I am a native Japanese speaker teaching Japanese in a university somewhere on this planet. This blog is usually written in English, but sometimes Japanese and Chinese appear. Please don't care what you cannot read. They are for my students.
Hi, this is a blog that is a record of my career as a Japanese teacher.
Please visit my photo gallery “LQ Laoshi’s Photo Gallery” (outside of wordpress)
I like playing music on my electric bass. Please visit “LQ Laoshi Plays Electric Bass.” and listen. The following is one of my bass playing.
J. S. Bach, Unaccompanied Cello Suite No.3, Prelude on Electric Bass (4.22MB)
「ら抜き」とは、動詞の可能形から、「ら」を抜いてしまうことです。
可能形を見てみましょう。
辞書形 → 可能形です。
・一段動詞
（上一段）
見る：みる → みられる
着る：きる → きられる
（下一段）
寝る：ねる → ねられる
食べる：たべる → たべられる
・カ変動詞
来る：くる → こられる
・サ変動詞
する → できる
・五段動詞
ワ行：買う：かう → かえる
カ行：聞く：きく → きける
ガ行：泳ぐ：およぐ → およげる
サ行：話す：はなす → はなせる
タ行：持つ：もつ → もてる
バ行：飛ぶ：とぶ → とべる
マ行：飲む：のむ → のめる
ラ行：作る：つくる → つくれる
上に書いた可能形をよく見てください。「ら」があるのはどの動詞ですか？
・一段動詞
・カ変動詞
この２つです。この２つの可能形から「ら」を取って（抜いて）言うことが多くなっています。
「ら抜き」の例
・一段動詞
○みられる → ×みれる
○きられる → ×きれる
○ねられる → ×ねれる
○たべられる → ×たべれる
・カ変
○こられる → ×これる
このような「ら抜き」は、規範的な日本語としては、まだ認められていません。しかし、若者の間では「ら抜き」が一般的になっています。
ちょっと紛らわしいのですが、ラ行五段動詞の可能形は「ら」がありそうですが、ありません。
・作る → ○つくれる、×つくられる（可能形として）
・取る → ○とれる、×とられる（可能形として）
・帰る → ○かえれる、×かえられる（可能形として）
「ら」の入った方は、動詞や状況によりますが、受身や尊敬で使います。
受身や尊敬との関係で言えば、「ら抜き」は可能形と、受身・尊敬を区別するという効用があります。授業で示した例文は次のようでした。
例：日本から有名な先生が来られます。公開講義をしますから、来れる学生は参加しなさい。
「来られます」は先生に対する尊敬です。「来れる」は「ら抜き」ですが、可能を表します。このような効用がありますが、まだ「ら抜き」は正式には認められていません。しかし、「来れる」などの「ら抜き」は言いやすく、一般的になってしまったので、もう「来られる」に戻ることは難しいと思います。
以上、「ら抜き」の説明でした。
My lower back is aching. Even when I am teaching in a classroom, I feel it aching. The cause is clear; long hours of sitting and lack of exercise. I am always sitting on a chair to prepare for my classes from getting up in the morning to going to bed in the night. And I don’t play any sports. These days I feel a lot of pain on my lower back and thigh. The lower back pain comes from long hours of the same posture, the pain of thigh is caused to support my weight on a chair.
In order to solve these problems, or in other words, in order to continue to work, I started to work with standing from today. Actually, this was what I did in the years of on-line teaching during the pandemic. I put two chairs on the desk. One chair doesn’t give me enough space to place the computer, the keyboard, the mouse, and two backup hard-disks. Working standing is not so bad. I recommend this way if a person has lower back pain.
Today is the forty-first day of the spring semester 2024. Since the day time today was filled with beautiful spring atmosphere, I went outside campus and bought 5KG of rice, 1KG of dried Udon, and big package of tea leaves.
I-adjective “いい” consists from two letters of “い”.
The second letter conjugates (changes) as well as other I-adjectives. But the first letter also changes. Note that I-adjective “いい” came from “よい”.
1) The first letter “い” remains to be “い”
・今日は いい天気です。
･･･“いい” modifies the noun “天気”
・今日の天気は いいです。
･･･“いい” is the predicative.
2) The first letter “い” becomes “よ”
・今日の天気は よくないです。
･･･ Negative predicate in present tense
・昨日は 天気が よかったです。
･･･ Positive predicate in past tense
・天気がよくて、外で遊びました。
･･･ A kind of Te-form
・天気がよければ、外に出ます。
･･･ Conditional form
Therefore, “いい” turns to be the original “よい” in the cases of 2).
Today is the thirty-ninth day of the spring semester 2024 and is Friday when is the last day of a weekday. I have checked in this week, about the small console on the teacher’s desk. Other teachers bring USB memory to the classroom, and connect it to the small console on the teacher’s desk. In this way, teachers use the computer which is built in in the teacher’s desk. A USB memory is a small tiny device, light and easy to carry.
