日本語の勉強はどう？

[IntoTheNewWorld]

Because I'm bored, and the Japanese SL Forums aren't exactly active, I think you should all watch my (not so) awesome Jap project for year 10 for "inspiration" (or not) if you are doing Hikikomori for Detailed Study.

Anyway...How's the study of Japanese? Done many SACs? I've done a listening, writing, and reading SAC, and right now we're doing past exams in class. 日本語の勉強は大変だよなぁ～

[moshi]

we've done our 3 unit 3 SACs (writing, listening, speaking), first unit 4 one is on wednesday (reading & responding/writing task). how are you finding the past exams? are they the JLTAV or VCAA ones? our class has done 2001-2006 JLTAV so far - most people are doing better than i am at these though, because i lack detail when jotting down stuff particularly for the listening section.
are you finding the workload difficult?

[IntoTheNewWorld]

We're doing VCAA exams (which is a bit of a waste really). Apparently our teacher does have JLTAV exams somewhere...I but haven't seen any yet. I think the listening and responding in English and the reading and responding in English is pretty easy, but listening and responding in Japanese is such a bitch =[

The workload for Jap is pretty light within my subjects I think...mainly because of the teacher, and because I crammed VCE grammar in year 10 =S

If I remember correctly, you go to Macrob? Apparently you do past exams and practice writing all the time? Sigh ><, no wonder Macrob owns.

[moshi]

mmm we've had our plan lined up from the beginning - practice exams every 2-3 weeks, essays due every monday. that's pretty impressive that you learned all the grammar in year 10 - mine was atrocious back then (the only grammar I knew that year was から and ことが好きです, so it was pretty awkward). our teacher's saving VCAA exams for the end of term 3. we've asked him about the relative difficulty of the JLTAV exams against VCAA, but he's always so vague, only saying that it varies depending on who writes the exam. I agree, listening and responding in Japanese is particularly hard, because i'm always trying to write in roomaji to save time, but i keep slipping and writing hiragana instead, which isn't good.
exchange students from our sister school are coming soon - at first they were a bit hesitant, because shinwa was worried about the swine flu threat in melbourne... haha. so we'll get to do some pretty fun activities with them soon!

[IntoTheNewWorld]

Do you happen to have digital copies of the JLTAV exams on your intranet or something? I only have the VCAA exams and Leading Edge to work from =[ I should try to copy your workload..but my teacher is such a slow marker. If I gave him an essay every Monday I'd never get them back =="

For the Listening and Responding in Japanese I've given up trying to write in Jap while listening, I have to write in English and translate later or I won't finish jotting notes ><" In between first and second readings I translate back into Jap, and during the second reading I try and pick up errors/make it more similar to what they're saying.

Yay exchange students =] Lucky I went on exchange before swine flu appeared...

[dejan91]

Hmm.... It's going ok. I've had three SAC's (writing, speaking, and listening). Listening was by far the most difficult, it's so hard to write that fast in japanese! Haven't done any practice exams yet :| have one on wednesday though. We usually have to hand in an essay every monday, among other things?

How are you guys going with speaking (conversation practice, etc)? Do you have a tutor?

[IntoTheNewWorld]

Sigh I try to write notes in Japanese but I just freeze up and nothing gets written, and I get overwhelmed by super fast Japanese.

I went in April for 12 days as part of "study tour" as well you could say. We spent a week traveling around Japan just with the school group, and a week homestay with the host from our brother school. I didn't learn much either lol, but at least it was fun =]

Yes...I also got lost in Kyoto for like 2 hours or so...I swear all the roads look the same, with the same vending machines omfg that was so annoying.

Hmm.... It's going ok. I've had three SAC's (writing, speaking, and listening). Listening was by far the most difficult, it's so hard to write that fast in japanese! Haven't done any practice exams yet :| have one on wednesday though. We usually have to hand in an essay every monday, among other things?

How are you guys going with speaking (conversation practice, etc)? Do you have a tutor?

wow another essay every Monday school, I feel guilty now =P Must write some essays...
My speaking is super fob (as you can probably tell from my hw video in 1st post that no-one clicked) =[ I do have a tutor though

[moshi]

haha what did you do? i stood at this old tea store trying to tell the owners that i was lost, but they didn't understand. i had to show them my booklet that said "I am lost.", so then i went to catch a taxi back to the hotel, since i didn't know how to work the pay phones or catch public transport. the assistant principal was so glad to see me (though when we got back to school, she never acknowledged me again, ouch). how cool are the vending machines?! we had an icecream one at our place in hiroshima - these two girls scarfed down about 12 or so in 20 minutes, trying to see who could finish the most, it was pretty amusing.

