The other day I gave a presentation at the Ehime Prefectural Orientation Meeting for 63 newly arrived JETs (participants on the Japan Exchange Teaching Programme). The schedule was tight and I only had 25 minutes to cover the topic "Hints for Learning Japanese" so I was concise and tried as much as possible to give hints on successfully 'learning how to fish' as opposed to simply handing out a few 'fish'.
It wasn't your average group of Japanese learners:
1. Most people had next to no Japanese ability
2. They would however be living in Japan for the following year
3. They weren't necessarily interested in studying Japanese but rather they needed Japanese simply to go shopping, ask directions etc.
(hence the use of romaji!!!!!!)
I have reproduced my handout in the continuation of this post and I will expand on a few of the points in later posts.
2006 Ehime JET Matsuyama Orientation
Japanesey - Learning Japanese on JET
10 hints for starting out
1. Know your jiko shokai
2. Set goals
3. Listen to what people say
4. Learn hiragana and katakana
5. Learn the set phrases
6. Write stuff down
7. Get a teacher
8. Do stuff in Japanese
9. Get a J-boy or J-girl
10. Practise
The 10 most important words
1. 大丈夫 daijobu
2. 元気 genki
3. 暑い atsui
4. 可愛い kawaii
5. すみません sumimasen
6. 好き suki
7. 分かりません wakarimasen
8. 美味しい oishii
9. お願いします onegaishimasu
10. 駄目 dame
A Few Set Phrases
-Yoroshiku onegaishimasu (when someone is going to do something for you)
-Osaki ni shitsurei shimasu (when you leave work before others)
-Otsukaresamadeshita (when others leave work before you)
-Ogenki desu ka? (How are you?) Genki desu yo, okage sama de (Very well, thanks for asking)
-Nama biiru futatsu onegaishimasu (two beers thanks)
-Tsumaranai mono desu ga (When giving a gift)
-Itadakimasu (said before eatring)
-Gochisosama deshita (said after eating especially when someone else has paid)
-Asobi ni kite kudasai (said when inviting someone to come over to your place at some as yet undetermined date )
-Ojama shimasu (said when entering someone’s house)
-Omaneki itadaite arigato gozaimasu (said when thanking someone for having invited you over to their house)
Common resources
People
-your Japanese teacher
-teachers at school
-students
-the tea lady and other ancillary staff
-convenience store staff
-waitresses/waiters
-other ALTs
-CIRs
-actors on TV, in movies etc
Gadgets
-electronic dictionary (Canon Wordtank etc)
-Nintendo DS
-PDAs
-paper notebook
Books
-Making Out in Japanese
-Common Japanese Phrases (Power Japanese)
-Kotoba Tsukaikata Ejiten
-The Complete Japanese Verb Guide
-Basic Kanji Book (Vol 1, 2, 3)
the Web
-Jim Breen’s Japanese Page
-Charles Kelly’s Online Japanese Language Study Materials
-Meguro Language Center
-Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese
-J-gram The Japanese Grammar Database
-Nihongojouzu
-Nihongoresources
-NHK Japanese Lessons
-Big Daikon
Online Dictionaries
-Denshi Jisho online dictionary
-ALC Online dictionary
-Goo online dictionary
Getting a teacher
-Ehime JASL
-Ehime Prefectural International Centre
-Kumon
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