Parting Thoughts

Looking back, it is pretty crazy how much we've learned in only one semester. Sometimes when my friends would see me doing homework, they'd remark how crazy it was that I could read any of the Japanese symbols, and we covered that in what, two weeks? Still, looking ahead, there's so much I don't know. If I listen to any actual conversation or music or anything like that, I can only pick up a stray word here and there (Hey, he said watashi! I know that one!). Hopefully, before my time at this university is done, I'll at least know most of the grammar so all I have to do is fill in the blanks with vocabulary.
As for my thoughts on the layout of the class, I think it's about as effective as you can get. I can't imagine going at any faster a pace while taking other classes concurrently, but it's still a reasonable speed. I guess an analogy that fits would be that we're going at a brisk walk, which requires some effort but isn't unreasonably fast. The only thing that I would change is probably to add more opportunities for "thinking on your feet" situations before the oral interview. We had to hit the ground running with that. Even though we were told to practice the weekend leading up to it, it was the last week of classes so I, the procrastinator that I am, had some other things to deal with. Very big things.
On the whole, I liked the speech project, although I definitely wouldn't want to do more than one per semester. It was a good chance for all of us to review the material that we've learned and think of creative ways to use our limited vocabularies. It was a bit more difficult than skit memorization, though. Although there were no stage actions to deal with, there were also no breaks or lines from your partner to cue you as to what to say next. Thankfully, the topics in my speech tend to have some sort of transition to the next one, so I don't think I stumbled all that much. Any time you have a topic jump where the flow isn't quite apparent, though, you run the risk of forgetting what to say next. Well, moreso than usual. I also hope that the questions after the speech didn't have too much of an impact on the grade since I noticed that some students got hit with some harder ones thatn others. You know who you are.
Anyway, hope to see most of you next semester. じゃ、また。

Peer Editing Thoughts

Although I doubt peer editing would be something I'd want to do on a regular basis, it has been a learning experience. Looking at the errors others make hones my critical eye for my own writings. Also, I can see some creative uses of our limited vocabulary to add to my own repertoire. Peer review can also be helpful in a way that a seasoned Japanese speaker's perspective cannot provide. While Sato-sensei can easily tell us if something is grammatically incorrect or just awkward, I'd imagine it'd be difficult for her to in an attempt to rephrase what we are trying to say restrict her mindset to the words that we have available to us this early in our studies. Our classmates, on the other hand, can simply try their best to manipulate what we know to try to say something. Naturally, sometimes this is impossible, but often some creative thinking can get around it. Lastly, peer editing helps to open communications between the classmates. We should always be able to and try to help each other when needed and this assignment makes that a more natural development.