Breaking the Silence
Thursday, March 1st, 2007Hello again. Remember me?
So it’s been a bit less than two months since I started attending a Japanese language school here in Tokyo. In that time, I’ve managed to attend three different class levels for varying amounts of time. The result is that, even though my time having attended the language school is still quite limited, I have a bit of insight into how things seem to work that I might not have noticed so clearly had I progressed in the normal fashion. So today I’ll tell you just a bit about how my Japan-based Japanese language school seems to work. I think we can assume that it many of the others follow a similar model, but I of course cannot make any claims regarding this matter.
First of all, the classes are conducted in Japanese, of course. Being one of the very few (or the only) English speaking students in all of my classes, it would be quite strange to conduct classes in English. And of course, attendance is not limited to any other nationality, either. Not to mention that immersion is a great advantage in learning a language. That’s why you study the language in its native country, is it not? So how do you teach a language (to non-infants) using the language itself? Unfortunately, I never attended the first class, so I can’t say definitely how they went about this. However, by seeing the textbook used, I can guess that many pictures, gestures, and so forth were used.
Beyond this, something peculiar that I noticed when reviewing the first book used by the school was that it seemed to progress so quickly. The same seemed true for the second book that I received. So I wondered, do they really advance this quickly? From my observations thus far, the answer seems to be both yes and no. Huh? Here is what I mean. When I left the first class that I was placed in, we were discussing the grammar for aida. During the second class I was placed in, we were discussing the grammar for aida. In the third, or my current class, we have at one time or another once again discussed aida.
So what does it all mean? To sum it up, things move very quickly in the language school. In a three month session, hundreds of words, hundreds of kanji, and a good number of grammatical constructions are covered. But rather than moving on completely, these words, kanji, and constructions continue to pop up again and again in addition to new material being covered. The result is that a very large amount of material is covered while constantly reviewing past material. I will have to spend more time in the class before I solidify any feelings regarding this method, but it is quite interesting and seems to make sense.
I should be advancing to a new class before long, so I’ll let you know if my conclusions turn out to be completely wrong.
Posted by Nathan in Nathan's Notebook |
March 1st, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Nathanさん、頑張りなさい！
March 4th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Nathanさん、
ひさびさ！ Thanks for the update on how your classes are coming. がんばってね！
March 25th, 2007 at 4:29 am
Yeah I agree with Daniel-san! Nathan-san Thank You for telling us and keep in touch with us ok!
Good Luck, We miss you specially me!
April 10th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Hi Nathan,
I hope everything is well with you. I was wondering if you could tell me the name of the school you are attending in Tokyo. I’ve been researching Japanese language schools that are geared toward western people and it can be confusing. It’s hard to get a sense of a school from just a website. I would be grateful for any information regarding language schools (3-6 month courses). Also, if you have time, I would love to know a little bit about what it’s like for you living in Tokyo. Where are you staying (apartment, homestay, hostel, etc.)? Was it hard for you to adapt?
Best regards,
Jason Kyriakou- Toronto, Canada
April 12th, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Jason,
The name of the school is Edo Culture Center, but I am afraid it is not necessarily geared toward western people. I have only looked into 1-2 year courses, so unfortunately I cannot provide any insight on shorter courses. I do believe that a number of universities provide some sort of short, intensive courses. Many Japanese language schools aim to prepare the student to pass the 留学試験, a test for foreigners who wish to enroll in a Japanese university. Some prepare the student for the JLPT. Those short, intensive courses held at larger universities, on the other hand, tend not to be geared toward test preparation. I believe Waseda university has one such course. I do not have the link off-hand, nor the time to find it at the moment, but Waseda has an English site, so I think you should be able to find it on your own.
As for living in Tokyo, I think that it depends upon the person, so my opinion probably will not help you. Personally, I had no trouble adapting. I have stayed in apartments mostly, but I did stay in a hostel for a short period of time. Of course, I prefer the apartments to the hostel
June 11th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
Jason,
I would strongly recommend you to look into http://yosida.com/en/index_en.html
I am currently studying there and as Nathan describes it, they teach all in Japanese, then try to come back to old material every so often. I am Bulgarian who studied in US before coming to Tokyo.
If you need any other information regarding the school I will be happy to tell you but write to my email address as I am not sure I will check this blog post soon. kupokomapa @ gmail.com
July 5th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
Not very understanding.
August 3rd, 2007 at 3:36 pm
everything be well.