By Maria Garcia

Today (October 13) was a great day. We learned so much. The best part was knowing that we would have some special guests arrive for our class today. We had three things to tackle today with our guests in class. The first being the blog post and the importance of students keeping records. We came to a conclusion that a photo album, video, quotes, and creativity were necessities that had to be done as soon as possible. We assigned two people to write a blog post for the day. Next, while our guests were looking around the school, we got through some last things.

When our guests arrived, they introduced themselves and then we had a chance at using our new knowledge. Cyrus mentioned that the refresher was “most definitely a great idea to go over the self introductions.” Our guests were fun and helped us pronounce and correctly write our words. The diplomats brought us all gifts! Sato san, Mayu, and Mizuya were all happy we were studying Japanese and encouraged us to continue.

We learned to count all the way up to 9,999! – which was quick and exciting. Then we reviewed some vowels and added new vowels such ka, ke, ki, ku, and ko. Each character is different and hard to write, because simple strokes can change the meaning of the word. Nevertheless, we took our time as the embassy visitors and some old friends came around to help us. Kenny mentioned his favorite part was to learn the numbers, getting to meet the diplomats, and being able to eat the gift which was a yummy treat.

After all the new information, as a group everyone said “Arigato” to the diplomats for all the help. Then, our old friends made a speech that motivated everyone to continue on their journey with the Japanese language. They told us it may be hard but not to give up and to use our resources. Finally, before ending class, we all went outside with our gifts and took a photo. Everyone said “Ja nae,” and went off on their own paths. After a quick survey, most would agree that today was a lot to learn but very interesting, turning the tables from our so far traditional classroom. Carlos, Kenny, and some others thought that the gifts were yummy and very kind gifts.