I don’t do as other teachers do. Every time I do the class, I bring my computer and connect not USB memory but two cables; one for visual data and one for audio data from my computer. The reason is that, if I use the built-in computer, Japanese letters are converted very ugly fonts because the built-in computer doesn’t have “Textbook font” of Japanese. And layout in a PPT slide is not displayed as I made by my computer. So, I cannot show what I want to show on the screen, if I use the built-in computer and USB memory.
Bringing my computer and two cables for visual and audio to the classroom, I connect these three things to the small console on the teacher’s desk. There are some jacks on aluminum plate on the teacher’s desk. The aluminum plate is thin. I worry about durability of the plate because the plate always bents every time I connect or remove plugs to jacks.
I use five classrooms. I have checked this week, about how to connect the cables.
1. Power from Outlet
If an outlet is there, that does not necessarily mean I can get electricity. That is what I wrote in a post before. In one classroom, the outlet on the teacher’s desk provides power. In three classrooms, although there are outlets on the teacher’s desk, they do not provide power. In One classroom, there is an outlet tap that is functioning, but the outlets on the tap is occupied by other devices. There is no outlet available for my computer.
For these four classrooms, I connect the power cable to the nearest outlet using an extension cable. I can connect to the outlet under the blackboard in three classrooms, but in one classroom, I need to lengthen the extension cable to the wall that is along the corridor. Students come through the door and almost hook or kick the cable by their foot. I need to say “Look out!” so often.
2. Cable for Visual Data
I borrow a HDMI cable from teachers’ room. But it has problem of bad connection. So, it’s not the problem of a Jack on the console but of plug of the cable. For this reason, I prefer a VGA cable that is blue one to a HDMI cable. In one classroom out of five, the screen is very dark with VGA cable. I have to use HDMI cable for that classroom. Sometimes the display is shut down because of bad connection of HDMI, I have to tap several times the plug of HDMI. For other four classrooms, VGA cable works well.
Actually, I have got another problem with HDMI cable. That is the HDMI cable does not convey audio from my computer to the classroom system. I need to use another cable for audio because of this problem.
3. Cable for Audio Data
Since I had known the problem about audio, I brought an audio cable from Japan when I came back here in the end of February. The cable has the stereo plug of 3.5mm on one end and the monaural plug of 3.5mm on the other. I use this cable in three classrooms. There is no problem about bad connection between plug and jack. In one classroom, I don’t need the cable because it is conversation class in which I say everything. But in one class of listening course, the jack for microphone is of 6.5mm. The jack of my cable doesn’t fit because it is 3.5mm. In order to solve the problem, I made by myself a device of speaker and amplifier in the winter break and brought it. Now I am thinking about buying an adapter between 6.5mm and 3.5mm monaural jacks in summer break in Japan.
The things above may seem to be tiny things. But for me, it is important to teach effectively in classroom. And I think that the university has to supervise these kinds of outsourcing works that the university contracted. For example, a thorough inspection must be done before payment whether or not the contractor has completed the tasks with required quality and quantities as specified in the contract documents.
Today is the thirty-eighth day of the spring semester 2024. Since today is Thursday, I have three classes to teach, although I feel even one class is enough to make me exhausted these days. One teacher (of this country) asked me to introduce some literature about tense and aspect of Japanese. I don’t have any literature of research level about such linguistic issues. This morning, I made a photocopy from a book that I have. And I brought it to his office in lunch break. Since he wasn’t there, I passed my photocopy to other teacher who shared the office.
After two classes in the afternoon, I got back my room. And then I slept half an hour on my bed. Though it already turned to be dark outside, I went to the campus super market to buy some food. I met two male students there. They were the third-year students. I had taught them when they were the second-year students. I asked them in Japanese “Isogashii desuka?” It meant like “Are you guys busy these days?” To my surprise, they didn’t understand what I asked. The adjective “Isogashii” is a word to learn during the first year. It seemed as if they had already forgot Japanese. I felt it difficult to continue to communicate them, so I said good-bye to them. It looked like they were still talking each other about what the word “isogashii” was. It was a funny moment.
Today is the thirty-seventh day of the spring semester 2024. I went to the administrative building in the morning. I wanted to print answer sheets for a quiz that I would assign in the class tomorrow. When I got to the teacher’s room, one teacher (of this country) was cleaning a toner cartridge with paper tissue. He said he shook the toner cartridge. I saw the toner, or black powder were splashed everywhere; inside and around the cartridge, inside printer, and the table.
At a glance, I got to know that I couldn’t use that printer today. It seemed like that toner cartridge was not a genuine product. Every time I use the printer, I get dirty printed matters with a lot of black spots. I worry that it will be a huge problem when teachers submit the original papers of the final examination because of the bad quality of toner cartridge. I told this issue to the chief. But I am not sure if or not the problem will be solved by the 11th week when is the deadline for submission. Since I needed at least one copy of quiz answer sheets, I went to the international exchange room and asked for a help. I got one sheet of the paper and made 13 photocopies in another room. That was my morning hours today.
