nakanaka
New Member
O(≧▽≦)O ワーイ♪
Posts: 47
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Post by nakanaka on Apr 18, 2009 11:06:33 GMT -5
As a kid, I went to saturday school every week so that I could learn japanese... Although I really disliked it, I'm pretty happy I did it because I can speak japanese fluently now ;D
I'm wondering, what are your experiences with saturday language/ culuture shools??
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Post by xandra on Apr 18, 2009 11:46:00 GMT -5
I went to an Italian Saturday school as a child and mostly I just remember playing during recess, the food we made sometimes and having to learn dance routines and perform them at cultural shows.
When I was 13 my brother and I went to Vietnamese school. We learned how to read vietnamese, but we were at a major disadvantage since all the other kids knew how to speak Viet, whereas we only knew a few words here and there. We were also put in a class with younger kids since our Viet was so basic. At one point I could count to 100, but I've long forgotten that. But what sticks out in my mind from these classes is how nice our teacher was. He was a retired man, and sometimes I would see him on the bus and chat with him.
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Post by Nikki on Apr 18, 2009 16:03:27 GMT -5
Ah, nakanaka I'm jealous. My mum taught me some Japanese growing up - simple books and I learned my hiragana pretty easily. I breezed through my Japanese classes in high school for the first year and then my advantage quickly faded. My recent couple years in Japan definitely taught me a lot, but not as much as if I had been regularly schooled growing up. Definitely not fluent quite yet. Kudos to your parents!
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Post by dave on Apr 18, 2009 17:37:05 GMT -5
I used to do Kumon (my mum's friend used to run one) for quite a few years when I was younger which kept my Japanese ticking over at a basic level. Although I used to go to these classes off my own back it takes a different level of maturity and dedication to really follow it through, and I was more interested in playing football! Meh, only if I actually liked reading or manga as a kid it might've helped.
The whole mastering kanji/Chinese script is pretty tough unless you've been immersed in the culture. I respect anyone who's done that having been brought up in the West. I can speak Japanese fluently enough (though with a limited vocab) but writing it is another story.
I'm still trying to master kanji now and am using the Heisig method if anyone knows. Hard finding the time and then having the energy to do it though!
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Post by Groink on Apr 18, 2009 17:51:22 GMT -5
Funny, "Saturday School" was code for "detention" when I was growing up.
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Post by nemesisgalofdoom on Apr 18, 2009 18:16:35 GMT -5
Funny, "Saturday School" was code for "detention" when I was growing up. hahaha ^^ @ nakanaka My sister went to a saturday school in Germany and she didn't like it, because the Japanese kids called her Gaijin. I didn't have to go to a saturday school because my Japanese was (and is) fluent ^^ I am thinking to send my daughter to a saturday school if there*d be some halfs, dont want her to be alone as Eurasian beyond the Japanese, I know how mean they can be.
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nakanaka
New Member
O(≧▽≦)O ワーイ♪
Posts: 47
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Post by nakanaka on Apr 18, 2009 19:12:02 GMT -5
Funny, "Saturday School" was code for "detention" when I was growing up. hahaha ^^ @ nakanaka My sister went to a saturday school in Germany and she didn't like it, because the Japanese kids called her Gaijin. I didn't have to go to a saturday school because my Japanese was (and is) fluent ^^ I am thinking to send my daughter to a saturday school if there*d be some halfs, dont want her to be alone as Eurasian beyond the Japanese, I know how mean they can be. I was the only eurasian in my class too... and the teachers were sooooo kibishii!!!! all the kids used to call me gaijin... but it was ok because i really didn't see them outside of school... long story short though my parents didn't send my sister to japanese school for this reason...
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thea
Full Member
Posts: 334
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Post by thea on Apr 19, 2009 1:49:40 GMT -5
Just wondering who sponsors all these Saturday language/culture groups? Parents groups, church groups etc? My Chinese-Am. friend went to after school language classes, some Japanese kids did too. I know in one large Catholic church parish there is a Saturday Chinese language class. I've only recently come across Filipino or Tagalog classes at the Bayanihan House on Monday evenings, and in Saturday afternoons in Berkeley at a gallery (forgot the name). I didn't grow up going to Saturday language/culture class. Instead I went to Catholic Catechism Doctrine classand music lessons.
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Post by helles on Apr 20, 2009 9:52:12 GMT -5
yup. i went to Chinese school every sat for about 5 years. really glad (now) that i went, but back then it was a chore since i'd miss out on hanging out with my friend in the town centre. hah.
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Post by Micha on Apr 20, 2009 19:34:45 GMT -5
I went to Chinese school for at least 5-6 years and all I remember was that there was a really good looking Eurasian boy called Matthew (actually he looked like Harry Potter) - went every week just to look at him and try and talk to him and at the end of it, all I could do was count to ten.
Things haven't really changed..
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Kush
Junior Member
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Posts: 153
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Post by Kush on Apr 23, 2009 18:49:37 GMT -5
Never went to one.
Well, I took some Mandarin lessons when I was 16 (because they were cheap and my mum wasn't immensely keen on teaching me again). There was only four of us in a small room (on most days one person wouldn't show up, so it would just be three of us) and only two of us were beginners and the other beginner was already fluent in Cantonese (so he no doubt would progress much faster than me). Some people like having so few people in a class but I personally hate it. The teacher spent a large percentage of time with the two students who were already semi-fluent so I spent quite a lot of time sitting around bored. I also got the feeling I was being patronised and being focused on far more than my other beginner counterpart. Really didn't like that, I felt like a retard or something.
Also, most of it was based around a CD, which I could have done at home myself. And the age gap didn't help, they were all 35+ and I'm 16. So I dropped out after four weeks, even though I had learnt alot I just wouldn't have been able to stick it.
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Post by meep on May 6, 2009 1:42:18 GMT -5
I went to Saturday school to learn mandarin. I went for 1 and a half years and got put in the kiddies class despite being about 12 (the rest of the kids were like 6-7). The majority of the students there were Chinese who spoke some form of Chinese at home. I didn't like it 'cause I thought the teachers looked down on me, thought of me as being strange and retarded (I don't know why, still to this day), and the kids would tease me and call me a 'stupid white girl' despite the fact that I am half Chinese.
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Post by halfbreed on May 6, 2009 2:04:56 GMT -5
I went to Mandarin Saturday school for a year. I didn't learn a thing. All the kids could speak Mandarin and the teacher taught in it. All I did there was trade Pokémon cards. I had these friends who were boy & girl twins called Andy and Candy. ;D I was also friends with the only other non-full Chinese girl there. She was Sri Lankan or something. She could speak it better than me. Anyway, I missed a few lessons for some reason and when I came back, she told the other kids to not let me play.
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Post by nemesisgalofdoom on May 6, 2009 15:50:27 GMT -5
All I did there was trade Pokémon cards. I had these friends who were boy & girl twins called Andy and Candy. .......XD XD XD ;D
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Post by mingzayni88 on May 13, 2009 13:55:21 GMT -5
i went Arabic Saturday School. We basically learned arabic and Islamic studies and stuff. Ramadan time was fun there because we got to decorate and learn songs for the eid!...I miss being a kid..
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