Friday, September 28, 2007

ビデオキャスト:コロンビア大学

ビデオポッドキャストプロジェクト

Goals:
1) You will have the chance to actively express your opinions to a real Japanese audience
2) You will have the chance to consider first-hand how big media operates and presents information

Audience:
The worldwide audience of Japanese-speakers interested in New York, Columbia University, or life at an American university - and also your classmates, of course

Content:
We will create radio/TV programs about life at Columbia University or New York City

Steps:
1) Discuss what constitutes a good podcast (radio or TV program)
2) Everyone will decide on the categories that we will use to critique our own and each other’s podcasts
3) Keeping #1 in mind, we will form groups of 2-3 people and create podcasting scripts. The shows will be in the form of interviews. Everyone will write scripts that should be of interest to a Japanese university student curious about life at an American university
4) We practice reading the scripts in a natural manner. (If it is necessary, students should memorize their scripts. The point is that the scripts must NOT sound stilted and unnatural)
5) Record the podcasts (We will be using “Wimba,” which is on Courseworks)
6) Listen to your classmates’ podcasts and make comments. (Examples: Grammar mistakes; Boring; etc.)
7) Correct and improve the scripts
8) Record a second time
9) We post the podcasts online, and allow a worldwide audience to listen
10) Listen to the podcasts created by you and your classmates; critique them

漢字(かんじ)(Elementary A, B, and First-year Japanese)


(Source:http://edu.city.tamba.hyogo.jp/minami-es/2nen/04/04.html
http://swa.numazu-szo.ed.jp/weblog/index.php?id=numazu002&optiondate=200706)

I noticed that many of you showed interests in 漢字(かんじ). As you may know, Japanese children spend twelve years to study かんじ, so the sooner you start learning かんじ, the better. You do not need to wait until we introduce かんじ. Memorizing かんじfor reproduction is not easy, but recognition is not that challenging. Your primary goal is 2000!

If you know any good books or online resource to study かんじ,please let us know. I will ask 2nd and 3rd year students about the same questions. They might give us some advice to study かんじ.

If many of you are interested, I am thinking about opening かんじdiscussion google group. Please let me know if you are interested.

ではまた来週(らいしゅう)!

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Emoticon (Elementary Japanese A)

Have you every compared English emoticon with Japanese one?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoticon
http://club.pep.ne.jp/~hiroette/en/facemarks/
http://whatjapanthinks.com/2006/08/14/japans-top-thirty-emoticons/

o(^^o)(o^^)o

どんなポッドキャストがいいポッドキャストですか? (Elementary B)

もくようびからポッドキャスティングプロジェクトをします。みんなでポッドキャスティングをつくります(make)よ。クラスメートとにほんのひとがききますから、がんばりましょう!

もくようびまでに(by)1)と2)のこたえ(answer)をこのポストにコメントしてください。(えいごでいいですよ。)

1)みなさんはポッドキャスティングをよくききますか?どうしてですか?どんなポッドキャスティングがいいポッドキャスティングですか?

Your comments will serve as a guideline for you at the end of the semester when your own podcasts and those of your classmates’ will be evaluated.

2)とうきょうのだいがくせいのポッドキャストをききます。みなさんはとうきょうのだいがくせいのせいかつのどんなことがききたい(want to hear)ですか?

Thursday, September 20, 2007

ウォシュレットとせんとう (Elementary B)


(Source: wikipedia)

This is what I talked about in class: ウォシュレット. Have you ever used it before?

Can you tell the difference between
せんとう(Public bath),
おふろ (bathroom, bathtub)
おんせん (hot spring)

Now I really want to go to おんせん!

こじんもくひょう (Individual Goals) for Elementary B

In addition to participation in typical classroom activities and exercises, students are also asked to set individuals goals and work towards them throughout the semester (these goals may be changed during the course of the semester). Students shall meet with their instructor 2 to 3 times during the semester to discuss their progress in achieving their goals and, at the end of the semester, to assess whether and to what extent these goals have been achieved. For this purpose, students should maintain a blog that tracks their progress and allows others to see the changes that have taken place. Students with similar goals may choose to study and work together.

In order to pinpoint your individual goals, please answer the following questions to the best of your knowledge and in as much details as possible:

1. What are your reasons for studying the Japanese language? (long-term goals)

2. In order to achieve your goal(s), what do you hope to achieve this semester?

3. To achieve what you wrote in #2, what do you plan to do during this semester? Please be as specific as possible.

Once you have answered these questions, please make an appointment with your instructor to go over them at your earliest convenience. (This should not take more than 5 minutes and can be done after class)

What is a good blog? (1st-year Japapanese Section 3&4)

みなさん,こんにちは。

I would like all of you to tell me what constitutes a good blog? Please give your thoughts in the form of a comment to this post (not as a new post to your own blog) by Monday.

Your comments will serve as a guideline for you at the end of the semester when your own blogs and those of your classmates’ will be evaluated.

じゃ、またらいしゅう!

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

おもしろいリンクをおしえてください!

こんにちは,みなさん!

おもしろいリンク(link)をおしえてください。

If you know useful (or interesting) websites for Japanese learning, please let us know!

Monday, September 17, 2007

うえをむいてあるこう

うえをむいてあるこうのオリジナル(original)です。Now we can go to カラオケ(Karaoke)!

Thursday, September 6, 2007

えんか (Elementary Japanese B)

Today we talked about えんか a little bit in class. What is えんか?えんかのリンクです。

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enka


ゆうめいなえんかのYou Tubeです。

きたじまさぶろう「まつり」
いしかわさゆり「あまぎごえ」
ひかわきよし「ばんばのちゅうたろう」

えんかのおもしろいほんがありますよ。

Yano, Christine (2002). Tears of Longing: Nostalgia and the Nation in Japanese Popular Song. Cambridge: Harvard East Asia Center. Harvard University Press.