Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Midterm PE Reflection

こんばんは。

Progress Made:

Accuracy of Pitch and Intonation
While I believe overall phrase-level intonations have improved (natural へ), pitch is an area where I still struggle (i.e. the Prosody Listening Exercises) especially at the word-level (though I've begun to memorize pitches for more vocabulary without help from suzuki-kun).

Pace/Speed During Recordings
Over time, based on my own reflection and on feedback from しばたせんせい, issues with awkward, wrong pauses and rushing are an area where I seem to improved significantly and the speed of my speaking is generally more natural.

Confidence During Conversation
Again, the volume at which I speak has definitely improved, which is a good sign in terms of confidence and I believe I've been willing to be confident and stretch the use of my Japanese (i.e. use of new vocab). However, when in actual, non-guided conversation situations, my confidence in speech I know is still very shaky and buffering.

Listening Abilities 
To become a better speaker, I need to be good at picking up on what the correct pronunciation is. I have definitely improved (reflected in my test vs. midterm listening sections) in identifying parts like voiced consonants. My listening has also improved in identifying and understanding more recently learned/complex grammar structures.

今後の計画:

Production Practice
  • Refer to OJAD for accuracy while doing extra shadowing exercises from databases such as the poems in kizuna311
  • Invest more time into existing PE exercises
  • Do Nakama-related exercises 

Speaking Opportunities
  • Attend either the Japanese language table at Forbes or Mathey-Rocky per week
  • Go to office hours for free conversation sessions

読んでくれてありがとう。
じゃあ、またね!

Monday, March 27, 2017

春休みに何したか?

こんにちは、

みなさんの春休みはどうでしたか。中間テスト以降にたくさん寝ましたか。私は今度の休みには海外旅行に行きませんでした。今度の休みにはニューヨークとボストンに行って友達と会って映画を見ました。春休みはとても楽しくて、よかったですよ。

じゃあ、またね!
ニューヨークのAMC映画館でローガンを見ました!

ボストンの歴史地区はとても綺麗です〜〜〜