Mnemonics for Japanese

I recently mentioned my intent to write a book about Teaching Yourself Japanese, well, I’m making progress already.

Teach Yourself Japanese

I’m thinking about writing a book to sell.

The topic would be about teaching yourself Japanese, with both language content and methodology inside.

Mnemonics

I’m convinced that mnemonics and similar learning techniques are the key to effective learning.

I’m not just talking about Roy G. Biv, Thirty days hath September, or the look at your knuckles and count the humps to remember the length of the months of the year.  But yes, those are included.

Script Frenzy 2012

As many of you know I’ve participated in the online novel writing competition called Nanowrimo for the past three years and finished my novel drafts two of those three times.  This year I’m going to attempt the sister competition, Script Frenzy, that happens in April.

Facing Forward: Teaching Japanese

Since I wrote down my goal of teaching Japanese, and thereby set it in burnable, erasable, rip-up and throw away-able, yet tangible paper, I have seen the world around me with new eyes.

My Dream

I just finished reading Steven Pressfield’s “The War of Art”.  Yesterday I listened in on a bit of a class taught to some of my elementary school students about finding and reaching your dream.  As both of these happened at the same time as I’ve been pondering what my next step after JET should be, I had a brilliant and simple idea.  I wrote “My Dream” at the top of a piece of paper and filled in my goal and steps to getting there below it.  I don’t know if I could have put this into words until now.

Things I’ve noticed about Japanese

So, as I study Japanese more and more I’ve noticed a few things that are pretty interesting. This is just my perspective, it might be completely wrong, but it is none-the-less how I see it.

Bean Dip and Pushups

I successfully made Kidney Bean Tahini dip yesterday. It’s quite good. I’m topping fresh cabbage leaves with it for a good nutrient packed meal.

Improved quality of life

So it appears that I am losing body fat based on my measurements so far, even considering how often I lapse.  My actual net weight hasn’t really gone down particularly much, though that is actually quite optimal assuming the weight is being made up for by muscle mass.  But anyway, even if not I’ve decided to stick with the diet and exercise plan because my quality of life has improved a bit.

What do I want to do?

Right now I’m pretty happy with my employment setup.  The pay is good, the job is bearable with fun parts as well as irritating parts, as I can only assume most jobs have.  But it is limited to an absolute maximum of five years, two of which I have already filled.  I definitely have another year here before I’m forced to move on to other things, but I’ve been thinking lately about what I might do, and what I might like to do when the day comes for my contract to end.