ghoti

A quick introduction to Japanese syntax and particles

The Japanese language is considered syntactically a Subject-Object-Verb or SOV language in contrast to English which is considered a subject-Verb-Object or SVO language, as these two example sentences will show. (1) Ken wa (S) tama wo (O) uchimashita (V). (2) Ken (S) hit (V) the ball (O). While it is not possible to move the syntactical elements around in English without a changing…
文法用語の最低限語彙

私の考え方では文法用語は大事なのに十分教えていると思わない。または教えてもただ日本語訳だけ与える。それは教えていると言えない。全て知るも必要ではない。幾つかの役に立つ用語だけで良いと思う。どれが役に立つだろう？そして幾つの用語が必要だろう？私にとってはたったの13だけで十分と思う。二種類で一つの種類は８、もう一つの種類は５。これです。一種類目は名詞動詞形容詞副詞代名詞冠詞前置詞接続詞と二種類目主語動詞補語目的語副詞句気づいてほしいのは【動詞】が両方の種類に入っていること。その理由は用語では動詞少なくても二つの意味がある。なぜこういう風に種類を二つに分ければとわかってたら動詞の二つの意味も覚えるだろう。一つ目の種類は「語彙の変化仕方」タイプと考えれば良いだ。もう一つの種類は「文の中の役割」タイプと考えれば良いだ。語彙を辞書に引くと一つ目の用語しか出てこない。なぜかというと名詞は主語のところでも、目的語のところでも（文の中の役割関係なく）同じ名詞のだ。このワンポイント覚えておきましょう。
Assistant Language Teachers in Japan getting the raw end of the deal

Being an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in Japan used to be a prestigious job. It was government funded with high infrastructure and support. But since the mid-2000s the government had started to source for teachers from the private sector. During its heyday an ALT would earn a minimum 300,000 yen (USD2,639 as of writing) as the basic minimum…
Periscope Tip: scope length

I had a great blab with Masashi (@soycamino), Keizo (@kanji_k) and Dave (@DaveinOsaka) yesterday. It was my first time to Blab. It is not as fun as Periscope but then again Blab is for a different purpose altogether. One thing I had learned from Dave in the short short time that he was there was…
Periscope, speech and writing

If Saussure and Derrida were alive today they would have loved Periscope (well, maybe not). Perhaps currently the most significant live broadcast service Periscope brings interaction to video by combining live streaming with (not so) old-fashion text chat. This is why it made sense for Twitter to invest in Periscope. By separating (or rather merging)…
Periscope as a teaching tool

What is Periscope? Periscope is a live broadcast service that combines the best of video and instant messaging. The “scoper” or presenter broadcasts live while the viewers instant message the scoper and other viewers. It is like Skype except only only one person is on screen. And It is like a instant messaging chatroom while everyone…
Essential Teaching iOS Apps on the iPad and iPhone (2016)

Another productive year has passed by. This year is the first year for me to work with the iPad Mini 3 and iPhone 6S. Most of the apps are not new, meaning many are tried and tested apps. By far my most used app for teaching is GoodNotes. The reason for this is that it is…
The new LibraryThing iOS app review

App Name: LibraryThing Related Website: http://www.librarything.com Version reviewed: 1.0.1 Price: Free Release Date: 19 October 2015 Introduction LibraryThing this year is celebrating its 10th anniversary as an online service. It is a book cataloging service for creating database of your books as well as connecting you to other people with similar reading interests. This is…
Mental processing speed has gene link

A recent study has found that the gene CADM2 affects people’s ability to process information in later age. In other words some people are naturally born to be quick thinkers. This idea potentially has implications on learning and why some people are slower at the task. In my opinion both nature and nurture are mechanisms…
Classroom productivity with Voice Memo

Apple’s preloaded Voice Memo has now become a more useable app for the classroom. The user interface is cleaner now with navigation easier. Trimming and deleting parts of the recording is simplified and saving files with appropriate titles streamlined. The app also allows upload to Dropbox which means easy sharing and archiving. AirDrop again means…