一番好きな季節

私の一番好きな季節は秋です。というのはすずしくて、葉は美しく色を変えるから。それに、冬もすきですよ。とても寒いですが、雪がふる時が好きです。すごくきれいですね。Cayman Islandsでは秋と冬がありません。ですから、はじめてアメリカに来た時にはびっくりしましたよ。Cayman Islandsはいつも暑くて、春と夏のより秋と冬の方が好きですよ。
みなさんも一年中暑い国から来ましたか。一番好きな季節は何ですか。

私の好きな音楽

もちろん、いつも音楽を聞いていて、すべてのジャンルの音楽が好きです。特に、ロックとメタルとジャズは私のお気に入りのジャンルですよ。日本のミュージシャンの中で、Aimer (エメ)が大好きです。

エメは２６才の日本人のポップスシンガーソングライターです。名前はフランス語で、いみは英語で「To like」です。エメさんのこえはとてもユニークだと思います。

皆さんはこの歌が好きですか。一番好きな音楽は何ですか。教えて下さい！

Midterm Reflection

Looking back at how I've progressed since the start of this semester, I'm proud of my current skill level. I am able to communicate a lot more effectively and I am getting better at coming up with sentences on the spot. I've gone to Office Hours more this semester, which is great! And I'll be going even more frequently so that I can practice casual speech. As for practicing Japanese syntax/grammar, I feel that I could be doing a bit more. Some of the newer grammar structures are a bit confusing, so I need to better familiarize myself with them (Office Hours would also help here). Finally, I still haven't attended Japanese Language Table as of yet. But I'm trying to find a workaround in my schedule so that I can do this more often. All in all, I think that this half of the semester has gone well and I'm looking forward to the next half!

一番好きな食べ物

私は、ピーナッツバターが大好きですよ。へやでたいていアニメを見て、ピーナッツバターを食べます。でも、キャンパスのコンビニには　ピーナッツバターがないので、毎周、ショッピングセンターにピーナッツバターを買いに行きますよ。りょうからショッピングセンターまで　あるいで　３０分ぐらいかかります。ちょっと　とおいですが、ぜったいにかちがありますよ。

Spring Semester Goals Statement

Speak more fluently

• Like last semester, one of my goals is to get more comfortable speaking in Japanese so that my conversations are more fluid and natural. Going to Office Hours once a week would be a great way to improve my fluency.

Practice Japanese grammar/syntax

• It's a simple goal, but one I consistently forget to do. One of the things that makes it hard for me to speak fluently is my lack of familiarity with proper Japanese sentence structure. Making sure I do some additional grammar exercises from the workbook/online would really help.

Go to Japanese Language Table!

• Again, this is the same goal as last semester. My dorm is right next to the dining hall yet, somehow, I still manage to avoid going to the Table. This is the goal I'm going to work the hardest on this semester, because talking with other people studying Japanese is going to really help my pronunciation, intonation and ease when speaking Japanese.

PE goals reflection

I think that, throughout the semester, my understanding and familiarity of Japanese has grown immensely.

The anime shadowings I did for my PE exercises really helped to improve my overall pronunciation and intonation and has gotten me closer to achieving a more natural Japanese tone. I still regularly listen to Japanese music and watch anime so I think I'm doing well in exposing myself to Japanese. I still haven't gone to the Language Table or Office Hours as much as I would have liked, but hopefully that will change with a new semester and a new schedule. Overall, I still have a lot of work to do but I'm looking forward to progressing with Japanese next semester!

Reflections on my 'goals statement':

I feel that I have completed some of the things I set out to do in my goals statement. I've kept up watching anime and listening to Japanese music, and this has really helped me gain a more authentic tone when speaking. I have not been to the Japanese Language Table as of yet, but now that I have settled in to my schedule I should be able to go once a month at the very least. I also have not been to as many Office Hours as I would have liked, so I'm making sure to schedule them when I have free time (most likely Tuesdays). I'm looking forward to seeing the effect this has on my fluency.