Letter To Grandma~

11-29-16 Favorite Anime

おはよう！

私の　すき　な　アニメ！

なつ　に　たいてい　アニメ　を　みました。でも　プリンストン　で　いつも　べんきょうします。

あまり　アニメ　と　えいが　を　みません。

1) Natsume Yuujinchou

いちばん　すきな　アニメ　は　なつめ　ゆうじんちょう　です

このあにめ　わとても　きれいで、へいわ　です。

なつめ　くん　は　しゅるいです。私はこのキャラクターがすきです。

なつめのねこは　にゃんこ先生　っていいます。にゃんこ先生　は　おもしろくて、かわいい　です。

このショーには　ようかい　が　います。

まいしゅう　あたらしい　エピソード　が　あります。でもあまり　この　エピソード　を　みません。

2) Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood

わたし　は　Fullmetal Alchemist も　すき　です。

このアニメ　は　とても　おもおしろい　です。

Edward の　おとうと　は　Alphonse っていいます。

このアニメ　の　アクション　は　すばらしい　です！

3) Aria the Animation

このアニメも　とても　きれいで、へいわ　です。

アリア　の　キャラクター　は　アカリ　っていいます。

アカリ　は　ともだち　に　あって、ゴンドラ　を　べんきょうします。

アカリ　の　まち　は　りっぱです。

このまち　の　水　と　川　は　きれいです！！

Harajuku Fashion

Harajuku Fashion Video~

私ははらじゅくをみたい

ファッションがすきです。

このブログわかわいくて、おもしろいです：

（Tokyo Fashion Blog)

Goal Check Up!

An important part of keeping goals is to check up periodically on progress!

My goal was to attend the Japanese language table at least every other week. I have been keeping this goal, but I think I should try better to go every week and stay as long as possible. This is a great chance to practice and also learn to speak more confidently.

Shibata sensei's office hours have been very helpful , but I will be practicing pronunciation and pitch using the text book and PE on my own more often. Copy and repeat pitches on my own using the resources I have- record using my iphone and compare to the model. I have a thick American accent so it is essential that I continue to work hard on this point.

I need to go to Sato sensei's office hours or get together with classmates more to practice, because I am finding it difficult to use correct particles when speaking quickly.

This class is a lot of fun, so I'm going to continue doing my best!


Important Points:
-Decrease American accent
-Practice to be able to speak/respond quickly

おはよう！ This is me!

Self Introduction Video:

Perfume - Japanese Pop Band

こんいちわ！

どんあ　おんがく　がすきですか

ポップが　すきです

We've been listening to a lot of music in class lately, so I wanted to share a Japanese pop band that I really love.

This is Perfume's song Magic of Love:

My Goals for this semester! 9-29-16

So far I’m really loving this class; I am going to share my goals that I plan to achieve during my Japanese 101 experience!

1. Speaking with Confidence - One problem that I found myself having in my foreign language classes in the past was that I was afraid to speak in class or read an excerpt out loud if I didn’t think I could say it perfectly. This was a kind of backwards thinking, as how could I possibly improve if I didn’t practice speaking when I could? I plan to practice and speak confidently, because I will not improve my Japanese speaking ability if I’m not willing to make mistakes.
2. Speaking with a natural speed - I often end up getting tongue tied trying to speak too fast or have too many pauses in my speech as I try to think of a word. I want to perfect the speed and pauses of how I speak to sound natural and easy to understand.
3. Listening and Comprehending - I usually do much better with reading and writing aspects, but I know that being able to understand what someone has said is equally, if not more, important in learning a new language. I want to focus on auditory improvement and be able to converse in Japanese.

I will accomplish these goals this year, and to do that I have specific actions planned out to ensure I do my best:

• Attend the Language Table AT LEAST every 2 weeks. I live in Mathey, so I plan to stop by every week, but in the least I will be eating there every other week. This is so I can improve my listening comprehension, but most notably my confidence in speaking. Even if I make mistakes I will continue to practice speaking.
  
• Attend Shibata Sensei’s office hours every other week. I will come with specific questions or things that I wish to practice.  
• Listen to the audio that the textbook gives. Practice and repeat the dialogue as it is said to work on speed and pronunciation. I will do this separate practice on Friday or Saturday at least once a week.
• Watch one episode of anime a week and record and define three terms from the episode. My favorite series ‘Natsume Yuujinchou’ is getting its fifth season this autumn, so I will make sure to at least watch this weekly episode and find three terms. I will ask Sato sensei if I can’t define the term on my own.
  
• Continue to study vocab pronunciation and spelling using Quizlet online flashcards.

My Introduction! 9-26-16

おはよう　ございます。

はじめまして。Karissa です。どうぞよろしく。

わたしわPrincetonだいがきのがくせいです。

いちねんせいです。

わたしわあめりかからきました。

じゃあね！

9-23-16 How to say Happy

ようこそ

This video is pretty cute!

Also this site with some useful phrases is very nice:

http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/japanese.php

I like how it has a couple audio files for pronunciation, but I wish it had the audio for all the phrases.

Helpful Hiragana Site

This site has been super helpful in learning Hiragana:

https://www.tofugu.com/japanese/learn-hiragana/

First Post! 9-15-16

おはよおございます。はじめまして。

Good morning!

I'm Karissa- This is my first blog post for our Japanese class!

I'm very excited to take this class and learn Japanese. I'm a freshman and have no background experience in Japanese, but I'm eager to get to know everyone and practice speaking (the language table sounds really fun!)

My reason for choosing to study Japanese isn't all that big: I wanted to try a brand new language that is considered harder for a native English speaker to learn. I'm really into anime (Ghibli movies anyone?) and Harujuku street fashion, so I decided to study Japanese!

Thanks for reading!

さよおなら。