Yamaarashi-chan's teacher rocks!
Apr. 29th, 2004 09:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elfsSo, last night I stopped by Yamaarashi-chan's daycare and picked her up to take her to school for an evening get-together where I could speak with her teacher and her fellow students. Yamaarashi-chan complained that she was hungry even after her daycare had supplied her with Poptarts and a PB&J sandwich, but we were late and there was promised snacks at the school. She was a bit upset that Kouryou-chan wasn't there; she said over and over how she wished Kouryou-chan could come to her school and see everything.
Apparently, the teacher is big on Africa, because she went there as a peace corp volunteer for a number of years. So the kids demonstrated what they had learned, about daily life and a little faux-African dance they did. Yamaarashi-chan sat on the edges holding a handful of bells and played along with the music. She can be such a cheerful kid; I really love seeing her in her element.
We sat and watched, going through the art and drawings that the students had done. Yamaarashi-chan seems to be interested in actually writing stories-- there was a five-page story, complete with illustrations, reminding me of Scott McCloud's bit about how kids transition from showing, to telling, to learning how to show with words. It's amazing how far she's come since the beginning of the year.
I left a little early, sad to say; her mother was there to take her home, so I made my goodbyes. Yamaarashi-chan was pretty insistent about my not leaving and I had to be just as insistent that it was time for me to go.
I got home around 8:30 and Omaha had some leftover shrimp curry and rice waiting for me in the fridge. Yummy.
The Pimsleur Japanese course has suddenly ramped up the vocabulary as of CD 10 (Lessons 19 and 20). I think that it's a bit of a test. They figure that if you've stuck with the lesson long enough to listen to the first ten CDs, you're serious about completing the course. For the first nine CDs it was one verb form every two lessons, plus maybe five vocabulary items. Now it's a new verb form every lesson, plus twenty or so vocabulary items. The density has increased remarkably. I'm struggling now to keep up, listening and exercising with the lesson two, sometimes three times.
Apparently, the teacher is big on Africa, because she went there as a peace corp volunteer for a number of years. So the kids demonstrated what they had learned, about daily life and a little faux-African dance they did. Yamaarashi-chan sat on the edges holding a handful of bells and played along with the music. She can be such a cheerful kid; I really love seeing her in her element.
We sat and watched, going through the art and drawings that the students had done. Yamaarashi-chan seems to be interested in actually writing stories-- there was a five-page story, complete with illustrations, reminding me of Scott McCloud's bit about how kids transition from showing, to telling, to learning how to show with words. It's amazing how far she's come since the beginning of the year.
I left a little early, sad to say; her mother was there to take her home, so I made my goodbyes. Yamaarashi-chan was pretty insistent about my not leaving and I had to be just as insistent that it was time for me to go.
I got home around 8:30 and Omaha had some leftover shrimp curry and rice waiting for me in the fridge. Yummy.
The Pimsleur Japanese course has suddenly ramped up the vocabulary as of CD 10 (Lessons 19 and 20). I think that it's a bit of a test. They figure that if you've stuck with the lesson long enough to listen to the first ten CDs, you're serious about completing the course. For the first nine CDs it was one verb form every two lessons, plus maybe five vocabulary items. Now it's a new verb form every lesson, plus twenty or so vocabulary items. The density has increased remarkably. I'm struggling now to keep up, listening and exercising with the lesson two, sometimes three times.
