CROSSROADSCROSSROA DS Language StudioÊs Newsletter June,
June , 201
20 1 3
P oet, playwright, actor,
broadcaster, scriptwriter andstoryteller - in his sadly short but
eventful life, Dylan Thomas was all ofthese and much more.
Born in Swansea, Wales, in 1914, he left
school at 16, becoming a journalist for ashort time. While still a teenager it was
the publication of “Light Breaks Where No
Sun Shines” that caught the attention of
the literary world. His other fine works
include – ‘Under Milk Wood’ and stories
and radio broadcasts such as ‘A Child’sChristmas in Wales’ and ‘Portrait of theArtist as a Young Dog’.
When living in London he met Caitlin
Macnamara and over the years they had 3
children – Llewelyn Edourd Thomas (19392000) Aeronwy Bryn Thomas (1943-2009)
and Colm Garan Hart Thomas (1949-2012)
His wife died in 1953 – the year Dylan died.
Thomas and his family settled in the small
fishing village of Laugharne – West Wales.
The name ‘Dylan’ can be translated from old
Celtic meaning, ‘from the sea’. They lived bythe help of friends and neighbours.
Touring America in the 1950s, hisreadings brought him fame and secured
his position as one of the most important
poets of the 20th century.
Although much appreciated as a popular
poet in his lifetime, he found making aliving very difficult.
During his fourth trip to New York in
1953 he became gravely ill and fell into acoma from which he did not recover. His
body was returned to Wales where he wasburied at the village church in Laugharne.
The cause of death has not been fully
explained! His estate in 1953 was valuedat £100 pounds.

A brilliant mind, his life was too short. Hewas once asked if he believed in God. He
replied, “I’d be a fool not to”.
His view of life coincided with
Christianity’s, but perhaps only because
Christianity offers the necessary symbols forthis imagery of death-in-life and life-indeath.
HensonRecording Studios, LA, USA
His best work is a matter of individual
choice - there have been so many.
Dylan Thomas appears in modern poetrywith the air of a ‘marvelous boy’. He knew
no Welsh but he accepted the traditionalrole of the Welsh bard and was painted byAugustus John as wild and inspired.
He used everything and anything to makehis poems work, and move in the directions
he wanted them to. They consisted of oldtricks, new tricks, allusion, slang, vowelrhymes, and many more.
He once said‘Everydevice
thereisinlanguage is there
to be used’. He
did just that, andas
aresult,
became one of thegreatest poets ofall time.

“To begin at the beginning” – theArticle by Dylan

opening lines of ‘Under Milk Wood’

NET LESSONS: Are you too busy to come toCROSSROADS?....Try our lessons on the Internet!

SITE OF THE MONTH:
You can read about the life of Dylan Thomas here:
http://www.newquay-westwales.co.uk/dylan_thomas.htm

Joshua Says: Many thanks to all the “brave” people who defied the rain
and came to our End-of-Semester party on the 1st. It was a quiet but very
friendly event and we all had a great time – I even think some people
took a liking to my Vegemite sandwiches! Also, this month we welcome
two new French teachers to join us – Cyril and Stephanie. They alsocame to the party and you can see them in the photos on P3 here.

Junko Says: This is the start of our second semester for this year. Itfeels a little like a new beginning. It’s the first time for us to pass thehalf-way mark in a year. I think this new system is working out well,what do you think? To coincide with the beginning of the second part of2013, we welcome Matthew back from a month’s break in the U.S. He
has plenty of stories to tell, so why not ask him when you run into him.

Matthew Says: It is great to be back in Matsuyama and I have had awonderful welcome from you all so I would like to thank you all for yourkind words and endearments this week. The end of semester party was
fantastic and it was great to see so many of you attend! We will have aBBQ party on the roof again so expect a notice soon about that one - thesimple reason being - I LOVE BBQs! Have a great June!

Dylan Says: It’s come to my attention recently, how famous I actually
am. Well ok, not me as such, but more so my name. Look at theevidence, there’s Dylan Thomas that you've already read about on thefirst page, and then there’s the famous singer, Bob Dylan who wrote“Blowin’ In The Wind.” What a great name to have!

Cyril Dit: Bonjour Matsuyama! Je m'appelle Cyril, et je vais habiter
au Japon pendant un an. La chaleur est beaucoup plus forte qu'enFrance, c'est donc très difficile lorsque je vais courir dans le parc duchâteau. J'achète une bouteille de coca bien fraîche dans un distributeur
au moins 2 fois par jour! (J'ai goûté le soda au melon, quelle horreur...)

The food was great!
VEGIMITE
We had French andsandwich
Welsh cuisine as wellas Junko’s “noodleSalad” special, and, ofcourse delicious
Australian VegemiteSandwiches!

Some of the„hardy‰ people
who braved therain to be withus at the party

Meet Cyril and Stephanie, our
new French teachers, with Arno
their “mentor”…..

A big “thanks” to all who came!

Meet Al. Al isan Alpaca from Peru. He and his
kind are natives of South America. They
can be found throughout the Andes, including
Al when he’s not surfing
Bolivia and Ecuador as well as Peru.
Al, though, is special. Heloves to surf with his buddy,
Lose (see photo). He is a verypractical pet, too. When hiscoat gets too long, Jose cuts itoff and sells the wool to payfor AlÊs food bills. A perfectrelationship, donÊt you think?
Don’t forget… Our SPECIAL 1+1 Campaign offer! Up to 50% off!!
See our notice board, or ask Junko in our office, for the details.