video courses 4/19/09

well i think im going to start back up with 'lets learn japanese'
i was put off by the directions episode with the taxi.. so i ended up not watching it for months.. but i have found that skipping that part of the episode hasnt hurt me.. now dont get me wrong... its important to know right from left but it took me like 12 years to learn it in english and i still mess up if i dont twitch my right hand..

i love the videos because of the teaching style

1. 1 )first you watch a video about the main character yan-san
2. 2 )then you watch a teacher who explains in english the grammar of the skit along with the vocabulary. and shows it as text and shows how the words can be swapped out to make other phrases using the same sentance structures as the video..
3. 3 )then the other japanese teachers put on a skit or two cementing the grammar, vocabulary and sentance structure into your brain.
4. 4 )then the english speaking teacher explains the skits put on by the japanese speaking teachers and then goes back over the sentance structure you learned.
5. 5 )then you watch the video about yan-san again.. however by this time even though they speak very fast in the yan videos you can pick up every word and understand..
6. 6 )lastly there is a mini lesson on the japanese writing system.. during this the characters are shown on the screen being written with proper stroke order while someone says how they are pronounced.. then its back to the english speaking teacher who encourages you to practice writing the characters...

actually i may have gotten #5 and 6# reversed.. but you get the general idea..

anyway so ive got a bad back.. and so i take super hot baths insead.. now bathtime is boring (i have to soak for a long time to get rid of my pain) so my father got me a little dvd player specifically for bathtime.. it never leaves the bathroom.. ive been watching my lets learn japanese lessons while taking baths lately.. so now bathtime is productive time.. i would hate for an hour a day to just be wasted..

ok so on to kanji study.. i rearanged my furniture so that i now have 2 desks in my room (i had been using the small one in my craft room as a sewing table).. it is now facing a tv and has a filing cabinet with a plastic drawer unit on top that i store my markers/pens/paper in.. plus ive got a special compartment just for my kanji flashcards.. i put up a hiragana poster next to the desk.. and i thought wow i wish i had a kanji poster.. so i went online looking for a kanji poster that had them in the order im learning them (RTK order) this is the only one i found.. sadly i cannot afford it yet.. so i got out some poster paper and started making one for myself using my brushpens.. it was very difficult to get the grid drawn on properly.. but i managed.. im color coding it.. the lessons are seperated by color.. i only got up to 100 when i got tired.. ill finish it another day..

i think when im done with RTK ill get a kanji poster with phonetic order..