よいふゆ休みを！

みなさん、いろいろ　ありがとうございました！１学期間（がっきかん:for # semester)　とてもたのしかったです。

みなさんのブログに、たくさん日本のマンガやキャラクターがありましたね。このキャラクターも、日本で人気があります（にんきがあります：to be popular）。なまえは、お茶犬（おちゃけん：tea dog）です。おちゃといぬのコラボレーションです。おもしろいですね。



では、みなさん、また来年！よいお年を！（Happy New year [used before New Year's day])


Picture taken from here

Katakana Literary Work Nomination!

In the katakana project, we examined how Katakana is used in the actual context and compared those actual usages with the Katakana descriptions in various textbooks. We hope that you have had interesting insights through this project. As some of you already mentioned in your analysis, textbooks are never able to exhaust all rules. Textbook authors always need to select and organize particular constructions of reality from the vast universe of knowledge.

There are many notions that we tend to consider as self-evident. For example, we may think that Katakana is used only for loan words, textbooks present correct, neutral, and essential information and knowledge, or Japanese people speak Japanese language. But do these “self-evident” notions truly reflect the realities? We believe that questioning or reflecting your understanding of these “self-evident” notions is the first step to make yourself involved into the community. We should not just wait for the community to take the initiative to change but change the community by ourselves. Hence the katakana project was an attempt to put this concept into practice.

As educators we feel that it is extremely important for us to help a person grow, because we will be sharing the world together, and will all be responsible for the future community. Let’s make a better world together!


先週の木曜日に、クラスメートのせんりゅうやマンガを評価（ひょうか:evaluation）しましたね。その中で、とてもいい作品（さくひん:piece of work）を紹介します（しょうかいします:to introduce）。

セクション１
１．いきましょう！（マンガ）
２．ハワドの日本語のブログ （はいく）
３．Turning Japanese（ものがたり：Story)

セクション２
１．もしもしみちえです（はいく）
２．にほんご４n００bs（まんが）
２．日本語　OK !（まんが）

Evaluation

1. Evaluation of the katakana literary works

• Read the evaluation categories shown below.
• Click the form below and rate your classmates' work between the scale of 1-10.
• In addition, leave comments about their literary works on their blog. (Make sure to write at least one sentence in Japanese.)

Section 1 (Tue&Thur 5:40-6:45)
If you are ワン, フォ（ポリン）,ジョシュ, レティ, ジェーン, キミ, スシャント → Click here
If you are ザオ（カレン）, マリリン, ナイラ, キャシー, ハワード, サン, → Click here

Section 2 (Mon&Wed 11:00-12:05)
If you are シェリー, フォン, ローリー, ホエユ, → Click here
If you are みちえ, ナタリー, ジョシュ, ティファニー, → Click here

(Katakana Literary Work Evaluation Categories)
1. Creativity
Original, interesting, creative, good imagery, meaningful, funny,

2. Informativeness
Well thought-out, understandable, thought provoking, expressing your interests, plot, subject

3. Aesthetic factors
Well drawn (manga), beautiful,

4. Consideration to others
Easy to read, short, foot notes(translation), links&pictures(illustrations),

5. Language
Good vocabulary use, good grammar, no spelling errors, proper use of katakana,

6. Others
Follow guidelines, flow well, complete,


2. Evaluation of the katakana project.

• Click here and evaluate katakana project. Please write as much as possible so that we can improve the projects for students who will be studying Japanese at Columbia in the future.

3. Evaluation of the blog (15 minutes)

• Read the evaluation categories shown below.
• Click the form below and rate your classmates' blog and your blog between the scale of 1-10.
  
• Evaluate them and type comments. Make sure to write at least one sentence in Japanese.
• Your comments will be given to the bloggers.

Section 1 (Tue&Thur 5:40-6:45)
If you are ワン, フォ（ポリン）,ジョシュ, レティ, ジェーン, キミ, スシャント → Click here
If you are ザオ（カレン）, マリリン, ナイラ, キャシー, ハワード, サン, → Click here

Section 2 (Mon&Wed 11:00-12:05) → Click here

(Blog Evaluation Categories)
1. Language
Japanese as much as possible, Wide range of vocab and structures, Minimum mistakes

2. Content
Japanese culture, Interesting, Pictures, Videos, Music, Original, Clear, Understandable, Long enough to make your point, No obnoxious graphics, Variation, Not too hard not too easy

3. Layout
Paragraphs, Organized

4. Communication
Communicate with other bloggers, Conversation starters, Add questions

5. Consideration
Use hiragana next to kanji, Leveled kanji, Translation

6. Update Regularly

4. Evaluation of the blog project.

• Click here and evaluate blog project. Please write as much as possible so that we can improve the projects for students who will be studying Japanese at Columbia in the future.

5. Course Evaluation (If you haven't finished)

• Go to the Courseworks, first year Japanese, and then Evaluation.
• Evaluate this Japanese class. Please write as much as possible so that we can improve our Japanese classes for students who will be studying Japanese at Columbia.

もう１２月ですね〜

もう１２月ですね。もう１２月１０日です。。。

みなさんは、ふゆがすきですか？わたしは　さむいきせつが　あまりすきじゃありません。ゆきも　あまりすきじゃありません。でも、まちが　とてもきれいですから、クリスマスが　すきです。


とてもきれいですね。みなさんは　クリスマスに　何がしたいですか？　わたしは　クリスマスに　日本へ　かえりますから、たくさん　日本のたべものが　たべたいです。

ここで　クイズです。クリスマスに　日本で　とても　にんきがある(popular)たべものは　何ですか？

1. ラーメン
2. ケンタッキーフライドチキン
3. ぎゅうどん

１１月１９／２３日のアクティビティー

There are 3 activities today. If you don’t finish within the class period, finish them at home.

1. Read your group members' compositions and make comments. (20 minutes)

• Make a group of 3.
• Read your group members' compositions.
• Think how you can improve their compositions and give them feedback (not only about the language but also about the content).

2. Read comments on your blog (especially for your katakana analysis entry) and comment them back if necessary. (10 minutes)

• Read all the comments for your katakana analysis entry. If you feel that those comments need to be responded, comment them back.
• If you have time, read the comments for all your other entries. Again, if you feel that those comments need to be responded, comment them back.

3. Make a literary work by using katakana. (25 minutes)

(1) Read the post about “What makes a good literary work”. (2 minutes)

• Scroll down the screen and read the post about “What makes a good literary work”.

(2) By using katakana words/expressions, create your own literary work and post it on your own blog. (23 minutes)

So far, we have searched and categorized various usages of katakana. And we have also analyzed the purposes and effects of each katakana word/expression. By making the most of what we have learned through our katakana project, create literary work using various usages of katakana, instead of using just a single usage of katakana (e.g. loanword only).

• Choose the type of your literary work among Senryuu, manga, story, poem, etc. If you want to do 2 different types of literary works, you may create another one.
• If you choose to write Senryuu, read the blog entry about Senryuu and review the rules. You have to write at least 3 Senryuu works.
• Leave your own comment for the same blog entry (the one you published your literary work) and explain why you have used the particular katakana words in your literary work as well as their effects.
  

Katakana Literary Work Evaluation Criteria

1. Creativity
Original, interesting, creative, good imagery, meaningful, funny,

2. Informativeness
Well thought-out, understandable, thought provoking, expressing your interests, plot, subject

3. Aesthetic factors
Well drawn (manga), beautiful,

4. Consideration to others
Easy to read, short, foot notes(translation), links&pictures(illustrations),

5. Language
Good vocabulary use, good grammar, no spelling errors, proper use of katakana,

6. Others
Follow guidelines, flow well, complete,

川柳（せんりゅう）と俳句（はいく）

（しゃしんはwikipediaより)

みなさんは川柳（せんりゅう）をしっていますか？川柳（せんりゅう）は日本の短い（みじかい：short）詩（し：poet）です。

It consists of 3 lines with 17 (5-7-5) or more/fewer morae. The below is the example from Wikipedia.

どろぼうを

とらえてみれば

わがこなり

The robber,

when I catch,

my own son

The subject of senryu is based on human nature, and it's usually satirical/ironic.
There are people who make senryu in English. Click here and here.

Senryu is similar to haiku. However, haiku usually have seasonal expressions which senryu don't have to have.