Today, Elisia is Miss antsy-in-my-pantsy.
Never felt so nervous, yet have that “I’m so raring to go” feeling in a long time. All because we changed textbooks for JAPN204. We started using the 中級日本語 textbook today and with that, we needed to memorize about 8 short lines of conversation text to do role play in class. I hate presentations so I was all ready to be the first to go. Get it over and done with. Then we had to hold a conversation with the person next to us based on a chosen subject/question. I managed to get my idea across pretty decently…ok, with one or two broken sentences. But, I was definitely feeling more confident in speaking.
I think we’ve pretty much reached the stage where it’s no longer intensive/extensive learning of vocabulary and grammar, but more into actually using what we’ve learnt to hold conversations. Something which I need to practise and do more. I also realised that it is ok to use simple sentence structures to say what I want to say as long as the other person can get a general idea. It’s better than wanting to jump into using complex sentences, not knowing how to, then getting all frustrated, and finally giving up and speaking in English instead. And of course, I need to feel more confident and less afraid of making mistakes.
Anyway, directly after JAPN204, I had ADV483. There was a quiz today so I had to rush off quickly. (The buildings for both classes are a distance apart.) All that rushing made me feel all the more jumpy, plus the fact that I wasn’t too sure I had prepared well for the quiz.
Alright, that’s about all I’m going to say for today. Need to get some sleep especially since I think I’m about to fall sick. My nose was all blocked and drippy last night. However, before I go, here’s an interesting picture. This is what I call a “minefield.” That’s ice and not snow by the way. The unsuspecting person who walks over it will find it is VERY slippery and you’ll be lucky if you don’t find yourself on your butt. There are lots of these “minefields” all around since the last few days have been pretty cold. It snows, then melts a little, and the water freezes again as the temperature drops.
It’s supposed to snow tonight and tomorrow…