Togei Kyoshitsu

Togei Kyoshitsu (website)

September 17, 2010

I. Taiken Class 
My friend and I took a Taiken (trail) class together. We did Tebineri (hand building), and made two projects each. Our sensai (teacher) was Risa, or sometimes I see her name spelled as Lisa. I asked her which one was her name, she smiled and said "doesn't matter." I thought it's interesting because in Japanese there is no L sound, and their R sounds similar to the "L" sound in English, and I guess that is why Risa is Lisa.

Working on my tulip cup
(although originally it was supposed to be a
Fire Hydrant cup)

I enjoyed the class very much. I do not know how Japanese pottery is different from American pottery, but when I was kneeding, coiling, scraping the clay repetitively, I felt it was like a meditation to me, very calming and soothing.

Risa speaks Japanese too, and she taught us some of the technique's name in Japanese. However it was very hard to remember what she said without seeing the sounds being spelled out in English or Japanese, especially since we also have to work on the clay! The experience was really one of a kind. It was great and I loved it.

Thinking as a FL teacher
It is very difficult to teach or incorporate culture in foreign language teaching. I think culture and motivation share a "direct proportional" relationship, namely the more exposure to a FL culture, the better the students will be motivated and as a result, learn the target language better.

II.
Glaze (Part II)
Oct. 15, 2010
The color dye for clays are very different from the color they appear. For example, to make the clay green, you'll have to dip into the this liquid dye that appears to be maroon color, and navy blue becomes light green.

This class gave me the idea that I can learn the vocabulary for colors in Japanese and will be able to use them here in the Togei Class!

III. 
Pick Up projects
Oct. 29, 2010
I hoped to learn some vocabulary for colors on my own but found it very hard to squeeze it into my busy schedule. I visited Togei Kyoshitsu today and Risa was not there. I talked to her mom in Japanese, showed her the Japanese newspaper I got from the supermarket, and she was very nice to teach me some words on there. Some of them were Katakana characters, which I haven't learned. I only learned the 50 Hiragana characters so far and planed to stay focus on them for now, because I don't want to confuse myself with another 50 different symbols for the same sounds. I believe it will be easier for me to absorb the 50 Katakana characters once I know the Hiragana characters by heart.