Final PE Reflection

Throughout this semester, I have enjoyed taking Japanese 101 and learning the basics for this language. While I still feel like I have a long way to go in order to feel comfortable speaking and writing Japanese, I have accomplished many goals that I set for myself through PE exercises. 

At the beginning of the course, there were components that I was hoping to improve on - flow, pronunciation, intonation, and listening. For the most part, I feel like I have made progress on all four. In terms of flow, I still take a while to think about what grammar points I will need to use in order to express what I want to say, but I have gained the muscle memory to say certain expressions more naturally. I haven't had many opportunities to practice speaking Japanese with others, so I think this still will need continuous work. I think I have grasped pronunciation completely. Intonation, however, is something I will always be working on, especially while learning new vocabulary and new grammar. However, despite not knowing exactly the patterns of intonation that will apply to any sentence, no matter what words are in it, I think I have definitely improved, just through practice. Starting up watching anime again has helped my listening skills. I notice now that I can recognize some words and phrases, which is a large improvement from the beginning of the class. Overall, I will work harder to make these improvements last. I am glad to have taken this class and look forward to 102 next semester. Thank you! 

My Winter Break

私の冬休みはとても良かったです。うちに帰って、友達に会って、毎日父のおいしい食べ物を食べました。たくさんゆっくりして、いつも以上に寝ました。そして学校であまり出かけませんが、冬休みに忙しくないので、たくさん出かけました。友達と映画を見て、アイススケートをして、ブランチを遺書に食べました。パーティーにもいきました。うちはサンヂエゴにあるんですが、毎日あった買ったです。冷たくないので、とても嬉しかったです。みんなさんも冬休みにサンヂエゴに行きましょ！とてもいいですよ。

Final Writing Assignment of the Year

Letter to pretend host family:

私のサンクスギビングの休み (My Thanksgiving Break)

サンクスギビングの休みはとても面白かったです。水曜日、11月23日にバスでボストンに友達とお姉さんに会いに行きました。バスでたくさん人があって６時間ぐらいかかりました。６時ごろ駅で友達と会って、遺書に韓国のレストランにフライドチキンを食べに行きました。友達はハーバード大学の学生で、友達のりょうに寝ました。１０時ごろ起きて、遺書に「Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them」の映画を観に行きました。そしてチャイナタウンにタロウパンと卵タルトを食べに行って、ケンブリッジに「Gyu-kaku」で日ほんのラーメンを食べに行きました。あの日、私のお姉さんはボストンにボーイフレンドに会いにきて、遺書にサンクスギビングの晩御飯を食べました。お姉さんのボーイフレンドの料理はとても美味しかったです。私は友達と家族と遺書にいて、とても嬉しかったです。金曜日は黒い金曜日で、８時ごろから１時ごろまで買い物しました。あのばん、高校の友達と会って、イタリアのレストランでおいし晩御飯を食べました。そして「Caffe bene」でかき氷を食べて、話たくさんした。土曜日は友達と再び遺書に見にいきました。その映画は「Doctor Strange」で、とても楽しかったです。そしてアイススケートをして行きました。あのばん、同じ友達と韓国のレストランに行って、いい晩御飯を食べて、カラオケをしました。最後に、サンクスギビングの休みの終わりで、日曜日にバスでプリンストンに来ました。とても楽しい休みでした！

Accomplishing Goals

I have accomplished a few of the goals and activities that I planned at the beginning of this semester: 

In terms of flow, I think I still have a long way to go before I can speak without taking long pauses to think. I am very happy to say that I was able to go to language table this month, as I determined in my goals. As for practicing with a friend, there are few opportunities, so this is still a goal I should continuously try to achieve. 

I think I have a pretty decent grasp of pronunciation. To really pronounce words and put them together like a natural, practice seems to be the only way to improve, so I will continue to do shadowing of the textbook dialogue for further PE assignments. So far I was only able to do it for the most recent shadowing PE assignment. 

To improve my intonation, I said I would practice shadowing anime every week, but that has not been feasible because of how busy I am. However, I continue to shadow anime every time a PE is assigned, and will continue to do so. I think I will revise this goal by instead repeating phrases out loud from the textbook as I study. In addition, I will try to listen to the textbook dialogue from Speak Everywhere and repeat when I have time. 

I have started to watch a 新しいアニメ called 「ユーリ!!! on ICE」to improve my listening skills. However, I watched all the newest episodes in one sitting, which I believe doesn't help in the long term, so from now on I will try to just watch one per week to get a consistent exposure to Japanese. 

Video Blog

Goals

1. Flow - I want to be able to speak fluidly without any long pauses where I am thinking about what to say. To achieve this goal, I will try to go to language table at least once per month and practice speaking with a friend at least twice a week. 
2. Pronunciation - I want to be able to pronounce words clearly and correctly even if I do not understand what they mean. To achieve this goal, I will do shadowing of textbook dialogue every week. 
3. Intonation - I want to be able to speak with correct intonation even if I do not understand what I am saying. To achieve this goal, I will also practice shadowing anime every week. 
4. Listening - I want to improve my listening and recognition skills. To achieve this goal, I will watch one episode of anime per week.