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.