学期最後はクリスマスレッスンーーーエマ先生

I can’t believe it’s already almost the end of the semester! It went by very quickly, and I enjoyed it very much. It was really fun to get to know the unique personalities of all of my students. For our final classes, we had a special Christmas-themed lessons. Jared Sensei and I found a fake Christmas tree in the school, so we set it up in an extra classroom. First, we had the girls listen to “All I want for Christmas is You,” a famous American Christmas songs. Then, the students made and decorated Christmas tree ornaments. The students wrote what they wanted for Christmas on the ornaments. We surprised the girls by taking them to the extra classroom and letting them decorate the tree. It was really fun, and a great way to wrap up classes for the semester!

初めての学期末（来日4ヶ月)－－－マーレン先生

It’s almost finals week and I am excited to be helping give the exams. It is very different than what I am used to in the United States. I am still trying to adjust to the fact that teachers go from room to room instead of the students. I really love grading writing though, so I am happy that the process here is the same.

 

It was my last day teaching some of the third year students today and I am so sad they will no longer be my students! At the end of the lesson they lined up and gave me cards, which was so sweet! I will miss them and hope they take my elective course next semester. When I first got to Japan I did not know what to expect, but the students and JTE’s have won me over here. I am glad to be at Fujimura!

日本語の学習ーーーエマ先生

My Experience Learning Japanese

Before coming to Japan, I didn’t know any Japanese. I knew how to say kon’nichiwa and arigatō, and that was about it. Dealing with the language barrier has been difficult, but it hasn’t been impossible. Thanks to the kindness of the Japanese people, the power of non-verbal communication, and my willingness to laugh at myself, I’ve been able to get by. It’s amazing how much you can communicate with pointing, hand gestures, and a smile.

I’ve also been making every effort I can to learn Japanese. I am determined to not just deal with the language barrier, but to actually break it. So, as soon as I arrived in Japan, I started studying. I bought myself a textbook, started learning to read hiragana and katakana, and signed up for a Japanese language class. Learning Japanese was really, really difficult for me at first! Studying Japanese has really made me sympathize with my students who are learning English. The two languages are extremely different, and I really struggled to understand Japanese.

One of the hardest things for me about Japanese is the writing system. Compared to English, it is very complex. It took me a while just for me to understand around how the writing system works, let alone actually use it. In English, you only have one alphabet, whereas in Japanese, you have hiragana, katakana, and kanji.
I’ve learned to read hiragana and katakana, which are simple enough, but I have not even started with kanji yet. I’m always so impressed when I see how quickly Japanese people can write in kanji – the characters are so complex! I’m also surprised by how many different characters there are. I’ve heard that to be able to read a newspaper, you need to know at least 2,000 kanji. Wow! Compare that to English, where you only need to know different combinations of the same 26 letters.

Learning Japanese has been difficult, but I have noticed myself slowly progressing. It’s a really rewarding feeling, to finally be able to read characters, and understand when I hear people talking. I can now give a self-introduction in Japanese, and understand some basic words and phrases. I still have so much to learn, but I’m making progress, and it feels great!