The Basics of learning a language

I have been working on the presentation embedded below for quite a while now and had in fact forgotten about it for a while. I began working on it as a means to try and help make our Year 7 language students more aware of how best to learn a language. For many students it is their first experience in learning a language and once the year starts it is pretty full on; they learn French for the entire Year as well as a Semester each of German and Japanese. Personally, I would like them to complete an Introductory Unit on 'Learning Languages', that shows them the importance of language learning itself and introduces tips and techniques on how best to do it. But ... time is an issue; those assessments are always getting in our way. So, rather than an entire Unit, I began working on this short presentation to use as a quick introduction. I am not convinced that it is complete, so if you have any tips of your own that would be suitable for younger language learners, please add them in the comments section.

Launch your own SlideRocket presentation!

How about some music to inspire your Japanese learning

I learnt a lot of Japanese, in particular kanji and an ability to read the scripts more fluently, as a result of spending too much time singing karaoke. My excuse, if you'll allow me to go off on a small tangent, was the fact that my host father in Japan owned a Sake shop and we spent many evenings delivering goods to local "Snack bars" (a very mini version of the local pub). My host family lived in what was then the urban fringe and there were very few 'foreigners' around, so during the course of these deliveries I was of great interest to the locals and often called upon to sing; consequently I have no desire to sing "My Way" or "Yesterday" ever again. However, I do quite enjoy a bit of a sing and I began to look for and sing Japanese songs that appealed to me. This was great for my vocabulary and kanji. I would then rent CDs from the rental CD shop (at the time I was amazed that you could actually rent CDs) and study the lyrics. I still do this in a manner of sorts, only now I head to the internet rather than the shop.

So I guess the point I am trying to make is that if you like music, then it is a fabulous means to further engage and connect with a language. As a result, I occasionally throw songs out to my students, with the lyrics, hoping that some of them will like what they hear and explore the language further through song. Although all students will not relate to this I do know that many have and have also gone on to look for more. On top of that, many of them know more of the latest in J-Pop through their interest in Anime, Japanese TV dramas and video games. All in all, listening to music in any language that you are learning is going to help with motivation as well as vocabulary and even grammar. The best videos to find on You Tube are those that have the lyrics as subtitles, something that happens a bit on TV in Japan.

The following are either songs that I have shown to the class and used to help teach a certain phrase or topic or songs that I have recently discovered and plan to somehow weave into a Japanese lesson somewhere down the line...

For time:

For weather and seasons:

Just found this one; will perhaps use it to look at the Japanese syllabry:

And for a little bit of "family" topic related fun, you can't go past this one:

• Do you use music when learning Japanese?

• What Japanese songs do you know that could help with vocabulary, grammar or kanji?

• Please add any in the comments below.

Posted via web from Js Nihongo

What Matters Now

Perfect reading for this time of year, Seth Godin has collated the ideas of seventy big thinkers into an ebook that should help us reflect on this year and look forward to next year. He writes:

Now, more than ever, we need to shake things up. Now, more than ever, we need a different way of thinking, a useful way to focus and the energy to turn the game around.

Available as a free download, it is certainly something to keep you thinking over the holidays.

 

What Matters Now

 

Posted via web from I.C.Teaching

Online dictionaries for Japanese

A tweet from @2nihon the other day alerted me to tangorin, another online Japanese dictionary that I was not aware of. There are quite a few online dictionaries out here, for a variety of languages. Some of them are not so good but there are some excellent dictionaries for Japanese that not only provide meanings, but also example sentences, kanji and kanji stroke order.

If you're looking for good Japanese online dictionaries, these ones work for me...

Denshi Jisho - Good simple to use dictionary. Will accept words in roomaji or kana script. Usually provides useful example sentences to help get the meaning you are looking for. Whatsmore, it automatically optimizes for the iPhone or iPod touch, making it easy to use on these devices.

Tangorin - Although I haven't used this one much as yet, it seems quite comprehensive and simple to use. It allows you to search for words, kanji, examples and even names or classical Japanese. It also gives you the option to sign up, create a profile and build vocabulary lists. One of the best things I have found for this site is the ability to search for different verb forms. If you enter a verb form it will put it into example sentences for you, thereby allowing you to better understand the structure and how it is used.

Jim Breen's WWWJDIC - A fairly comprehensive dictionary that provides meanings, examples and even links to google, google image or wikipedia results for the Japanese word. It is not really visually appealing in its layout but can provide some very useful information on words or phrases.

I haven't used EnglishJapaneseOnlineDictionary for a while but did use it with classes a while back. It could be better than it was before.

For something different, try one of these:

Although it is a little hard to navigate around, Wapedia has a variety of lists. Lists of abbreviated words like ファミコン (famikon), English words of Japanese origin and gairaigo or words that have originated in languages other than Japanese, like Dutch and Portugese. For example, did you know the Japanese word for 'swing' (ブランコ) comes from the Portugese word? Or, the word ランドセル (randoseru), meaning backpack / knapsack, comes from the Dutch word.

