What's New at Kyoto NHK ESS?

Dear ESS members,

Happy new year!
This is an announcement for the practice I will hold on Jan. 11.
We are going to sing some of the songs that were requested in the previous practice.
First, I will sing to my ukulele on behalf of you. If you know the song, sing with me.
Then, we will have some discussion time. If you are not sure about the lyrics, ask the other members.
Finally, all the members who want to sing with me can sing.
And this time, in addition, we will sing the same songs in the new year's party on the following Saturday!
If you want to practice our songs in advance, you should definitely join my practice!

Regards,
Atsushi Kato

Loanwords in English Quiz

This is the announcement of the practice on Jan. 25, 2025.

English is affluent in loanwords of various origins. Why? The history of the English language is that of conquests.

The English language is the result of the fusion of many different elements, which those conquests brought about.

Finding loanwords in English is knowing English history. It is fun to find out loanwords in English.

【Ultra-Short History of English】

The original inhabitants of Great Britain were Celts. (Celtic)
54 B.C. Roman Conquest. (Latin)
Julius Caesar occupied Great Britain, which came under the complete control of Rome by Emperor Claudius in A.D.43.

449 Germanic Conquest. (Anglo-Saxon language=Old English) The legendary Celtic king, King Arthur, fought against Germans only to the exile of Celts.
Germanic society consisted of patriarchal tribes.

1018 Danish Conquest. (Old Nordic language=Old Norse)
Alfred the Great fought against Danes and repelled them. Knud the Great conquered England after all.

The fusion of Old English and Old Norse contributed to the grammatical simplification of English.

1066 Norman Conquest. (Norman French)
William the Conqueror conquered England and established the English feudalism.

With the influx of Norman French, Old English turned from synthetic language (=inflective language) into analytic language (=word-order language) called Middle English.

1485 End of War of the Roses. (Greek, Latin, French Italian, Spanish)
England developed under the monarchism established by Henry�, � and Elisabeth�.

They introduced Renaissance from continental Europe, during which Shakespear brought many loanwords into English.

The English language in this era is called Early Modern English, which is fairly near to Present Day English.

【Procedure】

1. Divide into three or four groups. (six to seven members each.)
2. Decide MC (the chief) in each group.
3. MC hands out a quiz sheet to every participant.
4. Answer the questions according to the direction on the sheet.

Individual activity is as follows:

(1) Match each loanword underlined with the meaning below.
(2) Tell what origin it has.
(3) Turn each sentence into Japanese.

MC checks answers session by session (six sessions in all).
MC has both the answer sheet and the Japanese translation sheet.

Each session should be finished within ten minutes including both answering and checking.)

I hope you will enjoy the quiz. Thank you. (by Shinichiro Kittaka)

Hello, my friends,
Here is my announcement of the second half practice on February 1.

Title: What makes a good life?

Genre: Discussion

You are supposed to discuss following two topics after viewing the video.
・ What does “A good life” mean to you?
・ How do you try to make your life “Good”?

Video: Lessons from the longest study on happiness
What keeps us happy and healthy as we go through life? If you think it's fame and money, you're not alone – but, according to psychiatrist Robert Waldinger, you're mistaken. As the director of a 75-year-old study on adult development, Waldinger has unprecedented access to data on true happiness and satisfaction. In this talk, he shares three important lessons learned from the study as well as some practical, old-as-the-hills wisdom on how to build a fulfilling, long life.

Best regards,
Makoto NISHIMURA

Dear Kyoto NHK ESS members,

This is Motoko Tabata, and I'm in charge of the latter half practice on Feb. 8.
I'd like to send you the agenda of the practice and the procedure of that day.

☆Genre: Variety (Quizzes and talk)

☆Title: "Color, Color, and Color"

☆Procedures:
1 Make some groups.

2 Warm-up quizzes
Please try to answer ”色彩検定3級".

3 Exchange your comments in your groups.
(1)How many colors are in the rainbow?
(2)What are the colors associated with?
(Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet, Brown, White, Black )
(3)Which is the strongest color for you? And why?
(4)Which color is the weakest for you? And why?
(5)Which color motivates you most? And why?
(6)Which color makes you relax and feel comfortable?
(7)What color of the clothes do you wear often?
(8)Which color represents yourself?(Which color is your image color?)
(9)What'll happen if our world loose colors and turn to be monotone?
Please imagine what 's the colorless world like?
(10)If you have any unforgettable memory about colors, please share it in your group.

Hoping you'll enjoy my practice!

Motoko Tabata