きょう わたし は 日本語 の べんきょう を しました。 とても よかった ですね！
Today I studied Japanese. It was really good!
It was my second lesson, and I still left with a real buzz. Today we tried some listening exercises, as well as speaking, and also checked my homework. I was worried about doing the listening exercises, and I think my listening’s not so good, but I found the exercises were actually ok! Some bits were a little むずかしかった but overall it wasn’t bad at all. At the end of the class, I felt like I had really been immersed in Japanese for an hour. I was really in Japan - and I am! haha. But seriously, it feels so great to have these lessons - to speak in Japanese for a whole hour a week. It builds my confidence immensely, and I even feel better trying to use a little Japanese at work, after hours or when there are no students around (we can’t use Japanese in front of the students, especially the kids!).
So… what did I learn today?
Mostly we talked about frequency adverbs. I’ve studied these before, but it was really good to go over them again and learn a few new ones:
まいにち - every day
いつも - always
よく - often
ときどき - sometimes
ちょっと - a little
たいてい - usually
ぜんぜん - not at all
あまり - not much
Watch out for the last 2! All of the others use a positive verb (eg: はい。 よく テニス を します。) but ぜんぜん and あまり use a negative verb (eg: ぜんぜん テニス を しません。)
So no new grammar point today really, but lots of new words and a few new expressions. I also found that my teacher actually tests whether or not I’ve learnt my new vocab pages - so I’d better make sure I do lots of しゅくだい！
Here’s some random new words and expressions I learnt today:
いっしゅうかん - for one week (duration)
てんいん - sales clerk (in a shop, for example)
はんぶん に わける - to divide in half (eg. a muffin)
かんぺき - perfect, complete
がくせい と ぜんぜん 日本語 を はなしません。 - (I) never speak Japanese to students.
わたし の せいと - my students (from the teacher’s point of view)
のります/のる - to get on, to board, to mount, to ride (eg. a bike)
のれません - cannot ride (eg. a bike)
さいきん - recently
はやい - early
~ ごろ - at about
いえ - home, house (we also use うち)
And one final, delightful word some of my students decided to teach me… Every time I showed them a picture, and said “who’s this?” they all replied “うんこ” (unko). I thought at first they were saying “uncle”, which was a little odd, or maybe it was the name of some character from a cartoon… but, no… unko means ’shit’. 
Thanks kids! Now how do I tell them to stop saying it, without letting on I know Japanese?! Hmm… I guess I’ll just have to tell them off and be done with it…
So, my vocabulary is expanding in all directions, it seems!
More Japanese class next week! じゃね！
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And how old would these charming little unkos be ;-}
Haha, they’re lovely really! Just cheeky…
I guess they’re maybe 9 or 10 years old. Bless…
I can understand no Japanese in class to a certain extent, but a total prohibition and hiding ability seems strange. If only to show that other languages can be learnt and foster a bit of learner empathy.
That unko thing has so many layers.
Presumably Japanese is forbidden for the kids in class as well.
There’s the unacceptability of the word in the classroom.
The disrespect of using your language in such a way when you know the listener doesn’t understand.
The disrespect to a teacher, in a culture that is meant to respect them.
and I have seen unko as a cartoon character. in a very weird Japanese toilet training cartoon on You Tube. Maybe there’s a cultural difference on what’s acceptable.
kids eh? I doubt I’d have your patience. why I’m not a teacher.
I’d just show them the door most likely.
Maybe I’d sweetly ask their mom what this word unko is they keep using in class.
by the way ぜんぜん can also be used with a positive, to mean completely
it’s rarer and maybe colloquial but I have seen it used.
ぜんぜんちがう，全然違う completely different
全然大丈夫です。 : That’s perfectly OK.
or for unkoちゃん、ぜんぜんだいじょぶじゃないぞ。not at all OK.
[...] kids… it’s not all bad… :) In a previous post, I mentioned how some of my younger students can be a bit cheeky sometimes. But hey, [...]