PE Reflection and Goals for the final half

I actually feel like - in this semester more than any of the other ones - my Japanese language skills increased. I've made big improvements in articular when it comes to the naturalness and fluidity of my speech, and just like my goals from last semester stated, I hesitate less. I'm also significantly faster than I was, too.

 I did really well on the oral part of my midterm because of this: Sato-sensei specifically complemented me on the natural quality of the conversation, and asked how I had practiced for it. I think the improvement really just came from talking in Japanese as much as possible. Shadowing things like the "Let's Speak Japanese" Dialogue Sets,  talking with the sensei and my classmates outside of a classroom setting, and especially going to Language Table were all things that I think caused noticeable improvements in my Japanese. To reach a conversational level, I clearly must continue to have conversations. むずかしくないね？

My goals and activities for the next half of the semester reflect this realization.

Goals

•  Gain a greater mastery over "conversational" Japanese; learn to sustain natural conversations for longer without unnatural pauses or breaks
• Create longer and more complex sentences by using て、から、けど、が, make more frequent and appropriate use of adverbs
• Practice basic conversational phrases and memorize their pitch patterns

Activities:

• Shadow from Dialogue Sets,
• Attend Forbes Language Table (sorry Mathey), hopefully with Tameyori-sensei
• Perform listening assessments to improve ability to decipher pitch and intonation