Sometimes, I like to eat food

My presentation is one that I would like to forget because I know it was horrible. There's no sense in denying what it was. However, there were extraneous circumstances that led to what it was. If I could have avoided both of my note and presentation files becoming corrupt Sunday night, life would have been amazing. But the combination of a test week and those corrupted files turned what could have been good into what the presentation turned out to be.That being said, I feel that I did a decent job of presenting. The only thing I wish that I had enough time to do, is actually write my song in Japanese. But, my muse is difficult to find, and I only found her about an hour before I had to leave. So...yeah.

Onto the grammar!
So, I'll cover 始めます as an addition to a verb. Basically, whenever you add this to a verb, it indicates the verb has begun. And conjugating it is real easy, all you have to do is add 始めます to the end of a verb stem. For instance, I began reading a book would be 本を読み始めます。

Presentations!
Music is an essential part of becoming e-famous.
Peanut butter, marshmallow fluff, and bread are essential for becoming a fluffernutter.
You have to tip 15% at restaurants.
Apparently, waiters and waitresses don't really make a lot of money.
Don't tip at fast food/fast casual eateries.

Title goes here, dood

Alright, well, I guess I’ll begin my post with a grammatical section instead of listing my ideas for Tobira. One of the grammar points was taking an adjective and adding さ to the adjective to turn it into a noun. With いadjectives, you just drop the い and replace it with さ and then you’ve gone and turned an adjective into a noun. With な adjectives, you just add さ to the end of the adjective. For instance, 元気 would become 元気さ. So, that’s that grammar point. Pretty easy, I would be inclined to think.

Alright, now I’ll dive into the reflection part. For learning, I learned about the different Japanese political units and which ones had a special distinction to it. I also learned about various other parts of Japanese geography. Most fun thing…hmmm, to be honest, I can’t think of anything that was really all that fun. I liked learning about the geography, that’s an interesting thing the first time I go about learning it. I didn’t have success. For the week that this blog is intended for, my biggest challenge was getting accustomed to how Tobira is set up. It’s miles apart from Genki and I don’t really know how I feel about it yet. I’m approaching it with mild caution. Getting over that challenge is just going to take time.

Now ,as for ideas regarding what to do with Tobira. I’m honestly a bit lost for words when it comes to the ideas. I liked the worksheet we did with the first 7 grammar points, that was quite useful. But I haven’t had much time due to exams to really look through the book and figure out what would be a beneficial way for myself to learn from it. Honestly, this is going to be more a patience thing for me since I don’t know what to fully expect from the book yet.

みんなはアメリカに住んでいます

名所：シカゴ
シカゴはとてもすごくて、大きいと思います。空港はきれいです。道に迷えません。町はとても大きいです！シカゴで三回道に迷ういました。こわい？いいえ！楽しい！

名物：大きくて、バターなJesus
彼はJesusです。彼はとても大きくて、バターです。シンシナティに住んでいました。どうして？オハイオ州人はとても変だと思います。でも、いま、Jesusは死にました。雨の神はバターなJesusが嫌いです。

BLANK SPACE OHMYGOODNESS

This week, I learned all about what is expected of me in the presentation and I learned about the grammar regarding ことにする and ことにしている, as well as the 方 grammar point, even if that last bit was self-taught. Based on my understanding, ことにする means that you have decided to do something, while ことにしている is one of your daily habits. For instance, if I wanted to say that I decided to play guitar, I would say 「ギターを弾くことにしました。」Now, if I were to tell someone that I have a habit of practicing my guitar every day, I would say to them, 「私は毎日ギターを練習しています。」And then they would think I was good at guitar, because of my practicing. As for 方, it’s just a way of saying “how to do” an action. Say that I wanted to ask my guitar teacher how to play the song “I will follow you into the dark” on guitar. I would ask him 「I will follow you into the darkという歌を弾き方を教えていただけませんか。」And then we would have a jam session and it would be awesome good times.

I tend to enjoy class, so I really don’t know what was the most fun. Nothing particularly sticks out in my mind, so there’s not much I can elaborate on.

Success…success… I hate thinking about these sorts of things. I mean, I feel like my academic work wasn’t a whole big bag of suck this week, but I can’t really think of anything I did well. I think I did a pretty good job coming up with the translations that we needed to do for the task though. I only had to look up a few words since they weren’t in my working vocabulary, and I don’t think they were present for a lot of other people either.