Another interesting site is Rikai. It has a cool little tool that allows you to hover over a kanji or word in the page, revealing the reading and meaning for the kanji or word. If you type the address of a Japanese site into the 'box' on the front page it will redirect you to that site and again allows you to place the cursor over a word to reaveal its meaning. Although not 100% effective, it is pretty good.

If your still thinking about Japanese Dictionaries in general, you really should read @rainbohill's post on eduFire, How to Choose the Best Japanese Dictionary.

Posted via web from Js Nihongo

Online dictionaries for Japanese

A tweet from @2nihon the other day alerted me to tangorin, another online Japanese dictionary that I was not aware of. There are quite a few online dictionaries out here, for a variety of languages. Some of them are not so good but there are some excellent dictionaries for Japanese that not only provide meanings, but also example sentences, kanji and kanji stroke order.

If you're looking for good Japanese online dictionaries, these ones work for me...

Denshi Jisho - Good simple to use dictionary. Will accept words in roomaji or kana script. Usually provides useful example sentences to help get the meaning you are looking for. Whatsmore, it automatically optimizes for the iPhone or iPod touch, making it easy to use on these devices.

Tangorin - Although I haven't used this one much as yet, it seems quite comprehensive and simple to use. It allows you to search for words, kanji, examples and even names or classical Japanese. It also gives you the option to sign up, create a profile and build vocabulary lists. One of the best things I have found for this site is the ability to search for different verb forms. If you enter a verb form it will put it into example sentences for you, thereby allowing you to better understand the structure and how it is used.

Jim Breen's WWWJDIC - A fairly comprehensive dictionary that provides meanings, examples and even links to google, google image or wikipedia results for the Japanese word. It is not really visually appealing in its layout but can provide some very useful information on words or phrases.

I haven't used EnglishJapaneseOnlineDictionary for a while but did use it with classes a while back. It could be better than it was before.

For something different, try one of these:

Although it is a little hard to navigate around, Wapedia has a variety of lists. Lists of abbreviated words like ファミコン (famikon), English words of Japanese origin and gairaigo or words that have originated in languages other than Japanese, like Dutch and Portugese. For example, did you know the Japanese word for 'swing' (ブランコ) comes from the Portugese word? Or, the word ランドセル (randoseru), meaning backpack / knapsack, comes from the Dutch word.

Another interesting site is Rikai. It has a cool little tool that allows you to hover over a kanji or word in the page, revealing the reading and meaning for the kanji or word. If you type the address of a Japanese site into the 'box' on the front page it will redirect you to that site and again allows you to place the cursor over a word to reaveal its meaning. Although not 100% effective, it is pretty good.

If your still thinking about Japanese Dictionaries in general, you really should read @rainbohill's post on eduFire, How to Choose the Best Japanese Dictionary.

Posted via web from Js Nihongo

Culture with Cooliris

Inspired by the Cogdogblog to use cooliris as a presentation tool and by Muza-chan to explain the story of 'Manekineko", I searched Flickr for "Maneki neko" and created the wall below, with help from Cooliris for developers (not that I've ever imagined myself as a developer).

"Maneki neko" are often seen as you enter shops, businesses or even homes. The Japanese verb 'maneku' (招く・まねく) means to invite and that is what the cat is doing; inviting good luck or customers into the business or home. If the right paw is raised, the cat is inviting in luck, if the left paw is raised, then the cat is trying to draw money (customers) into the business. Each of the two types of cat has a different kanji character on its chest. One is the character for luck and the other for money. Have a look at the photos in the cooliris wall below and look for the difference (click on a picture and then the icon at the bottom of the wall, in the middle, to start the slideshow).

For the story behind the "maneki neko", read Old Japanese Stories - the real Maneki Neko.

Posted via web from Js Nihongo

Revising with Web2.0

Whilst trying to work out a way to embed some listening and speaking practice (Japanese) into our Yr9 class wiki, as their Yearly Examinations are fast approaching, I came across a link to Yodio in my delicious bookmarks. I had toyed with the idea of trying to add audio to google maps (I still have no idea if you can do it or not) and also creating another video like this one (with Windows movie maker) for listening comprehension but Yodio seemed to be what I was looking for.

Yodio is very simple to use. Once you've registered, it allows you to:

1. Upload images
2. Upload audio either from your computer or directly from your phone (to a US number, so best to only do this if you live in the US).
3. Combine the images and audio into "Yodios". Each yodio can contain several images with a separate recording on each.
4. Share your yodio via email, the website or embed them into your own website

Being able to add audio to images is a powerful tool for language learning. Not only can it be used to create simple listening revision tasks for students, as I have, but students could create all sorts of digital stories around particular themes. Voicethread is also a wonderful tool for this and has the added bonus of allowing for collaboration. I have not yet investigated the terms of use for yodio or fully examined implications for student use; however, a quick look at some of the yodios in the Education (Language courses) category, shows that there are students and educators out there using it.

Some ideas for using it:

• Describe your daily routine
• Take people on an audio tour of you school, house or neighbourhood
• Describe people / family members (physical description / what they are wearing)
  
• Describe what you did on your holiday
• Describe the weather
• .........
  

Here's one I prepared earlier...