MIA but better for it

Alright, so I know there may come a reckoning for letting my blog lie fallow, but I've been so busy in the realm of language lately that I hope that makes up for it and I think I have many more new insights and experience to draw from. I just finished a class of Japanese that happened every morning for two hours for all of spring term. The focus was on reading andculture, two aspects of language acquisition that I had been interested in lately. The pace was a bit relentless and I didn't think I could manage to learn 30 kanji a day. I assumed that such a cram method would not help me retain what I learned, but found myself having to re-cram so often and getting lots of review so that more stuck than I thought. I would wake at times after a long night of studying and my fingers would be twitching as they traced kanji in the air. I dreamed characters, ate and slept them. What will follow are my thoughts on language and what a classroom environment did for my independent learning. There may be some new principles come out of this. Plus, I almost have enough credits to be accredited to teach Japanese. It will be interesting to compare how teaching a foreign language to other speakers of my language differs from teaching speakers of English as a second language. I assume there will be many insights. I think i can also promise not to let my blog lie dormant again for so long.