Fall is here in Nagoya

October 15th, 2015

It’s getting cooler which is one sure sign that fall is coming, but it really is obvious when you get out and walk and look at the trees.

We usually walk along the river behind our house because it is a great place to go in the evening and after dark, but when we have time to walk in the mornings, we often go to Heiwa Koen.

Last week we had the chance so we went walking in Heiwa Koen fairly early in the morning. It was cool, but not cold, and the air was crisp and clean. We enjoy walking in the wooded and grassy area there, but we can’t often go due to our schedules.

We also saw the rice in the paddies there that are cultivated by the park club. It’s a sort of ‘city people can have the chance to be farmers’ thing, I think. They have done a lot of work there on the small stream and the levies around the area, but they also have to worry about the crows coming to eat the crop they are trying so hard to grow.

Here is a picture of their solution and also some foxtails growing nearby.

Soul Cry and KiHyun

October 7th, 2015

I started off my semester on a good note by attending a small concert on Sunday evening. The whole family went to the Korean Cultural Center to see a couple of up and coming Korean pop singers, Soul Cry and KiHyun.

They worked hard and did a pretty good show though I would have liked to have heard more songs where they either played the piano or guitar. I think there were only 2 songs with KiHyun playing the piano, and both were better than the songs with the canned backing tracks. I’m sorry to say though that they also butchered the lyrics to “Desperado” which was one of the piano songs.  I know how difficult it is to sing in another language, but if you’re a professional performer, you have to get it better than this.

The Korean ballads they sang together were good, and their interaction with the crowd was also fun even with a small crowd of about 150.

It was a fun evening, and I’m glad we went. I bought the CD of the TV drama that has one of their songs on the soundtrack, but I’m still waiting to see if they make it big 😉

I did get autographs and photos though as you can see below…

 

Learn English podcast

July 16th, 2015

I have been listening to podcasts for years. I have several I create playlists from and put on my iPod and listen to off and on throughout the day.

I love the medium – using audio to get information. There are a ton of really good podcasts out there, too.

I listen to mostly sports or podcasts about writing, but I have looked around quite a bit for a good English language podcast to recommend.

I usually don’t recommend podcasts specifically for learning English, and usually recommend students just listen to podcasts about topics they are interested in learning or knowing more about. That’s the purpose of learning a language anyway, right? — to be able to use it to do something.

I have one learning podcast I can recommend though. It’s the English as a Second Language Podcast at ESLPod.com  It has a wide variety of topics, and usually scripts are presented at a slower rate of speed and then after some explanations given again at a normal native speaker speed.

The information is interesting in the English Cafe Episodes and the conversations are usually funny and interesting along with consisting of useful topics and vocabulary.

If you’re looking for a podcast for yourself or to recommend to your students, this is a good one:

https://www.eslpod.com/website/index_new.html

 

2015 Skit Performance Contest at Chukyo University

July 2nd, 2015

Last week was the 4th annual BACS Skit Performance Contest at Chukyo University.

This is something that used to be an exercise for just my classes but was expanded and turned into a department-wide contest and event for all second year students in the British and American Culture Studies at Chukyo University.

The skits are getting better and better, and it is always a lot of fun.

The students are usually randomly divided into groups of 4-5 students and they write and perform skits that are shortened versions of famous children’s stories. It’s an exercise that is meant to help students be more confident in speaking English in front of others and to have a chance to do some team building.

It is also very fun. For everyone.

Here are a couple of snapshots I took of the winning groups from both periods.

1st place through 3rd place 4th Period

1st place through 3rd place 4th Period

1st place through 3rd place winners from 3rd Period.

1st place through 3rd place winners from 3rd Period.

Red Yarn Music Video

June 18th, 2015

I am so looking forward to seeing the rest of the videos and hearing the new album from Red Yarn.

This is a friend who used Kickstarter to fund his album and videos.

I was so happy to see so many people supporting my friend, and this kind of work.

These are some fun songs, great for kids, and for people learning English. You probably won’t learn any of the difficult vocabulary for TOEIC or TOEFL, but it’s all good.

Watch the video below: