The first week of school I felt nervous in the class room but by the second week I started to feel much more comfortable being in the classroom. There is a really good group of kids here and I love when they try to make jokes in English.
This week we started our first Japanese calligraphy lessons. We get to participate in two lessons a week. I have taken calligraphy in my past study abroad experience in Japan but it was quite short and simple. I have never been very good at it and I have a lot of room for improvement! We gave an self-introduction in English and in Japanese. The calligraphy teacher is a really nice and friendly. He doesn't know much English but luckily he is easy to understand in Japanese. He likes to tell a lot of stories and life advice in Japanese. Also, his calligraphy is beautiful and he is so skilled! Just watching him write something on the board inspires me to want to write that beautifully.
We started out learning the basic strokes styles involved in calligraphy and we practiced a writing a character combination that means heaven and earth. It was kinda nerve-wracking as our teacher kept taking photos of us while we practiced. Suddenly he gave us a fancy paper board to write our final attempt on at the end of class. I wish I would have had more time to practice it before I made a final piece! I really enjoyed the class and I was glad we would be able to go to this class every week from now on.
This week instead of bringing my own lunch, we tried eating at the cafeteria at the high school. We had tempura, rice, and miso soup. It's not bad and for a reasonable price! (450 Yen)
Also this week we had our first Japanese lessons. There were no advanced Japanese textbooks at the school so at first we were not sure what to do for lessons! Since I have been taking Japanese for awhile, for the first few classes we had Japanese conversation practice.
After two weeks, I noticed there are some class at the middle school that are focused and quiet and some that are a little chatty. I decided to look more into what are big motivators in class for Japanese students learning English. There are many words or simple phrases they sometimes have trouble understanding, such as, "Are you finished?" or even mixing up words such as "Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How". In the study, "Students' self-determined and integrative orientations and teachers' motivational support in a Japanese as a foreign language context" by Maya Sugita McEown, Kimberly A. Noels, and Kristie D. Saumure, it mentions, "Students who report more self-determined reasons for language learning tend to have less anxiety, more positive attitudes toward language learning, and increased feelings of self-efficacy". I definitely agree with this statement and you can observe this among the classes.
This week we started our first Japanese calligraphy lessons. We get to participate in two lessons a week. I have taken calligraphy in my past study abroad experience in Japan but it was quite short and simple. I have never been very good at it and I have a lot of room for improvement! We gave an self-introduction in English and in Japanese. The calligraphy teacher is a really nice and friendly. He doesn't know much English but luckily he is easy to understand in Japanese. He likes to tell a lot of stories and life advice in Japanese. Also, his calligraphy is beautiful and he is so skilled! Just watching him write something on the board inspires me to want to write that beautifully.
We started out learning the basic strokes styles involved in calligraphy and we practiced a writing a character combination that means heaven and earth. It was kinda nerve-wracking as our teacher kept taking photos of us while we practiced. Suddenly he gave us a fancy paper board to write our final attempt on at the end of class. I wish I would have had more time to practice it before I made a final piece! I really enjoyed the class and I was glad we would be able to go to this class every week from now on.
This week instead of bringing my own lunch, we tried eating at the cafeteria at the high school. We had tempura, rice, and miso soup. It's not bad and for a reasonable price! (450 Yen)
Also this week we had our first Japanese lessons. There were no advanced Japanese textbooks at the school so at first we were not sure what to do for lessons! Since I have been taking Japanese for awhile, for the first few classes we had Japanese conversation practice.
After two weeks, I noticed there are some class at the middle school that are focused and quiet and some that are a little chatty. I decided to look more into what are big motivators in class for Japanese students learning English. There are many words or simple phrases they sometimes have trouble understanding, such as, "Are you finished?" or even mixing up words such as "Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How". In the study, "Students' self-determined and integrative orientations and teachers' motivational support in a Japanese as a foreign language context" by Maya Sugita McEown, Kimberly A. Noels, and Kristie D. Saumure, it mentions, "Students who report more self-determined reasons for language learning tend to have less anxiety, more positive attitudes toward language learning, and increased feelings of self-efficacy". I definitely agree with this statement and you can observe this among the classes.
No comments:
Post a Comment