思考

It’s that time of year again – JLPT application time! I’m going to be taking N2 this year and am starting a study group at my university (anyone in Perth who is interested is welcome to come along). It’s going to start in September and go for 10 weeks with a couple more sessions after that for practice exams. There’s a lot of material to cover so it’s going to be a pretty intensive course.

Since the JLPT has been revised there seem to have been few or little changes made to study materials. I’m going to be using the White Rabbit Press poster and flash cards for kanji, the JLPT 2 日本語総まとめ books for grammar and reading, and resources from my teacher for listening (might end up buying something online too). I hope all that will do… I haven’t done the exam myself so am as clueless as everyone else… but because I’ll be running the group I feel a sense of responsibility you know?

My current plan for each study session (held for about 2 hours every Wednesday night) is this:

Part 1:
Revise kanji + vocab studied for homework over the past week using WRP flash cards.
Revise grammar studied in the previous session.
Discuss any tips/techniques that people used to help remember kanji/grammar etc.

Part 2:
Learn new grammar structures for the week. Practice making sentences.
Do a few short reading comprehension passages.
Do a listening test.

Homework:
A list of 100 kanji to learn over the week (20 a day) – many should already be familiar. This can be done by either using WRP kanji cards which include 6 words on each card or by looking up each kanji and learning words that contain that kanji by using the JLPT N2 vocabulary list on this website http://www.jlptstudy.com/N2/ (this is pretty much the same as the words that are printed on the WRP cards).
PLUS
Practice using the grammar studied in the session. This can be done in the club’s forum on our website www.jss.asn.au

By Week 9 of the 10 week course we would have covered all of the grammar, kanji and majority of the vocabulary found in the exams. In the 9th study session we’ll spend time going through the material we’ve learned and finding our personal weak points. Week 10 (November 3rd) will be a full practice exam. This leaves 4 more weeks until the exam for practice exams and revision, or 3 more weeks if we have a week off during university exam time.

What do you think?

I know it sounds like a lot but I think it’s a good idea to get the bulk of it done as soon as possible so we can really see what we have to concentrate on in the last few weeks. There’s a good chance that we’ll already know a lot of the content so 100 kanji isn’t daunting if you can already read 60 of them. Recognition is also a lot easier than having to write them.

Opinions and advice are welcome though, especially from people who have sat the exam before. Or maybe you are thinking of sitting it yourself? Does this kind of study schedule sound okay to you?

Well Russell has gone off to play MTG with his friends tonight so I’m stuck at home. I don’t mind too much, it’s just boring on my own, I require constant attention!!

So yeh, I’m listening to a 桑田佳祐 cd I ordered that was delivered today. It’s two cds of his top hits and I’m very pleased with my purchase. Sure, he’s the Japanese Rod Stewart but he has a lovely voice and writes nice songs. I also bought Enka Damashii which is like the best-of-Enka and listened to that a couple of times in the afternoon. I was in a bit of a blah mood and it really cheered me up. Russell laughed when he heard it because all the songs sound the same and veeeery traditional, but that’s what I like about it. Especially the corny electric guitar solos, it’s fantastic.

Cds wot I got:

I picked up another package today too, a suuuuper cute iphone case. :3 Actually, I should email the seller and let her know it arrived okay. She put it in a huge box full of bubble wrap, it’s only little!! Anyway, I won’t post a photo because I’m going to do a video about it… at some point.

This morning I looked after Kylie and took her to see Toy Story 3. It was really good! The writers were so creative and I got a bit teary at the end… トイ・ストーリー懐かしいなあ But yeh, sometimes I get stressed out with Ky, but she was in a good mood today and it all went well.

Soo..

Wednesday tomorrow. I’ve got some work to do but might pop round to Kylie’s because mum and dad are going to be there putting finishing touches in the activity room. They’ve ordered a huge pane of super-strong glass to cover one of the walls so she can stick posters and stuff on there without pulling paint off the walls. Unfortunately the first unbreakable super strong pane of glass got smashed at the factory. :/ Apparently it’s one weakness is being dropped on it’s corner.

Finally, here’s a photo of me in my new threads. Mummy took me shopping.

New top, jeans and boots!

Manda

I’m sure that no one reads this blog and I’m not surprised – it hasn’t been updated in two years! I felt this space was going to waste though so have given it a new lick ‘o paint and added the youtube videos I started making last year. Actually, it’s hard to believe I’ve had my channel for a whole year, I still feel quite new to it all. ^^

It’s good fun though and every day I’m meeting new people. I’m going to make a couple of new videos soon, one about some cuuute デコ stuff I’ve bought online and where people can go to get cute stuff from Japan, and the other will be about some Japanese language resources that I recommend.

What else… right now I’m watching Daichen play piano on Ustream. I’ve just started playing piano again and it’s wonderful. ^^ When I was little playing piano helped me to get my emotions out and it seems it still does. I can still play Fur Elise pretty well (not bad after like… eight years??) and I figured a couple of things out by ear the other day so I’ve still got it, baby! I’m trying to figure out BrodyQuest at the moment. I’ve got the base line and the very start but it’s hard to play both hands together.

Above is the Casio electric piano Aunty Carol has been kind enough to lend me. ^^ Thanks Aunty Carol!! :3

Well that’ll do for now. Feel free to comment, anyone and everyone. Except for spammers, you guys are jerks.

Amanda