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Subject - Verb - Object.

Cats - Eat - Fish.

Topic/Subject - Object - Verb.

Cats - Fish - Eat.

Wa=は：Topic Marker
In the Japanese Language the topic or subject of the sentence is addressed first with the particle "は-wa" behind it. は　is the Topic Marker. You can sometimes talk with out it but it is considered rude.

Oh=を：Directinal Particle
The object is marked with a "directional Particle" after it. There are many Directional Particles out there that mean so many things that I can not cover them all. But I will teach you the most common ones used. In this case it is "を-wo" pronounced "Oh".




DESU=です: Am, Is, Are, Be - The Versatile Verb!
Desu is most likely the most common verb used in that Japanese Language. It turns nouns into sentences and makes adjectives polite!

Here is normal greeting with some small talk with our friends Haruko Yamada and Ichirou Ueda

H:今日は！
Konnichiwa!
Hello

I：今日は
Konnichiwa
Hello

H：私の名前は山田春子です。どうぞ宜しくお願いします！
Watashi no namae ha Yamada Haruko desu. Douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu!
My name is Yamada Haruko. Please to meet you!

Ｉ：私は上田一郎です。どうぞ宜しくお願いします。
Watashi no namae ha Ueda Ichirou desu. Douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu.
My name is Ueda Ichirou. Nice to meet you.

Ｈ：いい天気ですね。
Ii tenki desu ne.
Nice weather isn't it.

Ｉ：そうですね。いい天気です。
Sou desu ne. Ii tenki desu.
It is isn't it. It's nice weather.

Vocabulary:
Watashi=私：Watashi is equivalent to "I" in English.

no=の：'no' is a Modifying Particle that show's Possession. In this case it shows that the "Name" Belongs to "I"
watashi no namae= My Name.

Douzo yoroshiku onegaishimasu=どうぞ宜しくお願いします: This is a phrase used when you first introduce yourself to someone. It means "I wish you will be very kind to me" and is equivalent to "Please to meet you" or "Nice to meet you".

Ii=いい：Adjective that means Good/nice.

Tenki=てんき:(noun) Weather.

Practice Time!
Post the answers to my question in Japanese!

1. Introduce yourself!

2. What type of weather is it outside right now?

Word Bank:
Hidoi=ひどい:(Adj)Awful, terrible
Samui=寒い：(Adj)Cold
Atsui=暑い：(Adj)Hot
kirei na=きれいな：(Adj-n)Pretty
Atatakai=暖かい:(Adj)Warm, Mild

今日は！
私の名前はエンヂアです。どうぞ 宜しく お願いします。
てんきを寒いです。

私の名前はGalicia Hynosky です。

てんき暖かいです。

こんにちわ！
私の名前はLindsey です。どうぞよろしくお願いします！
ひどい寒い天気。

How'd I do for first go? sweatdrop

I also have a few constructive criticisms on this as a lesson. Please don't be offended by this but I am just trying to help your teaching methods and ensure that all of those who read them receive the detailed information they need to more effectively learn.

First of all, the lesson starts of well for a beginning structure. The differences between English and Japanese when it comes to structure are very different. However, verbs are not something to start beginning students on. Japanese verbs are way more complex than the English equivalents do to the fact that there are multiple conjugations needed to understand a certain aspect of a Japanese verb. Instead, I would suggest starting with simple noun sentences and explain from those examples. This not only gives encouragement for learning more vocabulary but it gives students a chance to use the structure and therefore remembering it more easily. As an example, I would use the structure XはYです。Most people understand the mathematical format, you simple need to explain that X and Y are both nouns. The most convenient example is 「わたし　は　エル　です。」 Please note that the hiragana and katakana are easier for beginners to read and the spaces, while not needed in Japanese, help beginners to see the structure more clearly. From here you can explain は(pronounced wa) and です (pronounced DEH-s or DEH-sue), which brings me to my next point.

Secondly, です is not just a versatile verb, it is the Auxiliary verb. Using this name for it will help your students to better understand it's meaning because we (english speakers) have the same auxiliary verb "is". The only difference between the English and Japanese "is" is that while ours changes with structure (is, am, are, be, etc) です does not change so readily (though it does change form slightly, it is not to the extent of the English transformation).

Thirdly, when writing dialogue, please make sure your transpositions are correct! If you use kanji, please remember also to use hiragana. Beginning students will be less interested in what they cannot figure out. I would say that most beginning students who read those sentences did not even attempt at the full kanji sentences but only read straight from the romanji. This hinders reading skill and the remembrance of the kana, thus stunting learning in your students.

In the vocabulary section, の　is not a "vocabulary" it is a structure that needs to be explained. It was good to give an example but you should also give non-possessive examples of の.

Lastly, Japanese adjectives DO NOT act like English adjectives and you have absolutely no explanation on how to use them or why you use them that way. Like Verbs, adjectives are way over beginner's heads because in English we do not conjugate them, the Japanese do. This is a difficult concept for most Western speaking people. Especially いい (good) because it is irregular.

Your practice section is alright, but if you want to go over introduction I would also add the use of 「はじめまして」　and the differences between it and 「どうぞよろしく」.


I hope this not only helped the Author of this thread but also the students who have read it. Happy Studying *^_^*

this has been really helpful, ty, even the constructive criticism

Konnichiwa!
Watashi no namae ha Rosuke desu. 3nodding

はじめまして、私の名前はシャシタです。オランダの南大学で日本語を勉強しています。来月から二年生です。二十歳です。どうぞよろしくおねがいします。

今、天気はくもりです。すずしいです。