Summer Memories 3 : The Japanese Language Class

Warning: Long post~ But worth reading to the end.

The nihongo class(2008 April ~ August) was one of the best things that I had until now.
The classes were given at the international center at the university of Tokyo and there were a lot of courses with many levels each.

My course was the intensive language course and it had 5 levels.
According to a placement test I was placed in level 3 which is described as the lower intermediate level.
Keep in mind that when Japanese say intensive, they mean INTENSIVE.
We had classes every day from 1:30~5:00 (half this period on Wednesdays) with each day dedicated for a certain language skill.

Class 3 with homeroom teacher O-sensei

All classes were fun and I could make nice friends..but the class with the most laughs was the conversation class.
In this class the teacher gives us a certain situation and we have to act according to it as a challenge.
For example : Imagine that you have to skip tomorrow’s lesson, go to the teacher and ask for permission and explain your reasons
When you go to the teacher office, you will find her waiting and the video camera running in the background.
So where is the fun?
It’s when everybody finishes their challenges and the time for playback comes! We used to make a lot of mistakes of many categories! : Grammar mistakes, politeness mistakes(my specialty), the way you start the conversation and even the way you get into the room!

We were able to get the challenge videos, and when I look at the first challenge and compare it to the last one..I see a big difference!
I put here the video of the first challenge and last challenge with some funny comments added that hint to the mistakes I did. Have a good laugh! ^^;
Watch only if you understand Japanese.

The same applies when comparing the first composition assignment to the last one.
I will post my first and last assignment in another post.

In the listening classes the teacher sometimes brings a Japanese commercial and asks us to see, listen and understand what is said. Since talk in commercials is very fast, it makes a good exercise.
Nothing beats Japanese CMs!!
This is one of the most fun CMs we had watched!
Watching is strongly recommended if you are a nihongo student!

見てカンガルーThis one is nice too~ｗ

Each week we had a kanji reading/writing quiz. The kanji level ranged from JLPT3 to JLPT2 level.
And as a proud holder of the name Kanji-chan I got them all perfect. (Bragging :p)..
Of course I am still hungry for kanji even after this class, and I am setting JLPT2 as a goal for the coming half year or so.

After the course final exam, we went on an almost all-class karaoke.
It was my first time to go to karaoke, but looked like someone who goes there everyday!
(Some basic J-pop knowledge and Anime tracks should be enough!)
..just imagine a bunch of Graduate students singing Doraemon song all together... XD

At the end of the course, I was surprised by our homeroom teacher, O sensei asking me to do a speech as a representative of the class in the closing ceremony. I was also more surprised when I knew that I had to write it totally on my own!!

Actually I was worried at that time but when I started writing it, I realized how much improvement this class gave me.
When it was time for the sensei to check it, there were only a couple of wa/ga mistakes and some sentence connection suggestions. We also had to cut parts of it for time limitations ^^;

Anyway, it is now posted on the International Center web site. Please check it out HERE.


At last we were given nice certificates of course completion and a compilation of the composition of the whole class of the most important 3 topics.
I made a class3 video here and used the hit song KISEKI as the audio.

Class 3 with N-sensei, the composition teacher.

And guess what we all sang at the ceremony??^^
Hint: Japanese Speech Contest 2007

When the classes were over, everything suddenly became really gloomy and it was time to focus 100% on the entrance exams...