Reading Comprehension

• 2000 words – basic meaning
• 6000 words – sentence comprehension
• silent reading is more important because reading out loud is slower – I think I feel this when I try to read Japanese, if I read it out loud, I can read everything but not understand it

SQ3R

• Survey – skim through quickly
• Question – ask questions, what was the title, what was it about?
• Read
• Recite – paraphrase
• Review – read the headings and try to recall the key points

REAP

This feels not as important as the textbook barely says anything about this

• Read
• Encode – into the reader’s own system
• Annotate – summarize in own words
• Ponder

DRTA (Directed Reading and Thinking Activity)

• Predict – predict the content from the headings/images
• Read – silent reading
• Prove – teacher asks open questions

ReQuest

The teacher and student both read. Then take turns asking questions, the person asking can check the text; the person answering can’t look at the text.

(This one actually sounds kinda fun to see in practice)

QAR (Question-Answer Relationship)

This one is kind of like the reading comprehension tests where you read and then answer questions.

• Questions right in the text
• Need to think, combine and integrate information from the text
• Need to combine information from the text along with their own knowledge
• Knowledge that the reader needs to know beforehand

tokidokitokyo:

どんくさい

slow; clumsy; stupid; irritating

(note: from Kyoto dialect; TIL: くさい is not related to bad smell, but rather in Kyoto dialect it means っぽい or みたい and is thus used to soften the blow of the どん which means “slow” or “inept”)

彼はどんくさいけど、優しいところが取柄やねえ。
かれ は どんくさい けど、やさしい ところ が とりえ やねえ。
He’s clumsy, but his kindness is his best quality.

プーさんはちょっとどんくさいね。

集中識字法 vs. 分散識字法

Methods for teaching Chinese characters. In short it’s (1) learn the characters in a group or (2) learn the characters in context.

集中識字

• 先識字，後讀書 (learn then read)
• easier to compare and contrast the different characters when put together in a session
  媽、姊、妹、奶、姑 -> student may grasp: if I see 女, it’s a female
  把、吧、疤、巴、肥 -> if I see 巴, it usually sounds like ba, but notice there are exceptions
• might cause confusion when similar words are put together in a session
  渴、喝 -> might confuse these two characters
  請、清、晴 -> might confuse which one is pronounced what

分散識字

• 字不離詞、詞不離句、句不離文 (learn in context)
  太陽很大。The sun is big -> Very sunny
  Students will know to use 大 instead of 多 to say sunny

Combining the two together might be: 隨文識字，集中歸類. For example:

1. Encounter 喝 in text
2. Then also give examples of other characters like 吃、叫 they also have 口 so these are characters related to mouth

Or with 太陽很大 as example:

1. In context: 太陽很大。The sun is big -> Very sunny
2. Group the words: 太、大, use a mnemonic like: It’s so big (大) that a drop of sweat (丶) fell off. That’s too (太) much sun!

あるある – Typical thing

I told my teacher that I’m going to 北海道 so we searched the keyword 北海道あるある, and I was like 「あるある？」

It has the vibe of:

• Typical for ______
• That is SO me! I totally get it!

It’s like the short form of saying:

そういうことはよくある。
That kind of thing happens all the time.

例文

A: 最近リモートワークしてるんだけど、結局3時間くらいずっとTikTok見ちゃってる…
I started working from home (remote work), but I just end up scrolling TikTok for three hours…
B: それ、あるあるだよね〜！
That is SO me! I totally get it!

真冬でも、家では半袖短パンでアイスを食べるという"北海道あるある"
A classic Hokkaido thing is eating ice cream in a T-shirt and shorts at home, even in the middle of winter.

真冬 – まふゆ

半袖 – はんそで

Reference

真冬でも、家では半袖短パンでアイスを食べるという"北海道あるある"｜AKIYO SUZUKI（鈴木明世）

語言教學法 Teaching Methods (Part 2)

See part 1

I realized only 文法翻譯法 – The grammar-translation method (GTM) focuses on reading/writing. The rest of the teaching methods gives focus to oral (speaking/listening).

肢體反應教學法 – Total Physical Response (TPR)

Teacher tells student what to do. For example say “walk” and then start walking; say “run” and then start running.

暗示感應教學法 – Suggestopedia (STP)

Students are relaxed, sitting on a sofa, baroque music playing in the background and listens to the teacher.

默示教學法 The silent way (SW)

The teacher stays silent, using props to guide the students, and using things like color coded charts to hint students to self-correct when they make mistakes.

任務行教學法 – Task-based language teaching (TBLT)

“book a restaurant” as the task and students use whatever they know, at the end of the task the teacher explains.

自然教學法 – The natural approach (NA)

Uses language just right above the student’s level (i+1) and wait for students to start speaking when they feel ready.

