Who is Your Emergency Contact?

We were watching NCIS recently, and two characters who have newly started dating are talking about who their emergency contacts were. The boyfriend confessed that he made his new girlfriend his. Her reaction is sweet and loaded with significance. Which got me thinking about how much meaning we put on this simple, practical gesture. It …

Books to Know Thyself Better

Is reading self-help and pop psychology books a hobby? If it is, I've been quite prolific this year! Here are some books that I've found useful for examining the inner self and taking positive steps forward. These are all books I've read in the last year, and this list is not intended to be comprehensive …

Summer Beach Reading

I evaluate every book I'm thinking about reading in summer in terms of it's potential as a "beach read" - whether or not I have any ability to actually read at a beach! As I see it, summer book choices should have a certain magic and humor to them. They don't have to be fluff …

Resource Book Review

Klippel, F. (1984). Keep talking: Communicative fluency activities for language teachers. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. Klippel bases his teacher resource book for speaking activities on several principles. One is that language use in the classroom is not meant to be an exercise in repetition or rote memorization, but rather in mimicking real-world communicative situations. This is …

Listening Assessment Webinar

Dr. Vandergrift presents a virtual workshop on assessing L2 listening. When students are anxious about getting the "right answer" when listening to an oral text, this burdens their short term memory and takes away from their comprehension of the text. So instead of some traditional forms of assessment (ie, asking comprehension questions following a listening …

Princess Arete: Listening Log 5

Princess Arete tells the story of a young princess who becomes imprisoned by a wizard trying to live forever. Arete lives in the tower of her castle and watches the people living below her. Suitors keep bringing magical treasures to the castle to win her hand in marriage. One day, a wizard comes and tricks …

The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness: Listening Log 4

The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness is a documentary following Studio Ghibli's main animators, particularly Hayao Miyazaki, over the course of a year, as well as the interconnected histories of those who brought about the studio itself. It starts during the production of The Wind Rises, and ends with Miyazaki's announcement of retirement. The film …

Listening Log 3

In the second episode of Ouran High School Host Club ("The Job of a High School Host!), Haruhi walks into the club to find it decorated like a tropical forest with plants and animals. During this, the president announces that there will be a dance party one week later. In preparation, Haruhi practices dancing with …

Listening Log 2

In the first episode of Ouran High School Host Club (Ep. 1 - "Starting Today, You are a Host!"), our protagonist, Haruhi, stumbles upon what she thinks is a music practice room. Being new to the school and sloppily dressed like a male student, she seeks a place to hide, since her mother has died, and …

Listening Log 1

For my first Listening Log, I chose a listening comprehension section of the JLPT N4 (there are five levels, N5 being the lowest, and N1 being the most advanced). This test, which measures general Japanese proficiency, includes only reading and listening, and the listening section lasted for 36 minutes. There were about 30 questions in …