I had been just making PPT slides for tomorrow class all afternoon. In the evening, water supply stopped for a while. Luckily enough, I had already finished cooking my supper when water stopped. Though I wanted to wash my hands before eating, I ate my supper without washing. I also ate green beans heated by microwave, not with QP mayonnaise from Japan but vinegar I bought here. Since I have eaten all the green beans that I bought last Saturday, the next time I can eat green beans will be coming Saturday. The water supply resumed after supper, so, I didn’t have any problem for washing dishes. I think we have to be thankful if the those basic supplies of lifeline function.
Today is the thirty-sixth day of the spring semester 2024. I have one class before noon. That is for the first-year students. I made them “chorus repeat” before the pair activity of the day. Their voice in Japanese sounded good, but I thought that good students speak loudly, and no-so-good students speak in small voice. When they said an I-adjective predicate in past-negative, I could hear that some voices saying “Oishiikunakkata”. It must be “Oishikunakatta”. It may seem to be a small difference in written alphabet, but for the ears of native speaker, it is very different. “Oishiiku” has two possibilities; the one is that a student doesn’t understand conjugation of I-adjectives, the other is that a student has tendency to elongate vowels.
Usually, I cannot do anything in Tuesday afternoon because I keep working through the weekend. Today, too, I didn’t want to do anything, But, before taking nap, I handwashed two white shirts. There is a washing machine in my room. The university provides the machines to foreign teachers. The machine has the major German company’s name on top. And it amazingly uses less water comparing to washing machines of Japanese companies. Probably the design philosophy must be quite different between German and Japanese electric appliances manufactures. But one thing is common to both; washing machines cannot get rid of dirt on the collar of white shirts. I mean the inside of collar that neck touches. That is the part that can be most dirty on a white shirt, and the second is inside of cuff.
If I wash white shirts only by washing machine, collar and cuffs continue to be dirty. There is a good way; handwashing. I brought a soap from Japan, which is exclusively for handwashing. Its name is “Utamaro” having green color and nice fragrance. In this afternoon, I washed white shirts by my hands using “Utamaro”. I’d say it’s fun because I can do what a washing machine can’t. Of course I couldn’t make it perfectly white, but dirty collar and cuffs did amazingly become white.
Not only white shirts, I handwashed a cotton hat recently. “Utamaro” made a little old and dirty hat clean. The hat is light and has bright color suitable to the spring season. Walking outside with that hat on my head makes me feel good. So, if I had time to do so,,,,,,
Today is the thirty-fifth day of the spring semester 2024. I have three classes; the two for the second-year students and the one for the first -year students. I made my students do a pair-work in the latter that is conversation course. Actually, this activity is a kind of preparation for the final examination. I told this to the students so that they would do the activity seriously. Now it is the one-third point of the semester. I am planning the same activity at the two-third point.
The procedure of the activity is as follows;
1. Teacher’s explanation
2. Collecting students’ mobile phones
3. Showing a rough script that has many blanks
4. Drafting a script by students
5. Returning mobile phones
6. Recording conversation by the pairs
7. Sending the audio data to the teacher
The reason to do “2.” is to stop students’ use of translation software on mobile phone.
The activity was done at the end of the class. Time was only 30 minutes. I have got some knowledge for the testing procedure through this pair activities of conversation. Today, I don’t have time to write about the result, and I haven’t evaluated 14 audio data yet. I will listen to the audio data and use them as individualized instruction for each pair and each student.
Today is the thirty-fourth day of the spring semester 2024. Today is not weekend for me, but a working day. I taught one class in the morning. Actually. After the class, I went to the teacher’s room to print quiz answer sheets. I came back my room a little after 10 o’clock. I had been working in my room to make PPT slides for tomorrow class. Probably I took a nap from 2 to 3 in the afternoon. Then I made a test for the first-year students. Its purpose is to measure how students learned from my instruction in the first one third of this semester. I needed to print the test paper, but it was already 5 p.m. when I finished making it. I decided to print it tomorrow morning. I cooked my supper from 6 to 7 p.m. Tonight, too, I ate green beans for my supper but not with mayonnaise but with vinegar that I bought yesterday. Mayonnaise is the best, but vinegar is not so bad.
These days, I eat green beans in every supper. Green beans are called in Japan “Ingen” because green beans were said to have been brought by Zen-master Ingen. I think that the best way is to boil and eat them with mayonnaise. But the difficult part of cooking is boiling. If you boil green beans too long, they become too soft. If you boil them too short, they are still hard to chew. It is difficult to control boiling minutes when you are cooking other menus simultaneously. I had often boiled green beans many minutes and made them too soft in the past.
My solution is to heat them by microwave. I set the heating time to be 2 minutes and 40 seconds. So far, I think this heating time is the best. Tonight too, I cooked green beans with microwave and ate them with mayonnaise.
My new concern is that now the mayonnaise is almost running out. I brought a small amount of QP mayonnaise from Japan. I should have brought it more, but I can do nothing about it now. I would like to say loudly that it is a sheer precious happiness if you can eat your salad and/or boiled vegetables with mayonnaise.
Agony or Fun?! Second Language Learning 