CROSSROADS Language StudioÊs Newsletter, March 2010

According to Shakespeare, asoothsayer uttered thesewords as a warning toJulius Caesar. Caesar paid
littleheed
andwasassassinated on that day,the 15th of March, in 44BC.
So, is the Ides of March a
bad-omen day?
A Roman senator

It worked like this: If you wanted tomeet your friend on March 13th, you’d say
something like, “Ok, Lucius, see on Ides 3
at 6:00pm”. Lucius would know the day
the Ides fell on (the 15th) and countbackwards (including the 15th) threedays. In fact all dates were calculated in
the same way – i.e., counting backwards
from one of these three reference points(days), the Ides of the month, the Nones
and the Kalends.

Not so. To the Romans, and even up
to Shakespeare’s time, the Ides of Marchwas simply a date – the 15th of March.
Nothing ominous about any of thisIn fact, every month in the ancient except, perhaps, that the Kalends days
Roman calendar had an “Ides”, although were the days a Roman citizen was
not always falling on the 15th.
supposed to pay the bills each month. Infact, it was probably more common to hear
The original Roman calendar was something like, “beware the Kalends ofessentially a lunar calendar and used a March” than “beware the Ides of March”!
somewhat complicated method for But such is the power of Shakespeare thatkeeping track of the days in the year.
we only know of the Ides of March.
The 12 months were organized aroundthree days in each month which served
as reference points for calculating theother days in the month. In addition tothe Ides, there were Nones and Kalends.
The Ides fell on the fifteenth day ofMarch, May, July and October, and on
the thirteenth day in the other months;
the Nones fell on the seventh day ofMarch, May, July and October, and on
the fifth day in the other months. The
Kalends was always the first day of eachmonth. So, in a full year there weretwelve Ides, twelve Nones and twelve
Kalends.

Kalends has another point ofinterest for us. It is the Latinroot word for what we call“calendar” in English today.
An ancient Roman calendar

NET LESSONS: Try our lessons on the Internet!
It’s CROSSROADS in your home or office! You get
CROSSROADS’ great teachers, teaching programs,
even classmates, on-line! Call for details: 089 9217595

NET SITE OF THE MONTH:
Here is a short note on the Ides of March:www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-ides-of-march.htm
NET NOTEBOOK: Don’t forget to take a look at theInternet activity notebook in our open-house. You’ll
find games, news and English learning sites.

Joshua Says: I am pleased to welcome a new teacher to Crossroads.
Jonathan has joined us from England where he has been teachingEnglish at college for some years. Jonathan is also a musician andhas an MA in music composition. He has taught music at collegesin England too. We’re all looking forward to a long and enjoyable
experience working together.

Junko Says: Well, the new “Open-House” is almost ready! We’re very pleased withthe design and we hope you will enjoy using of it – it’s free for all our students!
There’s a new kitchen where you can even make cappuccino and espresso coffee if
you like, and we will have a daily program of movies and TV to watch on the new,big, screen. The internet is still available, as is the library (when we get someshelves up). It is my hope you will all use this space and come in as often as youlike (not just on lesson day) to enjoy this unique, “international” environment.

Jonathan Says: Hello everyone! I’ve been teaching at Crossroads for a few
weeks now and I love it; it must be the best job I’ve ever had. As well asteaching friendly and interesting people I get to play my guitar in the OpenHouse! Do come along and listen, and if you want to learn guitar with me –that is, English and guitar – please ask (and don’t forget the Performance
Night on March 27th: I’ll be playing for about 30 minutes).

Greg Says: I read a GREAT story the other day about an amazing man named

Dick Hoyt. As of 2005 (when the story was published) he had taken part in 206
triathlons including 6 Hawaiian Ultra triathlons, 64 (42km) marathons (including 24
consecutive Boston marathons), 78 half marathons (21km) and biked and ran acrossthe USA in 1992 (3,735 miles in 45 days). All of these feats were completed while
pushing his disabled son in a wheelchair or towing him in a dinghy for the swim in
the triathlons. This man is a great example of “anything is possible”.

Kevin Dit: Nous voila déja en mars ! Que le temps passe vite... Le temps commence à se réchauffer
et le printemps commence à montrer le bout de son nez ! Dans quelques semaines, nous pourrons aller
observer les fleurs de cerisier ! C'est toujours une période un peu particulière au Japon non ? Et c'est
aussi une période particulière a CROSSROADS, puisque mars marque également la fin du trimestre, etla soirée qui va avec ! N'oubliez pas de venir vous amuser ce 27 mars ! Je me demande si certains de nosétudiants essaieront de chanter en français ? N'oubliez pas non plus l'ouverture prochaine du caféinternational... avec un peu de chance vous y trouverez peut-être de la patisserie française...

Meet our new teacher

Jonathan Jackson

ON: Saturday, 27-03-‘10
STARTING: 7:30pm
WHERE: here at Crossroads

Performances, Karaoke,
A Special Guitar
Recital by Jonathan,Drinks, and…
FUN!!
Invite your friends andfamily to join us.

G 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：
1学期-４ヶ月毎にレベルが上がる
クロスローズのメインプログラム
９０分x 1回/週：
忙しい方のための週１レッスン
プライベート(個人)
月２回からレッスン回数自由選択
セミプライベート(セミ個人)：
月３回からレッスン回数自由選択

Jonathan is from Leicester in central
England. Not far to the north ofLeicester is Nottingham, famous for
Robin Hood and his merry men ofSherwood Forest. Leicester is also
associated with two Kings of England,
one mythical and the other historical,
that were subjects of Shakespearian
plays. The first is King Lear and thesecond is the infamous Richard III.

Jonathan has a Master’s Degree (MA) inmusic composition and has beenteaching both music and English atcollege level in England.
He has played a number of instruments
but his forté is the guitar which he canplay in a number of styles – classic, jazz,blues, etc.
Jonathan also composes and has had anumber of his works published.

N E T (ネット) レッスン
COSMOPOLITAN (コスモポリタン) コース 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/月～
英語で歌う
詳細はお問合せ下さい
英語で料理
英語でマジックK I D S ’ (キッズ) クラス
ピアノグループOR プライベート
英語劇
ヨガ
MOTHER & CHILD(マザー&チャイルド)クロスローズで学べるその他の外国語グループOR プライベート
フランス語 - スペイン語 - ドイツ語 - イタリア語 - ロシア語 - 中国語 - 韓国語

Phone: 0120-21-7594
Tel: (089 ) 921 -75 95
Fax: (089 ) 921 -73 19
E-mail:info@crossroadsco.co m
Web Site: www.crossroadsco.com