Technology in the World Language classroom video. University of Chicago

catherine-meissner.org

My Japanese Classroom 

(greatly differs from the above picture, but bear with me)

11/7/11

·      Dreary feeling

·      Nobody responds to the teacher’s question, “Ogenki desu ka,” Are you energetic?

·      Difficult for the class to read w/o the teacher guiding us, w/ only about four reluctant ppl. reading aloud and uncertain

·      Different levels w/n class (some ppl. know how to read hiragana w/ little hesitation, & there are some that can read some hiragana w/ difficulty, & there are a few that do NOT know how to read hiragana)

·      Class is very quiet, making it seem like the teacher is talking to himself

·      A few students ask the teacher questions

·      Teacher randomly picks on ppl. to answer questions by looking at seating chart

·      Excitement from the beginning of the term turned into dullness, most ppl. studying extra hard to keep up w/ the teacher’s pace

·      Surprising that the teacher is actually using the exercises in the txbk (he usually doesn’t), which greatly helps our understanding of the material we learn in class

·      I appear to be the only one who seeks to pursue a career involving Japanese fluency in the future

11/14/11

·      Although the class is still not lively, I noticed that there are more people who are able to read hiragana w/ less difficulty & can answer the teacher’s questions; thus, they are somewhat more respondent

·      Around half or less than half the class showed up

·      Teacher made us read the vocabulary by repeating after him, than all by ourselves, than individuals read chunks of vocabulary on their own

·      A guy near me was falling asleep and was told that he should alternate b/w sitting and standing up in order to be more wake

·      Teacher goes through the grammar section pretty quickly; pretty difficult to follow alongàwe should do questions for each grammar rule just like Mitsu-sensei did in order to develop a better understanding of how the rules work

1:1 in the Language Classroom

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