[dejan91]

wow another essay every Monday school, I feel guilty now =P Must write some essays...
My speaking is super fob (as you can probably tell from my hw video in 1st post that no-one clicked) =[ I do have a tutor though

Haha well we're given a topic and have to write as much as we can in 30-35 mins.

Ahhh ok is tutor of any help? Was thinking of getting one just for speaking (had a look at Macrob's LOTE coordinator coincidently, Sawaki Shungo)

And what??? I clicked on the video link lol it's got like 2-3 guys in it, one translating, and something about failing "head start"

[IntoTheNewWorld]

haha what did you do? i stood at this old tea store trying to tell the owners that i was lost, but they didn't understand. i had to show them my booklet that said "I am lost.", so then i went to catch a taxi back to the hotel, since i didn't know how to work the pay phones or catch public transport. the assistant principal was so glad to see me (though when we got back to school, she never acknowledged me again, ouch). how cool are the vending machines?! we had an icecream one at our place in hiroshima - these two girls scarfed down about 12 or so in 20 minutes, trying to see who could finish the most, it was pretty amusing.

I just kept walking around and around...eventually we got back to that big temple thing (yay) and everything worked out from there =] The Vending Machines are so awesome. I saw this one selling ties (?) and instant noodles (win). Why can't we have heaps of vending machines in Australia...

wow another essay every Monday school, I feel guilty now =P Must write some essays...
My speaking is super fob (as you can probably tell from my hw video in 1st post that no-one clicked) =[ I do have a tutor though

Haha well we're given a topic and have to write as much as we can in 30-35 mins.

Ahhh ok is tutor of any help? Was thinking of getting one just for speaking (had a look at Macrob's LOTE coordinator coincidently, Sawaki Shungo)

And what??? I clicked on the video link lol it's got like 2-3 guys in it, one translating, and something about failing "head start"

I think tutor does help, especially for speaking because I don't really get to do much speaking in school (everyone is cbs practicing in school, including me). And I can learn more hardcore grammar patterns and stuff more easily to make essays and speaking seem slightly more pro.

That video is awesome, you know it is =] (or not). Got A+ for that! (yes my teacher is a very easy marker)
edit: On second thoughts I think I'll remove the link...it's a bit strange...

[moshi]

our teacher was telling us about vending machines in japan, and he said that a lot of them, while convenient, were able to ruin your reputation if you bought from them, e.g. those selling cigarettes and other taboo items. for example, if a student bought a packet, likely someone would see, tell their family, ring up the school, have it on their permanent record - effectively ruining their chances of getting into a decent uni. all over a packet of cigarettes!

in regards to kaiwa, we have weekly practices, but they're really only for our detailed study now - kaiwa was last year, though i could do with more practice, since i'm not very good at spontaneous discussion. we also do this thing where we stand up in front of the class and have the the other students ask us questions, while we get filmed and critiqued to see where we're going wrong.

[IntoTheNewWorld]

our teacher was telling us about vending machines in japan, and he said that a lot of them, while convenient, were able to ruin your reputation if you bought from them, e.g. those selling cigarettes and other taboo items. for example, if a student bought a packet, likely someone would see, tell their family, ring up the school, have it on their permanent record - effectively ruining their chances of getting into a decent uni. all over a packet of cigarettes!

in regards to kaiwa, we have weekly practices, but they're really only for our detailed study now - kaiwa was last year, though i could do with more practice, since i'm not very good at spontaneous discussion. we also do this thing where we stand up in front of the class and have the the other students ask us questions, while we get filmed and critiqued to see where we're going wrong.

Just curious are the top students in your class Native Jap/half Jap/have lived in Japan for a year? We had a 50 two years ago but he was native Jap. Last year we could only get a top of 43.

I have "in theory" lunchtime speaking practice classes 2 times a week but yeah...if noone turns up..=\ I haven't done any practice for Detailed study yet =="

[IntoTheNewWorld]

For some reason my detailed study draft was due in the first few weeks of term 1 (we were meant to do it on the holidays for some reason...?) But then after that...No mention of it. I still haven't got that draft back...

[IntoTheNewWorld]

...You have motivated me to start memorizing. I see what it takes to get high now...=/ And if I fail, scaling will save me =]

[moshi]

hop to it! you have the potential to do really well - so you, failing? pfft. unless your definition of failing is a 35... lol. if i manage to get over 35, i'll be quite happy (: