Calgary Japanese Festival 2013 Blooper Reel

Some of you on Facebook liked the idea of seeing a blooper reel of my Calgary Omatsuri footage. Well, here you go. Technical issues and sliding guitars make for an interesting time:

The 2013 Calgary Japanese Festival was a grand success. There were more displays, more tents, more food and more cultural programming. It was too bad that some of the indoor programming was cancelled, and that some sessions happened out of sequence. I was really disappointed that the sword making session was cancelled.

If I have one suggestion, it's that the indoor programming repeats. Then attendees wouldn't have to choose between indoor and outdoor events.

Organizers are looking at larger venues for next year. Sugoi, desu ne?

Popular Japanese Study Books

Some of my classmates have been using other Japanese language workbooks to supplement their Japanese studies. Our きょうかしょ is jam-packed with information. However, the print is tiny and it's all in Japanese. It would be nice to have some explanations in English.

I'll be ordering my messenger bag soon, so I thought I would do a quick search

to find some of the popular Japanese workbooks on the market and add one or two to my order. Here are 10 of the most popular Japanese text books and workbooks that I found. どうぞ!

1. Japanese DeMYSTiFieD with Audio CD, 2nd Edition

2. Japanese For Dummies

3. Japanese for Young People III: Student Book

4. Japanese Sentence Patterns for Effective Communication: A Self-Study Course and Reference

5. Japanese for Busy People I: Romanized Version 1 CD attached

6. Japanese For Young People I: Kana Workbook

7. Japanese the Manga Way: An Illustrated Guide to Grammar and Structure

8. Japanese For Young People I: Student Book

9. Japanese for Busy People: Kana Workbook (Vol 1)

10. Genki: An Integrated Course in Elementary Japanese Workbook I [Second Edition] (Japanese Edition)

These books are also popular on J-List.com. Click on the link below to shop there:

Japanese Reading Practice with Children's Books

When learning a new language, it's important to try and apply what you've learned into daily living. Our Japanese Language school has a lending library.They are mainly children's books, but with our limited vocabulary, kids' books suit us just fine.

For a good laugh, check out みな うんち！It's the weirdest book I have ever read. The English translation is available on Amazon.

One of my classmates recommends the city library. I've also borrowed children's books in Japanese from the Calgary Japanese Community Association.

In the fall, I traveled to Vancouver, British Columbia. There, I visited Daiso Canada, a 100 yen store (or a "toonie" store for us Canucks). There were so many neat things, from kitchenware to slippers and from office supplies to books.

I picked up this puzzle book to work through. It's fun, however, the frustrating part is having to look up every second word!

While doing some spring cleaning, I found the puzzle book again. Guess what I'll be doing during my イースター の やすみ?

I had such a great time wandering the store. One of the staffers looked at me a little oddly when I held up a folder/book protector and asked "いくら です か？" It was before I realized that everything was approximately $2.

One of my friends just returned from a trip to New York City. One of her stops was Kinokuniya Bookstore. She picked up this book for me to practice my Japanese, along with some pamphlets:

Clickity-click, Barba Trick. Now, will I be able to read my Japanese kids' book without singing the Barbapapa Theme?

The Yasumi! Doushiyou? Wheel

In February, I was inspired by an episode of Minami-ke Taidaima to make an activity wheel to plan my long weekend. It was a fun way to study Japanese. This round, I decided to make one that can be used every time I have a break. It's simply called the "Yasumi! Doushiyou?" Wheel (or "Break! What should I do?")

How fitting that I make this as Minami-ke Taidaima wraps up. It's been a fun ride with the Minami sisters and their friends. Certainly, it was a nice mood lightener after watching some deeper shows such as Shinsekai Yoriand Zetsuen no Tempest.

Check out my To Do List for April Fools' Day. Suteki desu ne?

Challenging My Real Time Listening Comprehension

Sensei and her teaching assistants have started to play CD's containing Japanese conversations in real time. Our task has been to see just how much we can pick out. The answer? Not much.

Nothing makes it so blatantly clear just how far we have to climb than listening to that CD. It made it obvious just how much sensei and her assistants have slowed down their speech for us.

On the first pass, we caught the odd word. By the third pass, we were able to catch phrases - so long as the CD was paused after each phrase!

The question now becomes, "How to practice this at home during the week?" Here are a few ideas that sensei, my classmates and I have come up with:

• listen to Japanese radio shows

• listen to Japanese music

• watch Japanese shows - raw, or without looking at the subtitles

The trick is to listen to the track several times, to see if you can pick out a little bit more each time. むずかしい です ね？