きょう、わたし は IPE で 日本語 の べにょう を しました。 さいしょ の じゅぎょう です - たのしかった です！
Today, I studied Japanese at IPE. It was my first lesson and I really enjoyed it! :D (Not sure about the Japanese above - please correct me if I’m wrong!)
I was a little nervous about finding the right place and starting to study again. I decided to wear my new ‘queen size’ shoes, for confidence, so off I tottered to find my class… only… I couldn’t find it! 
I walked round in circles following my map, but couldn’t find the right building. In the end I had to use my cell phone to call my teacher! This was also scary, as I felt I should at least start the call in Japanese. At first I couldn’t get through to anyone, but in the end my teacher answered and directed me! My class is really close to my apartment, so I felt a bit silly for being lost! (But it was hard to find!) When I finally got to the lesson, I realised straight away that I had to take my shoes off anyway… so no need to wear the new shoes! haha!
I am SO glad I decided to have private lessons, but I’m also really glad I took lessons in England before I came to Japan, and that they were group lessons, conducted half in English. In my old lessons, I made some excellent friends and really looked forward to coming to class every week - party just as a social thing, but also because I wanted to learn. It really helped to nurture my interest in learning Japanese.
In my new lessons, hardly any English is spoken at all - maybe just the odd word for translation or grammar’s sake. And I think taking private lessons will really bring out the swot in me! In a group lesson, I would be a little embarrassed if I knew all the answers or had lots of questions, or if I didn’t understand something. But in a private lesson I can be as swotty as I like, I can know all the answers, or none at all - and it doesn’t matter! It makes me want to study harder, because the more answers I know, the faster I will progress! So I’m feeling very motivated right now.
Today was a sort of review lesson, to bring me up to speed with the textbook, and get me back into studying Japanese. I was glad to have this review, because I’m quite rusty with some things - especially numbers, dates, times, etc. I really need to study more!
We revised verb conjugation, and my teacher introduced ‘dictionary’ form and ~nai form (I have studied ~masu and ~te form before). A lot of what we studied was familiar, and some even a little bit easy (!) but it was very good to review everything. Dictionary form is a little difficult for me, as I haven’t really studied it before (we focused mainly on ~masu form before).
In future blogs, I will explain more about what I actually learnt in the lesson, but as I said, today was review so I won’t go into details today (but feel free to glance back over my old blogs!) 
It was kind of strange to be on the other side of the desk today. I’ve got quite used to being a teacher now, so it was interesting to be a student and see things from the other way around again. I learnt a lot about teaching, before, from my Japanese teacher, Chika-san, and I hope I can learn more now from Sari-san.
The lesson was very enjoyable, and I really like my new teacher (although, Chika-san, I still miss you and Biji-san!!). I felt very happy as I left the class today, because I remembered why I came to Japan… In the last few weeks I have been so busy learning a new job, becoming a teacher, moving into my apartment etc. that I haven’t had time to focus on my own goals. But today reminded me that I just love studying Japanese, and that I really hope that one day I can be fluent! I get such a buzz from making a long sentence, or understanding a word, or remembering hiragana and katakana (and even some kanji!), and that’s why I’m here.
I must never forget this, even if I have a long or tiring day at work, or if something bad happens. I am in Japan because I just love language. And I must keep studying! Hopefully soon I will find that every day becomes easier, and I understand more and more of what is going on around me.
おやすみなさい！ (^o^)/
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Plain and -nai forms can be a bit hard to grasp at first but just persevere. Eventually you (at least for me most of the time) you don’t even need to think “What group does this verb belong to?”. You will just know inherently what is correct.
頑張って!
Great post. It’s fun following along with your adventures. Being in Japan will be a huge help for learning the language - I’ve progressed far more in the last 9 months or so here than in any one year of Japanese class back home… And it will start to feel natural quite soon, I’m sure - you’ll gain a natural feeling for what feels right and what doesn’t. Just hang in there!
PS What’s “swot” mean?
Thanks, I hope you’re right! I had another frustrating trip to the supermarket with my phrasebook today - can’t wait til those days are over!
Oh, sorry, “swot” is slang for someone who studies hard.