Yesterday was the last day of my summer intensive Japanese course.  Instead of regular class, we had a final ceremony and party.  All of the teachers gave speeches, and the participants received certificates.  Then we ate lunch together, and each class shared something.  Our class wrote and performed a humorous skit about the lost and found at a train station.  I will put up a summary of it in Japanese soon.  I was really nervous; I had never spoken Japanese in front of such a large group before!  Even though it was the last day of my class, I hope that I will be able to continue studying and maybe even take the JLPT in December.  More on my Japanese study goals later too.  Look for those posts soon ;)

Seems like there are so many Japan connections lately!

Nina is teaching in AGU in America and has asked her students to create blogs about their two week stay in the United States.  Her students are from Japan, and they are blogging about their language learning experiences and the events of their study abroad program.  Links to the students' blogs are here; I left comments for a few of them yesterday.  It was really interesting to see what surprised them about the US; for the most part, the same things surprised me about Japan, like the food! 

Of course, I am also eagerly following the World CALL scholarship recipients as they experience Japan!  It is refreshing to see Japan through their eyes!  I am so happy to see that they could do some sightseeing, try Japanese food, wear kimono, and so on.  They must have wonderful hosts!  Webheads at World Call Posterous has posts and links to their experiences.

Here is my end of a dialogue that we practiced in class yesterday.  We listened to the tape, practiced with a partner, and then performed in front of the class with mobile phones.  Then, we were surprised when the teacher used her mobile phone to call her own home, and asked one of the students to practice the dialogue with her father!  We all had the chance to call our teacher's house and ask if she was home.  Her father patiently responded and spoke Japanese with us!  It was a really interesting class.  So, here's what I had to say on the phone:

もしもし　ますい　先生　の　お宅　ですか。


わたくし　メアリ　と　もおします。　　ますい　先生　いらっしいますか。


あ　そうですか。　何時　ごるになりますか。


あ　そおですか。　じゃあ　9　時　半　ごろ　もう一度　お電話します。


いえ　しつれいします

I've been bookmarking resources related to Japanese language, literature, and culture on Diigo.  Check out my Japan webslides! 

Any other sites you would like to recommend?

Since my summer vacation is just starting, I've been thinking a lot about reading for pleasure!  I thought the perfect thing would be to read some English translations of Japanese literature or books about Japan.  I have a few titles on my bookshelf that are waiting to be read.  Then I came across this blog, Japanese Literature Challenge 2, which has lots of great recommendations.  I hope to be able to find something really good to share with my book club!  What Japanese literature would you recommend?  It could be anything from literature, to poetry, to biography, to comics!

A Wonderful Trip to Japan -- Part II

The recording of our webcast about Japan has just been posted!  Carla Arena and Cris Costa interviewed Elisabeth Fernandez and I; we talked about our impressions of Japan, and gave some tips for the World CALL conference attendees too.  My students took pictures and prepared some information about Japanese culture to share as well.  This was a really wonderful experience and I'm so happy to share it with you!  Some of the topics include food, table manners, weather, and so on.

Here are three things I hope to be able to do someday in Japan:

• Go to Hiroshima and Miyajima
• Watch bunraku (a kind of Japanese puppetry).  Actually, my Japanese school had a field trip to see bunraku, but I couldn't go!
• Stay at a ryokan (a traditional Japanese inn).

ひろしま　や　みやじま　に　行ってみたい　です。　

ぶんらく　を　みてみたい　です。

旅館　で　とまって　みたい　です。　

Last Friday I had a lot to do.  My day started at 4 a.m. and it was full speed ahead all day.  Read on.

金曜日　いそがしかった　です。　　４時　に　おきました　それ　から　ランニング　を　しました。　しごと　へ　行きました。　　ガっこ　で　日本語　を　べんきょう　しました。　　それから　よういちえん　へ　行きました。　　ごはん　を　つくりました。。。　

During the weekend of July 19th, we took a trip to Nagano prefecture with two of our friends.  Unfortunately, my camera didn't work, so I don't have any pictures to post, but here is a write up of all the action in Japanese!

せんしゅうは　海の日　です。　ともだち　と　かぞく　と　ながの　けん　行きました。　まつもと　じょお　を　みみて　わさび　ファム　へ　行ってて　おんせん　に　はいりました。　山　や　木　も　きれかった　です。　ながの　けん　の　そば　は　とても　おいしかった　です。　　キャビン　で　とまる　は　いちばん　よかった　です。　　ながの　が　だいすき！　

Today was the first day of my Japanese class.  Although I learned a lot of Japanese, one of the most interesting things about today's lesson was experiencing the class from a student's point of view again!  I noticed that some of the teacher's actions really helped me learn and motivated me to pay close attention.

There are about 9 people, about half from North America and half from China, in my class and we sit in a small semi-circle.  Because we only have chairs (no desks!), the setup of the classroom is conducive to communication.  It is easy to talk with a partner or group, and it is easy to move around the classroom for various activities.  Also, no one can hide or get left out of the interaction!

We have class from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Even though I live in Japan, this is by far the longest amount of time that I have had to actively listen and participate in conversations in Japanese.  Moreover, even though I really want to learn Japanese and am very interested in what we're doing, it was difficult to keep concentrating all day!  I did manage though because the teacher  was genki, used lots of pictures, props, and authentic materials, and had a sense of humor. 

We listen to a conversation on tape, and then we need to repeat and eventually memorize these dialogs.  The first teacher played the tape and had us repeat; in other words, everything was aural/oral.  Since I'm not an auditory learner, I found this extremely difficult.  The afternoon teacher played the tape, had us repeat, and wrote cues for us on the board.  For instance, she wrote down only the particles, but left out all of the content words.  Having a basic sentence structure written on the board really helped me to learn the sentences quickly. 

Lessons that I was reminded of during my first day as a student:
*The configuration of the room should correspond to the type of class.*
*Be enthusiastic about the material you teach and learn.*
*Take various learning styles into account when teaching or learning.*

こにちわ

あしたは日本語のクラスはじめます。あたらしブログで日本語れんしゅします。


Tomorrow I am starting a summer intensive Japanese language course, and I am going to use this as an opportunity not only to practice my Japanese, but also to try out Posterous.  I hope that the Japanese writing will work, and please remember that I am a beginner at the Japanese language! 

As we discussed in the People and Places (link to the recording coming soon), Japanese has three writing systems: Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji, and Romanji.  You can see in the sentences I wrote above, I tried to include what I know of these writing systems.