Note: I’m still on my vacation, and I wrote this post before I left and had it automatically post at this time.

I figure after I’ve been giving over a month of my critiques on the KCP program, they deserve to have their go at me. Being midterms, there were two opportunities to get feedback from the teachers. First, we were required to meet with the teachers for about half an hour and discuss our midterm test grades. I was eager to see how I did, so I scheduled a meeting for before break.

After class, I met Horikoshi-sensei (our Monday and Wednesday teacher) in the teacher’s office. She asked how I thought I did on the test and then showed them to me. All of my grades were between 84 and 90 points. Keep in mind that 80-100 points is an A over here.

Listening was the worst, though still good enough that it didn’t bum me out. There were a few questions that I had to guess on, and I got a decent amount of those correct. Still, of the four core skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening), it’s the one I need to work on the most. Part of it is that the way I hear is not conducive to listening comprehension. I personally think I have great hearing, but it’s just a little different from normal. I hear ambient sounds really clearly, and can pick out a ton of different sounds occurring all around the room. I can hear quiet voices from very far away. But I can’t hear someone just talking directly to me as well as I should. My ears have ADD. It’s not so bad that I need to get to the doctor, but it’s just something I have to work with. I think this isn’t unique to me, but a lot of understanding in your native language comes from anticipation, lip reading, and filling in words that you don’t catch with words that would make sense in the context. You just become more conscious of that when a shopkeeper suddenly throws a fast sentence at you in a situation when you’re not expecting it.

Composition was an 85. By far the best grade I’ve gotten on a composition assignment so far. Partially it’s because I tried to lower the level of difficulty on my attempted sentence patterns, but I don’t want to discount how much I’ve learned since first coming here. Particles remain a problem, but verbs are getting better. We’re beginning to focus on the intricacy of particles now that the Minna no Nihongo textbook is over, so that’s likely to get better soon.

Reading was an 88. I’m not sure what I missed on, even though I had the chance to look through the graded exam. As I remember, there were a lot of small things, rather than anything large that I missed. It’s kind of tough to focus on any one element of reading comprehension, but in the second half of this semester we’re starting our Dokkai book, which has much difficult passages in it. We’ll actually be using this book all the way through level 4, and it’s meant as a transition point to newspapers and real literature.

Grammar was an 89, which I’m just tickled with. Again, it was small things that I missed on, though I’ll take an 89 on grammar tests any day of the week.

Kanji was a 90. I was actually a little disappointed in this grade, because I checked and double checked the paper and was absolutely confident that I got all but 3 questions right. It turned out that I missed about 7. From here on, we’re moving on to Kanji that I’ve largely not studied before, so I’ve got to work harder in order to keep up with the bar I’ve set for myself.

After going through my midterm and answering questions, Horikoshi-sensei talked to me about general things. She asked how I studied before coming, and I tried to recall all the various methods I tried. When I look back on the entire seven year process and have to rationally admit that I didn’t make any quantifiable progress until about two years ago, it’s a little frustrating. I’m reminded of the people who are in my same level and started studying Japanese at the beginning of this year. I could pride myself that the struggle of attempting to learn it by myself somehow contains an unmeasurable value that those who have been at KCP for two semesters already would never learn, but who knows. Horikoshi-sensei seemed impressed that I was self taught, so I’ll take that as consolation.

When it comes to talking about me, she said that I always had a 楽しそう face (I always looked like I was having a good time). We talked about who in the classroom I hung out with most of the time, I explained my complicated work situation, she asked if I had any comments on the way the class was taught.

I hope you’re getting the picture of a teaching faculty that truly cares about their students, because I’m attempting to paint that picture but the small things that can often go unnoticed and at the very least unblogged really hammer that point home day after day. Today I talked to one of the American students who said that a teacher met her at a train station after she forgot her key in the school building. I could fill this blog with these anecdotes.

I was able to answer most of the questions quickly, but she asked one question that I wasn’t able to answer, and it wasn’t because of the language barrier. “What do you plan on doing after college?” Arg. Granted, I think I’m in a decent position because I have a number of options that I conceivably do and be successful at. The JET program being one of them. It’s just nailing things down and giving a definite answer to that question that I’m not really gung-ho about committing to. This topic perhaps warrants more discussion, but this isn’t the post for it.

Finally, we talked about the JLPT. The Japanese Language Proficiency Test is the main benchmark for measuring Japanese ability for foreigners. Before coming, I toyed with the idea that I could probably pass level 3 (second easiest) with a little work. But Horikoshi-sensei said that she thought I could pass level 2 when it’s held in December. Coming from her, the most no-nonsense of my three teachers, it meant a lot. It also meant that good grades is no longer the objective of the months leading up to December. I have a goal that would signal ultimate success for this study abroad period.

There is a huge gap between level 3 and level 2, and in fact the JLPT is being restructured next year to add a level between them. Even considering my unwarranted self-confidence coming into the program, I never would have dreamed of being able to pass level 2, much less attempt to take it. You need to learn 1023 kanji, and know 5035 specific vocabulary words. There’s also a significant amount of grammar that I haven’t even touched yet that’s on the test. I’m getting ahead of myself, but once you learned 1023 kanji, you’re over halfway there to the 1945 Jouyou kanji. I should also point out that there was only about a 40% pass rate for those who took the test in 2008.

After hearing about level 2, I immediately went to Kinokuniya and started glancing through the JLPT prep books. Certainly, there is a lot of material there that I’ll have to study, but if the first half of this semester is any indication, I’ll get most of that material covered in the class itself. So, it’s going to be difficult, but I think that it’s within reach.

The other evaluation we received was our grades for the midterm, complete with a written comment from the teacher. Mine gives the following stats for our quizzes thus far:

Grammar: 79.6%
Kanji: 93.3%
Composition 72.5%
Midterm: 87.2%

Combined with my full points on homework and attendance, that puts my current midterm grade at 85.2%, or a solid A.

In addition, there was a little written comment from one of the teachers. It basically says that at the beginning I didn’t say much, but I’ve gradually been speaking more. I try hard with kanji. I need to study harder with particles. If I keep speaking more in class, I’ll get better.

So, a pretty good evaluation I’d have to say. I’m happy with it. I don’t have any major regrets from the first month and a half, but there’s still a clear direction to go from here.

Two last random things. All three of our teachers have said at different times that of all the five level 3 classes, our class has the best grades, and the most consistent attendance. I guess I didn’t know how good I had it, because I don’t have to worry about classmates who don’t care and drag the energy level of the class down.

On Thursday, right before class got over, my favorite teacher Fukumoto-sensei announced that she was leaving KCP! So, that’s mega sad. I don’t know anything about the new teacher except for the name, but I hope he/she can come close to filling her shoes.

So, right now I’m still on my trip. If you haven’t guessed where I’m going yet, here’s another hint: the literal translation of the city I’m going is “wide island.” The word for island is 島 (shima).