Review / Practice On My Own

Repetition, Drilling, Large amount of input/output

During Lesson 3, Kayoko would teach me the material once, practice several times, and then started to show me ways to make sentences or questions with it. She would have me practice the material over and over again. Then she would change it a little bit, and have me practice over and over again. I had been a quick learner and did not consider there was the need for such repetition. However, when I tried to review the materials on my own, I really appreciated the effect it had. It made reviewing much easier. Because of the drilling we had during the session for days of the month (we watched the video twice, and Kayoko went over with me several times too), I was able to recite the rap from the youtube video without watching it again on my own!

Metacognitive Learning: Making Connection between Languages

Articulation : Japanese vs Cantonese 

I was practicing the irregular days of the month rap, and my boyfriend told me that he found 4,Yokka, and 8, Yooka sounded very similar. He could not distinguish them. 

I totally did not notice how similar Yokka and Yooka were last time when I had the class (Lesson3).

That day I basically pronounced the two words by the sounds and rhythm I remembered from the rap (video). 

A few days later, I suddenly made a connection of the way 4 was spelled (in Romaji) "Yokka" to Cantonese. I know that in Cantonese, there are a lot of "k" sound and "t" sound at the end of a syllable, such as in the name of a famous movie star, Chow Yun Fat. We don't really pronounce that "t" but only form our mouths into the position of pronouncing "t". 

I then realized that maybe it's not "Yo-kka" but "Yok-ka," and that was why Kayoko kept telling me there needed to be a pause between the "yok" and the "ka."

It was so complicated, but I was glad I figured it out. However, I still felt that I could not distinguish between yokka and yooka. To me I felt that the "yoo" sound in yooka, demostrate a fourth-tone quality. That was how I remembered it although I did not know whether my pronunciation had been correct or not.