何も vs. 何でも

The way I remember this (probably only works for me), was when I was watching Chobits, there was a book in the anime called 誰もいない町.

So drawing from that context:

• 何（なに）も + negative
• 何（なん）でも　+ positive

For example:

何も食べません。
I’m not eating anything.

何でも食べます。
I’ll eat anything.

Other examples:

どれも選びません。
Not choosing anything.

どこも行きません。
Not going anywhere.

誰でも参加できます。
Anyone can join.

どれでも選べます。
Can choose anything.

どこでも行けます。
Can go anywhere.

Exception: どこも

When describing a state, どこも + positive is used.

どこも混んでいます。
It’s crowded everywhere.

Reference

Reading this reference helps me make sense of the exception too. The grouping is like Everywhere—this place, that place, and that place—is crowded.

The reason for using 何も+negative, but 何でも+positive

語言教學法 Teaching Methods (Part 1)

Trying to use a few words to summarize the teaching method to make sure I “get” it. There are 10 of these, I’ll put down 5 for now.

Note: Don’t expect this to have textbook accuracy, it’s for me to prepare my Mandarin teaching certification 🙂

直接教學法 – The direct method (DM)

Use the target language to teach, no translations, just like how you’d teach a child in their native tongue.

Focus: speaking/listening

文法翻譯法 – The grammar-translation method (GTM)

Like the boring English classes I had at school. Translates to native language.

Focus: reading/writing (vocabulary and grammar)

情境教學法 – Situational Language Teaching (SLT)

Promotes structural syllabus (課程進度表), have stuff like how to book a restaurant, a scenario for students to practice.

Focus: speaking/listening

聽說教學法 – The audiolingual method (ALM)

More guidance than the direct method, gives a structure, uses drills and repetition to form habits.

Focus: speaking/listening

團體語言學習法 – Community Language Learning (CLL)

Students sit in a circle express what they want to learn, the teacher assists like a counselor. Can use native language. I’ve never seen this done in my life before.

Small update for Meowbrown!

I’m currently prepping for my official teaching certification for Mandarin/Chinese, so expect more Mandarin-related notes for the next couple of months. Hope I can get that certificate on my first try ❤️

I just wanted to give a heads-up so the blog doesn’t feel unrecognizable. I’ll still be posting my other language notes. It’s still Meowbrown, just with a new goal added to the mix. Thanks for sticking around!

ない/ていない/まだ/もう

I know the difference between ない and ていない, but the others aren’t that clear to me. So making this as a reference.

❌ The Negatives (Not eating)

Notes: ない is for making this personal decision to not eat, I don’t feel like it, I don’t want to kinda vibe. ていない is more of expressing the state of whether one ate or not.

• 食べない I won’t eat / I’m not eating.
• Vibe: I’m choosing not to eat.
• 食べていない I haven’t eaten (yet).
• Vibe: I want to eat, but haven’t yet.
• まだ食べない I’m not eating yet.
• Vibe: I don’t feel like eating right now.
• まだ食べていない I haven’t eaten yet.
• Vibe: “I haven’t eaten, but probably going to soon.”
• もう食べない I’m not eating anymore.
• Vibe: I’m full / I don’t want to eat anymore.
• もう食べていない I’m no longer eating.
• Vibe: I’m full / I’ve stopped the action of eating.

✅ The Positives (Eating)

Notes: もう食べる is the most confusing one for me. I’m thinking it’s just like an emphasis of I AM going to eat. (“on my way” type of emphasis?)

• まだ食べる I’m still going to eat.
• Vibe: I want more or I’m not finished with my plans to eat.
• まだ食べている I’m still eating.
• Vibe: I’m in the middle of my meal!
• もう食べる I’m about to eat.
• Vibe: Haven’t started yet, but I’m literally sitting down to do it.
• もう食べている I’m already eating.
• Vibe: I’ve already started.

バッチリ vs. ぴったり

I was trying to use 見てもらえる and 見かける in my diary today, as I recently just had a note on 見かける.

I was curious if I used it correctly so I asked AI for feedback and then checked with my Japanese teacher.

• For my use of 見てもらえる, the feedback was 一番ぴったりです。
• For 見かける, the feedback was 「見かけた（noticed/spotted）」と言うのは、過去形でバッチリです！

So I was curious what was the difference between バッチリ and ぴったり

• ぴったり: Used when a word “fits” a situation perfectly. It’s all about the match.
• バッチリ: Used when you “nailed it.” My grammar was correct, so the result was spot on.

ぴったり is about alignment, バッチリ is about success/outcome.

ぴったり is also very common when talking about whether a physical size or space fits, for example:

この靴は私にぴったりです。
These shoes fit me perfectly.