にほんごでブログをしましょう: Blogging Project

Welcome to First-Year Japanese I! How's your study so far? Fun? Exciting? Frustrated? Overwhelmed? Whatever you feel, you're not the only one who feels that way---I bet many in our class agree with you.

In this course, we will share our learning experiences on blogs. I would like to have spaces besides the classroom where we all can express ourselves, support each other, ask questions, etc. You can write about anything (well, as long as it's legal), for example, activities you do after class, what you would like to do in Japanese, and even suggestions/complaints about our Japanese class.

So, the main objective of this blogging project is to communicate with others by:

• Expressing your thoughts, feelings, opinions etc. to others (me, classmates, Japanese students in other schools, Japanese-speaking people) in Japanese and/or other languages of your choice).
• Responding comments using the "Comment" function on blog.

This blog links to your blogs and your classmates' so that you can see what others think and feel about their learning process or just simply what they're up to.

I'm interested in your experience as a language learner: what you feel, how you see it, what you think about it, etc. Please feel free to write about whatever you want to share with the readers of your blog. Jut don't forget to make a post once a week and visit others' blogs (your classmates' blogs, my blog, and blogs by students from different schools). Also, take advantage of the "Comment" function to interact with others.

Remember, you are encouraged to express yourself about any topics in any language. The sky is the limit!

To begin the project, create your own blog. Here is how to do it:

1) Go to http://www.blogger.com to open your blog.

1. Select "Settings" from the top tabs. Click "Formatting" and select any language you like for "Language" so that you can display information such as time and date of your post in the language of your choice.
2. In order to receive comments from as many people as possible, please select "Comments" and choose "Anyone" for "Who can comment" section.
3. You may want to know when someone left a comment to your blog. Go to "Settings" >> "Comments", scroll down to "Comment Notification Address", and type e-mail address to which you want notification to be sent.
   
4. If you want to know how to type Japanese, please click the link listed on the right side.
   

2) Send your blog address to me (mf2249@columbia.edu).

• If you have trouble opening a new account, please let me know.
• If you already have a blog and if you can use Japanese, you do not have to open a new account.
  

3) Post a blog entry once a week.

• Here are some inspirations for your blog topics (they are just suggestions, so write whatever you want!)
• I could read Japanese!
  
• I spoke Japanese!
• I went to Japan!
  
• Why I study Japanese
• My Japanese friends
• I'm confused! Help!
• My secret study tips
  
• My daily schedule
• Japanese restaurants in town
• My hobbies
• Japanese music, dramas, food, anime, manga
  
• What I like/dislike about my Japaense class
• What I'd like to do in my Japanese class
  
• My favorite websites
• My classmates
• Japanese grammar
• Japanese vocabulary
  
• Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji
• My favorite language lab exercises

4) You are also encouraged to visit others' blogs. Links to other interesting blogs can be seen on the right-side of this page. (they include links to other Japanese learners' blogs!)

If you want to discuss linguistic errors (spelling, vocab, grammar) in your posts, please feel free to come to see me. We can take a look at your posts and work on correction together.