Tips for speaking practice?

At Yamasa I have one private lesson a week; 50 minutes of undivided attention in a small room, where a Japanese teacher will work with me on whatever I want to learn. Other than going over points I didn't understand in class, I want to use these lessons for speaking practice, because that's my weak spot.

For the first one or two lessons, I want to prepare a thing or two just in case the teacher hasn't got anything ready. Does anyone have any suggestions?

There's only so much to talk about before weekend, hobbies, news, etc. are covered.
Surely someone has done something similar before and can share a few pointers.

Thanks.

Back in the days when I used to sell my gaijinity I had a few students who showed remarkable progress with their English. What they had in common was that they studied like demons on their own and made very good use of the limited time they had one-on-one in front of a teacher by showing up prepared with notes and questions regarding things they were having trouble grasping through individual study. It was bam! bam! bam! question after question through the whole time together. My best student went from absolute remedial beginner stuff to being able to read (and enjoy) English books without a dictionary, and then went on to do a Masters degree in the U.S. I don't take credit for it; that's all her doing. I had many others who showed up without having studied or reviewed anything and who expected to just magically absorb English by sitting there like a bump on a log in front of a native speaker.

What I'm building up to is this: Maximize the potential you can get out of your resources and opportunities.

You have ONE person who will sit with you one-on-one for 50 minutes and cover anything you want. Hammer him with pointed questions on things you have trouble understanding. Have him help you with drills. Do anything other than just waste your time chewing the fat.

You have over 370,000 people in Okazaki who you can practice shooting the breeze with. Use them. You came all the way to Japan to study Japanese. You can't close your eyes and throw a rock in any direction without risking crippling a Japanese speaker. Talk to them. Do it while you can. They're not going to be there for you to practice speaking when your time in Japan is up and you go back home. Every time I see somebody lamenting that they don't get to practice speaking Japanese....while they're in Japan....I can't help but think it is like falling in a lake and dying of dehydration.

One person will patiently strive to answer any and all of your language related questions.

370,000 will at least exchange pleasantries and idle banter with you.

Don't get the two mixed up,.

Mike Cash said:

Maximize the potential you can get out of your resources and opportunities.

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Thank you, Mike. It seems like sometimes I just need someone to hit me over the head with common sense.

The main issue is that Yamasa's teachers decided that the correct class for me is 101; i.e. starting over from 初めまして. It's depressing, but it was partially the result of my poor speaking skills. There aren't that many places to speak Japanese outside of Japan, after all. If they would've placed me in a higher level, questions would most likely have stockpiled automatically. That is what I had in mind when signing up.

Anyway, I've dug out my "Breaking into Japanese Literature" book, because I need to start somewhere. I'm working through one of the Japanese short stories now; making notes of whatever grammar I don't understand. Then I'll spend the private lesson tackling those issues. That should keep me sane while the main class ploughs through the first two dozen or so chapters of みんなの日本語.

I'm going to have to make some larger changes to my attitude as well, I guess; stuff like asking a salesperson rather than wandering the aisles of SEIYU to find something I want, going to Yamasa's customer services and asking something random like which bin non-burnable rubbish goes into, or -- and this is going to sound embarrassing given what you said -- going to the free conversation practice with native speakers that Yamasa supposedly offers once a week.

The whole city around you is full of speaking opportunities....but you have to go out and put yourself in them.

If you are interested in reading Japanese literature, then take advantage of your time here to visit used bookstores (such as Book Off) where you can get lots of books to take back home with you for later reading. You will never have an easier opportunity to stock up on cheap Japanese books than you do right now. I've gotten quite a few good novels and non-fiction books from the used shops, often for only 100 or 200 yen each. Reading is like speaking: the more you do it the easier it gets. The first Japanese book I ever read was a pet care book called セキセイインコの飼い方増やし方 (The Care and Breeding of Parakeets). It was the sort of simple book you might find in your local pet shop. But I had parakeets, so it was useful. Before attempting regular books, though, I read hundreds of collections of four-panel comics (4コマ漫画). After the parakeet book, I went through a couple of collections of short stories, then through about 15 detective novels by Uchida Yasuo, a half-dozen by Matsumoto Seicho, a couple of novels by Endo Shusaku, and a big stack of non-fiction on all aspects of the Japanese criminal justice system. Recently I noticed that I live in a country with millions of Buddhists and knew nothing about Buddhism, so I read 仏教入門 and am currently over half-way through 法華経大全. It is very nice to sit down and read a Japanese book just for enjoyment or just because you're interested in the content, instead of having to force yourself to read it as a study exercise. It also gives you tons of exposure that is very valuable for your listening and speaking as well. Most definitely work on your Japanese literacy skills and go hit the bookstores for some bargains to take home with you.

Mike Cash said:

The whole city around you is full of speaking opportunities....but you have to go out and put yourself in them.

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I realized that today by going out of my way to ask things and speak in Japanese. To make a long story short, changing my attitude and jumping over my own shadow was a good idea.

I need to find myself a little dictionary for my phone or something. That should make talking without sometimes resorting to oriental-sounding "Japanglish" a little easier.

Mike Cash said:

Most definitely work on your Japanese literacy skills and go hit the bookstores for some bargains to take home with you.

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Went to Book Off today and bought a few things to read (e.g. manga where the story is interesting enough to make me want to figure it out). That should keep my busy for a few weeks and produce enough questions to make the private classes worthwhile.

Guess I'll take things from here and see how they develop. :]

If you want to improve your speaking skills (outside of those free hours at Yamasa), why not try and see if the city where you live has something like Kobe's KICC. At KICC anyone can put up a notice asking for a language partner. Those volunteers will teach you Japanese for free (and/or you'll teach them something). They also offer space for you to meet your partner and provide a selection of textbooks and such. It's always worth checking out.

Seffica said:

why not try and see if the city where you live has something like Kobe's KICC. At KICC anyone can put up a notice asking for a language partner. Those volunteers will teach you Japanese for free (and/or you'll teach them something). They also offer space for you to meet your partner and provide a selection of textbooks and such. It's always worth checking out.

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Thanks. I'll look into that, too. Yamasa's student bar will apparently have space for language exchange and things in that direction when it reopens in a little while. Might be a good thing to take advantage of. :]