21 juin,on fête "la fête de la musique". Dans toutes les villes de France, des groupes
de musicians et d'artistes sont dans les rues pour réjouir le public ! Lesgens se promènent dans la ville, souvent en famille ou entre amis. On restejusqu'au soir très tard, et regarde les groupes. Vraiment génial

The OKAIDO Saturday Night StreetMarket…

It starts again next month and we have our regularspot available as usual, so if any of you
would like to sell or display something
in the market – for free – justcheck in with Junko andwe will arrange
somethingfor you!

Meet Craig, our new
English teacher.
Craig is from Edinburgh
in Scotland and hastaught English for thepast 5 years in Vietnamand Costa Rica.
He is coming toCrossroads to join ourteaching staff, and you
will be able to meet
him soon as he will
start lessons with us
from next month.

Our Next End-of-Term Party…
…will be held on Saturday 27thof July and we are looking for anyone with“Hidden Talents”! So, if you can sing, play an instrument, dance, juggle,
do magic tricks, whistle a Beatles tune, whatever, and you would like to
be in the program, sign up! You’ll have a blast! And so will your classmates!!
For details on how to join in, ask your teacher, or Junko in our office.

Craig’s original
background was inbusiness and financebefore he became an
English teacher.
He has aMunich
passion forsports, particularly
football and baseball,and he also enjoys
cooking!

Courses you can join at CROSSROADSG E N E R A L ( ジェネラル) コース
英語+実践練習６０分 x ２ 回 /週

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グループOR プライベート
英語+実技を通した実用練習、だから誰でも分かる、自然に上達する。

英語でギターを習う レッスン料￥4,725/
4,725/月～
詳細はお問合せ下さい
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９０分x
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９０分x 1回
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