When Takahiro Mise wanted to begin teaching his 3-year-old daughter English, the diehard Coug took an unconventional approach.
Mise, a 2006 biotechnology graduate living in Japan, thought about how much the youngster enjoyed the Cougar musical mascot his friends had given him back when he attended WSU Pullman.
“My friends knew I had so much pride in the Cougs,” he said, explaining the mascot played a recording of the Washington State Fight Song that never failed to get his daughter’s attention.
And that’s when the idea hit him like a perfectly thrown Gardner Minshew spiral.
Why not use the fight song, with its rousing melody and alphabet-reinforcing finish, to augment the more traditional English lessons?
He streamed a popular YouTube version of the fight song onto the family TV and in no time the toddler was belting out the century old classic, learning her words and letters along the way. “Now she is always asking me to watch the WSU fight song on YouTube so she can sing it,” he said.
Earlier this month, he shared home video of one of the high-energy English lessons on Twitter and in the process drew rave parenting reviews from throughout Coug Nation.
I teach English to my daughter and the best text is WSU fight song🤣🤣🤣 Go Cougs❗❗❗#GoCougs #WSUFightSong #WSU #Wazzu pic.twitter.com/A6OfJlfCMv
— Takahiro Mise (Cougs) (@cougswsu1) June 11, 2019
The sing-along lesson fits right in with the décor, too. The family home in Sakai, near Osaka, is filled with Cougar memorabilia, ranging from the musical mascot, flags and shirts.
Mise attended the university from 2001 to 2006 and graduated with a bachelor’s in biotechnology.
He now works at the food company Ezaki Glico in Japan in the logistics department, where he helps export items like Pocky’s to other countries.
One of his favorite activities is cheering on the Cougs or former WSU basketball players like Josh Hawkinson and Conor Clifford, now playing professionally in Japan.
“I still continue to cheer Cougs when WSU alumni play in Japan,” he said. “Once a Coug, always a Coug.”
