Monday, May 09, 2005
FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASS
▼ The end of the Golden Week will bring back liveliness to college campuses. It is about this time that classroom work is getting into its stride.
▼ Formerly learning French or German in addition to English made students feel growing intellectually more than they were, and they recognized that they were really college students. Recently learning second foreign languages is not compulsory in some colleges, which changed foreign language classes a lot.
▼ According to an acquaintance of mine teaching Spanish as a second foreign language at a private university in Tokyo, the number of students who are reluctant to buy dictionaries is increasing year by year. He recommends some dictionaries at his first class every year. At the third class this year, he asked how many of them purchased a dictionary and only three out of thirty students bought one. At one time it was a matter of common sense to own a dictionary. There are three reasons why students do not buy dictionaries these days - “expensive,” “bulky” and “troublesome to consult.”
▼ Once a veteran teacher at a different private university told me about his old experience. Once he allowed students to bring in their dictionaries in a French test class for translation. One student brought not only a French-Japanese dictionary but a Japanese-Japanese dictionary. The student tried to be accurate in the usage of Japanese words. Such a student can never be seen any more.
▼ Browsing in a foreign-language corner of a bookshop, you will see piled-up thin books with such titles as “Super Easy Guide to such and such Language” or “Master in Ten Days.” They contain little grammatical explanations. Even students unwilling to buy dictionaries are willing to purchase those books.
▼ It may be unpopular these days to try to read difficult original foreign books with a dictionary in hand. Nevertheless, there is no other way in learning foreign languages than to make constant efforts. That will never change at any time.
▼ The end of the Golden Week will bring back liveliness to college campuses. It is about this time that classroom work is getting into its stride.
▼ Formerly learning French or German in addition to English made students feel growing intellectually more than they were, and they recognized that they were really college students. Recently learning second foreign languages is not compulsory in some colleges, which changed foreign language classes a lot.
▼ According to an acquaintance of mine teaching Spanish as a second foreign language at a private university in Tokyo, the number of students who are reluctant to buy dictionaries is increasing year by year. He recommends some dictionaries at his first class every year. At the third class this year, he asked how many of them purchased a dictionary and only three out of thirty students bought one. At one time it was a matter of common sense to own a dictionary. There are three reasons why students do not buy dictionaries these days - “expensive,” “bulky” and “troublesome to consult.”
▼ Once a veteran teacher at a different private university told me about his old experience. Once he allowed students to bring in their dictionaries in a French test class for translation. One student brought not only a French-Japanese dictionary but a Japanese-Japanese dictionary. The student tried to be accurate in the usage of Japanese words. Such a student can never be seen any more.
▼ Browsing in a foreign-language corner of a bookshop, you will see piled-up thin books with such titles as “Super Easy Guide to such and such Language” or “Master in Ten Days.” They contain little grammatical explanations. Even students unwilling to buy dictionaries are willing to purchase those books.
▼ It may be unpopular these days to try to read difficult original foreign books with a dictionary in hand. Nevertheless, there is no other way in learning foreign languages than to make constant efforts. That will never change at any time.
posted by ichi | 4:25 AM
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