Pumpkin pie tomorrow

Shigeko made a pumpkin pie tonight. We’ll have it with wine class tomorrow.
**Come in a costume, and class is free.**

Praat

We have been studying intonation, here at Fukuyama English Centre.
This week I am using Praat.

Praat (Dutch word, meaning “talk”) is a software program for the phonetic analysis of speech.
It’s free from the University of Amsterdam.  You can download it from the Praat home page.
Thank you, Paul Boersma and David Weenink, Praat’s creators.

Mystery plant – help?

Somebody put this nice plant in the garbage.
I took it, and brought it to school.
It’s a very nice plant, but I don’t know what kind it is.  Can anybody tell me?
Here’s a close-up of the leaves and buds.
Please identify me.

Happy birthday (to me)

Yesterday was my birthday (today in Canada).
New students Nene and Momo gave me a cake.
That’s a lot of fire.
It was a lovely white cake with strawberries on top.  Delicious!  Thank you, Nene, Momo, and Mama.
———————————————-
Yesterday, I got this beautiful card from Anna, Chise, Ryogo, Rina, Sayo, and Juri.

Thank you, my little friends!  And your mothers.

Oct. 31 Wine Class

October 31 we will study wines from the Cabernet Sauvignon grape.
Shigeko and I went shopping today.

These are the wines.

Camels get first tiddlywink

The peopling of the islands continues.
One student won a prize for her tribe today.  She earned a tiddlywink for the camels.
The camels are the first tribe to earn points in our autumn speaking contest.  Congratulations, camels!

Tribes almost complete

All classes have finished their first week of autumn term.  Most students have chosen their tribe for this year’s schoolwide speaking competition.
There are 7 tribes.

polar bears
dolphins
camels
sloths
kiwis
water spiders
hippos

Tribal members are beginning to populate their islands.

Migration will really escalate next week.
——————————————————-
This morning I cut myself shaving.  It was near class time, and I wanted to stop the [...]

October 31 Wine Class

Cabernet Sauvignon

Autumn Term 2009

Autumn Term begins!  We are going to have another all-school speaking competition.  Like last year, but unlike last year.  Come to school.  You’ll see.

I’m excited.

Thule’s Grave

I’m very happy to know how many people loved our dog Thule.  Some of our students have cried for her.  All of our students are saddened.  Even neighbours, and shopkeepers, are sad to hear the news.
We are sad too, of course.  But Shigeko and I are glad to think about Thule, and what a special [...]