Every year the Softbank Hawks are kind enough to go on the road to various local stadiums around Kyushu, Kumamoto included. This year our hometown Hawks played the Rakuten Eagles at Fukisakidai, a stadium better known for Kumamoto’s top tier high school teams.

As you can see, we had rather nice seats in the outfield, all for a cool 2100 yen.

One important thing about the outfield at a Japanese baseball game is that is acts as the team’s cheering section. At the bottom of every inning we all stood, chanted, and sang songs for the individual players as they came up to bat.

Each inning brought a new cheer master, who, accompanied by large drums and brass instruments, lead the outfield in various chants and songs.

During the 7th inning stretch we released our balloons to support the home team.

However, in the end, we suffered a heart-breaking defeat. We’ll get them next year!

Last week I gave a quick overview of some of the major dialects in America and the kinds of features that set them apart. While the discussion was rather superficial, the topic is extremely broad and the goal of introducing the breadth of the subject was accomplished.

First we discussed my own research (based on the theory of indexical order and Kumamoto dialect), moving on to discuss some examples of the two major classes of dialect, regional and social. Regional dialects discussed were those of Boston, New York, Philadelphia, the South, and Northern Midwest America. Social dialects included the Boston Brahmins, AAVE (African American Vernacular English), and Boston North End dialects.

If you are interested in learning more about these dialects, please check out the clips from American Tongues, a great documentary, which are freely available on Youtube. The wonderful nature of the internet and 20 minutes of watching American dialect in use can tell you more than you’d ever learn from reading a book (or a blog post for that matter).

Enjoy!

WIL had a Hanami Party at Ninomaru park on the 31^st of March.
There were about 60 people who came, we all had a lot of fun!

We all thought it was going to rain, but luckily the weather was great and the cherry blossoms were beautiful. Benjamin played shamisen and Daniel played guitar.

There was so much great tasting food, but we couldn’t eat it all. Afterwards, some of us continued the party at karaoke.

Thank you to everyone who came, we had a great time and hope to see you all again next year!

On Wednesday, some students and some staff went to Yokotemachi, to see the mandaras there.

A mandara is a painting, and is important to Buddhists. The ones in Yokotemachi are very old. We saw three of them.

Some of them were very old — as old as 370 years! They were all very beautiful.

We could only see them one day a year — Feb. 15. They are not open to the public any other day. So this day was very special.

We will try to go again next year. Maybe we will get a full tour next year. See you there!

On January 29 we had a London Time event at Washington! After my recent trip back to England I returned with hundreds of photos, lots of shortbread and some very special memories!

Many people came to the event and we looked at my photos and some videos too! Everyone was very interested in English life and culture, so I was happy to happy talk about my holiday with the students.

In London I went to Buckingham Palace and saw the Queen, so everybody was excited to see the photos of Her Majesty! I also made the short journey to Paris by train and we saw the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame and Arc de Triomphe, so everybody was very interested to hear about France as well!

We ate pizza and of course shortbread, so a good time was had by all. Thank you to everyone that attended!

Cheerio,

Mark

Dear students and friends of Washington: thank you for the wonderful memories.

Over the four years I have been here at Washington I’ve had the opportunity to teach and speak with many of you and for those of you who were my students I’ve had the opportunity to see you improve and grow as English speakers.

It’s been a pleasure to teach you and I know that you will do your best and keep studying. Don’t give up!

Learning a language is a lifestyle, not something you do for a few years and stop. Remember that while your teacher is ready to teach you new things and explain things you don’t understand you have a responsibility as a student to review what you have learned and make sure you understand.

Work hard and you will see the difference!

As for me, I’ll be back in Canada with my friends and family preparing to enter law school. Wish me luck! I know it won’t be easy but I will also do my best. I hope to see you all again.

Peace and Love!
Taylor

Halloween was Oct. 31, and we had two parties for students — a parade for kids, and a dinner for adults.

Both were a lot of fun! The parade started at Bipuresu, went down to Shinsegai, up to the top of Kamitori, and back to Bipuresu.

That’s a lot of walking! But trick-or-treating is fun, and everybody loves candy!

Our adult party was at the Kourantei on Kamitori. The food was delicious. And some people had costumes!

We started around 6 p.m. and didn’t finish until 8:30 p.m. Some people went to karaoke after!

Everybody liked the parties though. We had a lot of fun.

Thanks to everybody who came to the parade and the party. We’ll see you at the Christmas events!

Last week we went to the Beer Garden atop Tsuruya for a drinking party! We had a lot of people there! Probably 32 people, on a Saturday night!

Some people had too much to drink.

But the food was good, and the service was good.

Everybody was excited to be there.

 

It wasn’t hot, either. Everyone said it would be hot, but it was quite nice.

 

Maybe we will have another party soon. See you there!

Sunday was the first-ever Washington night out at a Kumamoto Roasso game! There were six of us — Mr. Tateyama, Kevin and four students!

The bus ride to the park was a little hot and crowded. The ride back was tight too.

But once we were at the game, it was nice and comfortable.

The game was fun — but ended in a 1-1 tie, against カターレ富山 … Toyama Kataller.

We all had fun! Some people had more fun than others, though. …

Our next event is this Saturday — a drinking party at the Tsuruya Beer Garden! See you there!

This summer, we have three new teachers here at Washington. First was Benjamin. He started in March.

Benjamin is from New Jersey in America, and graduated from Dartmouth University.

Kerensa was next. Kerensa started in May.

Kerensa is from Minnesota in the U.S., and went to the University of Minnesota.

In July, Daniel began working at Washington, as a substitute for two months.

Daniel is from Christchurch, New Zealand, and lives in Arao with his wife.

In September, Daniel will finish and Mark will start.

Mark is from London, and has lived in Kumamoto for about a year.

Welcome to all the new teachers! And thanks to all the departing teachers — Lucas, Jennifer and Naomi — for all their hard work!