今月は、こども園、小学校、中学校のどこかでほぼ毎週読み聞かせの機会をいただいています。
今日は小２。先週直前にうかつにもメガネを忘れたことに気づき、あわてて職員室で聞いてみましたが、若い先生方には元より老眼鏡など持ち合わせている人はなく、何とか２冊のうち大きめの字の絵本で切り抜けました。今日はしっかりメガネを手提げ袋に。さて、６月に「こども読書ボランティア研修会」で紹介されたスリランカの作品「きつねのホイティ」（松岡享子訳）を読んでみました。時間を測ったら１０分ぎりぎりだったので、少し早口でしたが子供達に聞いてもらいました。最初にスリランカのお話ですと紹介しましたが、子供たちは聞いたこともない国だったと思います。民話ではありませんが、スリランカの暮らしや衣装、食べ物などが大らかに表現されて物語もユーモラスに書かれています。中できつねや村の女性たちが語調良く歌う場面があり訳者のテンポの良い日本語に感心しましたが、私自身はこれは原語でどんなふうに語られるのだろうかと興味津々でした。
ところ変われば暮らしも変わる。子供達には楽しい絵本だったと思います。
This month I have the opportunity to do storytelling almost every week at either local preschool, an elementary school or a Junior high school.
Today, I went to the second-grade class. Last week, I realized at the last minute that I had carelessly forgotten my glasses, so I hurriedly asked in the staff room if someone had reading glasses. Of course, none of the young teachers owned a pair of reading glasses.
I could manage to get by using the picture book which I brought with the larger print out of the two. Since I don't want to do it again, I made sure to put my glasses in my tote bag.
Now, today I decided to read a story from Sri Lanka named "Hoity The Fox" by Sybil Wettasingdhe, a Japanese text by Kyoko Matsuoka.
When I timed it beforehand, it was almost ten minutes, so I read it a bit quickly, and the children listened intently. First, I introduced that it was a story of Sri Lanka, but I think it was a country the children had never even heard of. Although it is not a folktale, the pictures show the life, clothing and food in Sri Lanka in a spirited, openhearted manner and the story is written with humor. There are scenes where the fox and women of the village sing in a lively, rhythmic manner and I was impressed by the translator's spirited Japanese phrasing. I was also very curious how the people in Sri Lanka read these parts.
Life changes depending on where you are. It was an entertaining picture book for the children.
