New classes will start in 2011

Due to the fact that I am expecting my second baby in September this year, I won't be able to offer classes in next semester (from September 2010).

So it will be a little while until I can come back to teach at the Asian Culture Center.  I am hoping to resume my classes in January 2011, but I might wait until April 2011.  We will see.  I will let you know on this blog site when I decide to come back.

I am also thinking of offering a total beginners class if there is a strong demand when I resume next year - but then I would have to drop one of my current classes (either beginners II or intermediate).  It will be up to how many students will show up in the first couple of classes in the new semester.  So please make sure to come to the first lesson in the new semester if you do want to take my classes.

Intermediate on 4/26/10 (Spring #8)

Number of students: 1 (unfortunately...)  So we did the same as the last time.

It was a bit sad because today was the last lesson of my Japanese class at the Asian Culture Center this year.
But I guess most students have been busy, with finals and the end of the semester/academic year.

Well, I hope to see you again sometime next year when I resume teaching (hopefully January 2011), and I hope that you will keep up with your Japanese until then!

Have a great summer and rest of the year.

Beginners II on 4/26/10 (Spring #8)

Number of students: 7
Summary: The 5th (last) session of Lesson 7.  Dialogues and review exercises.

(1) Dialogues of Lesson 7 (textbook p. 132-133)
     - Listening comprehension
     - Pronunciation practice
     - Role play
(2) Review Exercises (textbook p. 147) VII-A and B
     We had fun with Exercise B (describing your own family showing a picture of your family members).
(3) Castine brought a cake and Mimi-san brought some rice crackers to share with the class today. So we enjoyed them together after the class.  Thank you, Castine and Mimi-san!


This lesson was the last class of my Japanese class at the Asian Culture Center this year.
Thank you very much for coming to my class this semester (and others, for some people), I really enjoyed the class with you all.

I hope you will continue studying Japanese either on your own or with a self-study group, and hope to see you again sometime next year, when I come back to teach.

Have a great summer and rest of the year!

Intermediate on 4/19/2010 (Spring #7)

Number of students: 1

Therefore, we did a free-talk session in Japanese instead of studying with the textbook.

I hope to see everyone next week (our last class in this semester)!

Beginners II on 4/19/2010 (Spring #7)

Number of students: 6
Summary: The fourth session of Lesson 7.

(1) Review of the last class (combining more than two adjectives using Te-form)

(2) [destination]に／へ[verb stem]に行きます／帰ります／来ます
　movesto a destination in order to do something

(3) How to count people 「ひとり」「ふたり」「さんにん」「よにん」etc.
It is also very important to remember that in Japanese language we usually say "how many" after the noun (object/person) you are counting.
[ex.] There are 5 women in this room.
この部屋（へや）には女（おんな）の人（ひと） が５人（ごにん）います。
　（＊Pay attention to the order of the words.)

Exercises:
(1) p. 145 IV-C
(2) p. 146 V-A, B
(3) p. 146 VI

Next week is our LAST CLASS in this semester, and I will try to finish Lesson 7. We will look at the dialogues of Lesson 7 first, then do review exercises.
Please don't forget to bring a family photograph to the class next week, to do the review exercise p. 147 VII-B. You can also prepare for the exercise by thinking of what kind of things to say to describe your family members.

Intermediate on 4/5/2010 (Spring #6)

Number of students: 3
Summary: The 2nd session of Lesson 11.

(1) 「～たがっています」「～たいと言っています」
Two ways to state someone else's wish/hope.
「～たいです」 expression is supposed to be used only for yourself.　Therefore, when you state someone else's wish, you have to use either 「～たがっています」or 「～たいと言っています」expression.
ex.1) メアリーさんは、今年（ことし）の夏（なつ）、海（うみ）に行（い）きたがっています。
ex.2) メアリーさんは今週末（こんしゅうまつ）、映画（えいが）を観（み）たがっています。
　　* Please note that you cannot use 「が」for an object marker when you use 「たがっています」 x映画が見たがっています
　
For more details, please read p.215 of the textbook.

(2) Exercise p. 220 E and F

(3) 「～たり、～たりします」
　When you want to mention activities or events just as exemplars, and leave room for other things which are left unsaid, you can use this expression 「～たり、～たりします」 instead of 「～て、～します」.

Conjugation: Add 「り」to the short form past tense
ex) 読（よ）む→読んだ→読んだり
　　　見（み）る→見た→見たり

Important: There is no class on next week (4/12).
And that will leave us only two classes in this semester (4/19 and 4/26). I hope to see all the students in the two left classes in this semester!

Beginners II on 4/5/2010 (Spring #6)

Number of students: 4
Summary: The third session of Lesson 7. Introduced a new grammar item: combining more than two adjectives using Te-form of adjectives.

(1) Exercise p. 144 III-B (review of last class - describing people)
(2) 「この大学（だいがく）は、あたらしくて、きれいです」
この大学は、新（あたら）しいです。This university is new.
この大学は、きれいです。This university is clean.
→この大学は、新しくて、きれいです。This university is new and clean.
For details of this grammar item, please read p. 139 of the textbook.
(3) Exercise p. 145 IV-A, B

There is no class on April 12th (next week).

So that leaves us only two more classes in this semester - 4/19 and 4/26.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to open the course next semester (Fall 2010, which starts in September), since I will be having a new baby in September.

I hope to see as many of you as possible in the next two classes left in this semester!

Intermediate on 3/29/2010 (Spring #5)

Number of students: 1

So we didn't use the textbook today, and instead we had a class in a free conversation style. (We talked in Japanese, of course!).

Beginners II on 3/29/2010 (Spring #5)

Number of students: 8
Summary: The second session of Lesson 7.

(1) 「～ています」(review)
(2) exercise p. 143 I-C (Charades game) We had fun with this exercise!
(3) New Grammar: Expressions for describing people
(a) 着（き）ています／はいています／つけています／かぶっています　etc.
(b) 太（ふと）っています／やせています
(c) [person]は[body part]が[adjective]です
　　ex. アニーは目（め）が青（あお）いです。
　　　　ニックは背（せ）が高（たか）いです。
(4) exercise p. 144 III-A

Intermediate on 3/1/2010 (Spring #4)

Number of students: 3
Summary: The first session of Lesson 11.

(1) 「～たい」（Verb stem + たい）= to express your wish or hope
(2) Exercises p. 219 I-A, B, C and D