My greatest challenge? Geez, I can never think about these sorts of things either. It’s not that anything was particularly difficult, other than speaking, but I didn’t have any major trip-ups. I suppose my biggest problem was trying to find an idea for my presentation. And the only problem with that is the fact that my humor makes a lot of sense and is easy to catch when I’m speaking in English, but I feel that it doesn’t translate very well. And that’s the thing that has me the most nervous. I hate making presentations that are boring that no one laughs at. Hopefully the American students will be able to provide a laugh track.

There’s not a whole lot that I can do for my presentation nervousness since I can’t become fluent in Japanese humor and I can’t expect that any Japanese students who view my presentation will understand my…unique…sense of humor. All I can do is hope, right now.

日本の男の人の洋服をはき方は変だと思います。彼らが女の人みたいです。どうして。私は女の人になりたくない。日本の男の人のファッションを見る時、笑います。

Seriously, no matter how hard I try I will never be able to understand this phenomenon. All the Japanese pop culture icons and the youth that copy them look like women. I’m not saying this to be a jackass, I just find it absolutely baffling.

And as for my presentation: I’m going to either do: How to pick up chicks, or how to write a basic song on guitar. I’ll do a rough draft for both; I just have to find out which one I’m more comfortable with. Though, if I do the guitar one, I would definitely be singing in English. 

Blog 7, in which I have no idea

1. This week I learned about the grammatical forms of まで　and ても. I also learned that being sick isn't any good when you get hit with a quiz.
2. No comment. Playing catch-up isn't fun.
3. I didn't really have a success in class this week.
4. My greatest challenge was surviving the quiz that happened on Thursday. I was not at all prepared for it since I was not aware of it.
5. I have no problem studying for a quiz provided I know it's coming up. Perhaps in the future I'll just memorize all the kanji right off the go as a precaution.

And the subject of my presentation will be: Well, I have options.
How to be a boss
How to cook chicken fingers (like a boss)
How to pick up a woman (and horribly fail)
Granted, I don't know if I could do any of these, even though they have a high potential for being fun. Guess I'll have to think about it.

5th verse, same as the first!

名前：黒岩
広島から来ました。
二十歳です。
色々な音楽が好きです。
Green Dayが好きです。

Now then.

I guess there are three major strategies of learning that I see employed in this class: Textbook, Teacher, and Partner. I'm sure there is something that teachers are taught when it comes to various methods, but I am not an education major and all of these opinions are just that: My opinions, however odd they may be.

Textbook
Pros: Well, this is technically the material we're supposed to be learning and we get the definitions that the authors of the book want us to use.
Cons: Well, if you have a question that the textbook doesn't answer, you're in trouble since you don't have anyone to ask for clarification. Also, I've noticed the authors of the book fail to mention cultural uses of the grammar we're learning. I can't think of a specific example, but I'm pretty sure one situation occurred in the transitive/intransitive section. The book also has this nasty habit of using dated terms (which was probably updated recently) and having confusing language.
Other comment: The book is definitely meant to be used as a study aide and not as a replacement for the teacher.
For me: I can normally understand the book, but as I stated earlier, there are some cultural things that I would never figure out since I'm not Japanese.

Partner
Pros: Combined brain power can help make sense of confusing grammar points. There's also the chance that a struggling student could be paired with a student who excels in the language which would help the struggler. Partner work also strengthens bonds which would lead to conversations which would lead to more Japanese practice in theory.
Cons: Partner work is a double edged sword. There's a chance that the two students who get paired together both have no idea how the grammar works and their combined effort will only serve to frustrate the both of them and make learning more difficult. Even if one student happens to excel, that student could be wrong about a certain grammar point and reinforce the incorrect method on the student who happens to be struggling. And then, of course, you have people who are just happy to remain in their own little cliques and not communicate even when they are paired up.
For me: It's hit and miss. Sometimes the partner work really helps and sometimes it doesn't. I'd say 75% of the time it happens to help me.

Teacher
Pros: The teacher is considered a master in the subject and is able to help the students, regardless of whatever question that happens to come up. This is especially necessary in a language environment since it is very easy to learn grammar incorrectly and without teacher guidance, the mistake would persist through the rest of the student's education if it is never addressed again. The teacher will also normally have a passion for the subject at hand, which helps in the educational process.
Cons: Unless the teacher doesn't care, none. Not the case for this class.
Other comment: I'm biased in that I've always found listening to a teacher to be the best method. When I lack, I don't learn the necessary material.
For me: Best method is best.

Just my two cents on the matter.

The reflection that comes after the third reflection

1. I learned all about the Causative form and how to command people to do something. Or to say that a command was issued. Also, my dislike of drawing was reinforced.

2. I enjoyed the causative activity since it opened up dialogue with other members of the class and it helped to learn about other people which is always nice.

3. I don't think I really had a great success in the class this week. At least, I didn't feel like I succeeded at anything in particular.

4. Listening to anybody speak in Japanese. I'm still no good at listening to people talking. That's definitely my greatest weakness and deterrent when it comes to the language.

5. Other than the practice in class, I have no idea how to go about fixing it. My schedule doesn't permit me to go to the places the Japanese students meet and I can't get past the uncomfortable feeling I get when I speak to natives in the native language. Though, any Asian language causes that feeling in me.

日本の友達：
柿崎慶祐。二十二歳です。北海度から来ました。立教大学の学生です。専門は法学です。雪ボードをしたり魚を捕ったりすろのが好きです。人々と話したいので、英語を勉強します。

Reflection 3

1. This week, I learned the grammar points we studied and some details about Japanese students who came in to visit us and let us quiz them. Though, sadly, my question of dental floss seemed to fall on deaf ears. Or made some ears deaf, depending on who you are.

2. I'm not 100% done with this newspaper yet, but I absolutely love it. That's just because I love writing since I'm not very good with the whole speaking aspect of Japanese. Listening to the Japanese students talk was also fun, even if I got lost at some points.

3. My great success? Definitely getting to write. When I get to be creative, I'm happy.

4. My greatest challenge was trying to understand everything the Japanese students were saying. Compared to the class, I feel I have a much more limited vocabulary. That, and I'm not any good at listening, even in my language and I would have felt rude if I said "Huh?" everytime I didn't understand something.

5. I mean, for the vocabulary, I could probably peruse my dictionary and learn new words on a daily basis and that would help in the long run. But I have no idea how to improve my listening skills. I'm at a loss there.

Reflection 2: In which I don't make an Inception joke

1. This week, in Japanese, I learned all about the joy and wonder of talking about mysterious strangers doing activities for a definite reason and I learned how to describe a situation in which an action takes place during another action. (I feel this is where I would use an Inception joke, but I'll spare it. No promises for the future though.)

2. The most fun thing I did? I can't really remember. Going to class was fun. Telling people to kick customers in the face is also a fun thing.

3. I remembered the kanji for two mechanical objects. I wasn't really expecting that.

4. The greatest challenge? Not thinking about puppies because of the dog kanji. I kid, of course. The greatest challenge for me was rembering the kanji for experience.

5. Well, I studied it. And I used a kanji bank that I made myself on the quiz. I'm seriously going to be using those a lot more now. They're very helpful.

VokiVokiVokiVoki

すみません、私のVokiはよくない。

Reflection of the first week

1. This week I learned a lot of people's names, which will probably take me forever and a half to memorize, and I learned how to use the passive voice and the various situations it can be used in. I also learned how to say, "Somebody put something in my drink." Whether this will be useful to me in the future or not is yet to be determined.

2. I really liked doing the four panel comic strip. It was an interesting way to learn the grammar point and make some nonsensical sentences. Although, I would have preferred to write a short story, but that's just because I'm not a fan of drawing.

3. Success? I survived drawing a comic strip. I think I could count that as a success.

4. It's related to number three. I can't draw. That was my challenge. And I could probably count figuring out the context of passive voice as well.

5. I'll study the passive voice to get a better grasp of it. But, I'm not going to work on my drawing skills since I don't really see how they'll help me later in life.

Reflections on a Presentation

The most difficult thing during my presentation was the fact that I accidentally threw myself for a loop due to an error in translating numbers. After the brief discussion, my nerves were a bit shaken and I started to feel a little nervous which isn't something I normally experience while giving a presentation. So the new presence of my nerves threw me off my game and made a certain frame of my presentation feel a little difficult. If that didn't happen, I would have never lost my nerves. However, towards the end, I found my center again and regained some of the old confidence I had prior to the presentation. Other than that, my throat became a little dry from the talking and I wish I would have brought some water to drink up with me. A dry throat is so annoying during a presentation.

Two things: I wish I would have taken time to learn how to effectively use photoshop and I wish that I had translated the rent amounts correctly. For photoshop, I wanted to spice up my presentation with some created images just because stock photos can be a little dull sometimes. And with the currency, if I had checked with someone prior, it would have been correct and I wouldn't have gotten shot nerves.

Giving a presentation in a foreign language that you're studying is the fact that it requires you to know exactly what you're talking about and how you're going to say it in the target language. For me, presentations involve a lot of improvisation, which means I'm forced to think on my feet. This doesn't give me time to think about what I'm trying to say in English first, so it's a test of mastery. Another benefit of giving the presentation in the language you're learning is that it helps you to really use the language. Dialogues and practice sentences are great, but they don't compare to talking for seven straight minutes. That kind of length really helps one get comfortable with the language.

じゅにちろと友美

昔々、男の人でした。名前はじゅんいちろです。じゅんいちろは寂しい男の人でした。両親は「じゅんいちろ！友だちを作らなくちゃいけません！」と言いました。でも、じゅんいちろは友だちを作れませんでした。人々と話す時、戦いました。ある日、じゅんいちろは女の人に会いました。彼女の名前は友美でした。友美はとてもやさしくて、きれいでした。毎日、彼らは話します。

でも、ある日じゅんいちろは「友美。私は外国に戦いに行かなくちゃいけません。今度の先週、行きます。」と言いました。

友美はそれを聞いた後に泣き始めました。「じゅんいちろ。。。愛していると思います。行かないでください。」

「これは私の義務です。さようなら。」

一ヶ月後に。。。

刀でじゅんいちろを打ちました。「愛の女神！怪我で死ぬ前に友美と話をしたいです。」

突然に雲は分かれて、ワルキューレは地面に来ました。

ワルキューレはじゅんいちろに「これは君のねがいですか？」を質問しました。

「はい。」

ワルキューレは頷きました。「でも、泣いたら、地獄に行きます。わかりますか？」

「はい。友美に会いたいです。」

後で。。。

じゅんいちろと友美は話していました。

「友美。。。私は死んでいますよ。」

「いいえ！死んではいけません！」

「友。。。友美。聞いてください。愛しています。早く言えばよかったです。」

友美は泣き始めました。「じゅんいちろ。。。愛しています。」

じゅんいちろは話さないで、泣き始めました。「友美。。。さようなら。」

ワルキューレは「馬鹿。今、地獄に行きます。」と言いました。ワルキューレの刀でじゅんいちろを打ちました。

じゅんいちろは「私。。。私の世界は。。。は。。。黒くなっています。」と言いました。

単語

寂しい　さびしい lonely

戦う　たたかう to fight

彼ら　かれら　they

泣く　なく to cry

義務　ぎむ duty

刀でｘを打つ　うつ to strike X with a sword

女神　めがみ goddess

怪我で死ぬ　けがでしぬ to die of wounds

突然に　とつぜんに all of a sudden

雲　くも cloud

分かれる　わかれる to part

ワルキューレ　Valkyrie

地面　じめん the earth (ground)

願い　ねがい wish (noun)

頷く　うなずき　to nod

友美　　ゆみ　　Yumi

 わかるといいですね。

音楽：　http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJkTfZ0gLUw&feature=related


ールペ

Teaching Each Other

Is teaching each other effective? There a lot of variables to consider when asking this question, but my opinion boils down to a no. First, there definitely wasn't a good amount of time to come up with a coherent lesson plan and translation questions. You also have to consider that not all of us are going to school to be teachers of something. Being a Computer Information Systems major, I'm not heavily inclined to educate others. Seeing as I have not taken any teaching classes, I also don't know effective methods of teaching and the best I can do is try to copy the teacher. My problem is that I know the information, but don't know how to convey it. With teaching others, one also has to remember that when it comes to language we don't know the intricacies of it. With regards to my question about using ～はずです to state an opinion, the book doesn't necessarily point to the fact that the way I was talking was incorrect. Only a native speaker or someone fluent in Japanese would really know that, so it's good that 友紀先生 was there to interact.

I probably come off as ultra critical of the exercise, but that's only because of my past experiences. It can work in some situations, I've just never seen it happen.

How could it have been done better? Well, personally, I would have liked to have more time in order to create a lesson plan and a sheet of translations or something for the class to work on. There's also the fact that when a student takes the reins, the other class members don't really listen or pay attention. I try to stop myself from doing that, but that just seems to be the case based on this experience and past ones. I'd suggest implementing a way of making the class pay attention, but I don't really know how that would work. So, time to create a lesson plan and a quiet class that is in absorb mode during the teaching part. That's what I would have liked to see.

私は悪い先生だと思います。日本語を教えるのが下手ですから。でも、簡単な分布を教えてよかったです。教えるのが嫌いですから、文法を教えないはずです。

Japanese guest from what I remember

おりえさんは日本から来ました。千葉に住んでいました。二十三歳です。日本の映画が好きです。アルバイトがあります。７１１につとめます。お金をもらった時、洋服を買うのが好きです。

Things I find interesting

面白い事：

日本の両親は日本の大学生にお金をあげます。毎月、私は母にお金をあげます。>.>

日本の大学生はワンルームマンションに住んでいます。私がワンルームマンションに住んだら、お金がありません。

ひな祭り

ひな祭りは三月三日です。ひな祭りは日本と中国の風習です。でも、ひな祭りは女の子の節句です。日本の女の子は「桃の節句」と言います。日本のお母さんはごちそうを作ります。女の子はおいしい食べ物を食べてしまいます。女の子は甘酒を飲みます。

Reflection

I found this activity to be useful. A large part of learning English (for me at least) was done through contextual learning. I even remember taking a test that was meant to be done completely through context.

That being said, I found the first two questions to be more difficult than determining the meaning of the written section. It may just be me, but I have a hard time deriving meaning from kanji when I only know the meaning of one of the two kanji. I suppose the connections don't jump out at me like they do for other people. I found the section in question 3 to be a bit easier for finding meaning mainly because I like reverse engineering and that's essentially what it was.

Then there was the passage which was the easiest to derive meaning from. That's the kind of context learning that I like to see. It took a few read throughs, but I eventually derived the meaning of the text. I suppose I just like my context clues to have a lot more substance.

-ルペ

私の夢は変です。

昨日、私は十一時午後にねました。十二時に寮のドアが開きました。悪魔が私の寮に来ました！悪魔は電気を消して、笑いました。私は「悪魔！心を食べた後に私は悪魔の神になります！今、死ね！」と言いました。私たちは三時間ぐらいけんかしました。悪魔を殺してから、私は悪魔の心を食べて、笑いました。

それから、私は起きました。

ールペ

テストはテスト

テストは短いと思いました。テストを作ったら、新しい質問を書きます。勉強する時、たくさん漢字を勉強しました。もっと漢字を書きたいです。将来、もっと文法を勉強するつもりです。次のテスト、短い作文を書いていただけませんか。成績がいいといいんですが。

比較

日本の学校に行ったら、教室を洗わなくちゃいけません。日本の授業のある日のほうがアメリカの授業のある日より長いです。アメリカの学生のほうが日本の学生より太っています。日本の学生は制服を着ます。大抵のアメリカの学生は制服を着なくてもいいです。アメリカの学校の夏休みのほうが日本の学校の夏休みより長いです。日本の先生はいろいろな教室に行きます。

節分

節分は楽しそうです。節分は二月三日ですよ。えほうまきを食べます。友だち、えほうまきはおいしいって。でも、私は全部大阪の食べ物はおいしいと思います。（友だちが大阪に住んでいます。）日本人は「鬼は外！福は内！」と言ったそうです。いま、人々はお寺に節分を祝いに行きます。節分のパーティーは大きいそうです。

Task Review

I thought that this task definitely has it's merits within a language study program. Repeating phrase after phrase and just mindlessly mimicking the dialogues doesn't really test your mastery of the language. It just teaches you how to be a completely mindless robot. The grammar exercises are good for making sure you understand the grammar point, but not making sure you master it. The creative energies required for this allow the participant to prove they have mastered the concepts at hand.


As I've said, this task goes to prove mastery of Japanese. Had I just been completing exercises and not trying to master the grammar, the script writing would be terribly difficult and it would have been a much more time consuming process. It also allowed me to think and create in Japanese, which is both fun and proves that I actually understand what I've been taught.

As for how this task will have helped me for the next class, there's not much to say. My pronunciation has gotten a little bit better and my speaking has become quicker. And perhaps due to the mental conditioning involved with creative writing in Japanese I'll be able to hold a conversation should one happen to be struck up.

-ルペ

私の日はつまらないです。

毎日、八時に起きます。起きた後に歯を磨きます。出かけるとき、帽子をかぶります。
今日、私は友だちに会います。昨日、友だちが大学に連れて行ってくれたので、私は友だちに朝ごはんを買ってあげました。授業に行く前にWeezerとDie Toten Hosenを聞きました。
授業に行ってからメールをチェックしました。私は友だちに手紙をもらいました！手紙の中で、友だちに絵をかいてもらいました。きれいな絵です。

 今、私はブルース・リーの映画を見ています。

はじめまして

私はルペです。⑲歳です。オハイオ州のマンナウェイからきました。ケントに住んでいます。専門は国際関係です。マイナーは日本語とマーケチィングです。日本に住みたいです。別に大阪。大使になりたいですから、日本語を勉強します。

私もドイツ語と中国語を少し話せます。ギターを弾けます。でも、弾くのが下手です。音楽が大好きです。音楽の中で、クラシックが一番好きです。料理するのが好きです。先週、私は大きい晩御飯を作りました。サツマイモやマッシュルームのステーキやケーキを食べました。おいしいでした。

日本語のテレべりが好きです？KeyholeTVをダウンロードしたらどう。

http://www.v2p.jp/video/

ールペ