JAPAN: A CONTRAST BETWEEN MODERNITY AND TRADITIONALITY.

DO YOU KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT JAPAN?

I WANT TO SHARE WITH ALL OF YOU MY

EXPERIENCE IN JAPAN.

everything STARTED one year AGO….

MY JAPANESE EXPERIENCE

Once I FINISHED my degree in Translation and Interpreting, I DECIDED to go to Japan to improve my Japanese skills. I LOOKED FOR a school in Tokyo, ARRANGED all the papers ….and on September 29th I TOOK a plane to Tokyo. The flight LASTED more or less 16 hours.

MY JAPANESE EXPERIENCE

I SLEPT in for a few hours and at 7 pm we HAD dinner. All the family GAVE me a very warm welcome.

MY JAPANESE EXPERIENCE

The problem ARRIVED when on the table I FOUND two chopsticks instead of a fork and a knife! I ATE sushi, chicken and of course rice. Everything WAS so delicious!! My “Japanese mother” DRANK sake, but I DIDN’T LIKE this wine MADE UP of rice and I PREFERRED to drink a cup of green tea.

We TALKED a little bit about the Spanish customs and then we WATCHED a film.

MY JAPANESE EXPERIENCE

I WENT to the school and I MET a lot of Japanese people who BECAME my friends.

MY JAPANESE EXPERIENCE

Also I SPENT three days in Kyoto and I VISITED a lot of temples!! I SAW a geisha walking around the streets and I WORE a beautiful and colourful kimono.

MY JAPANESE EXPERIENCE

I WENT to Akihabara, in Tokyo and I BOUGHT an electronic dictionary and I WROTE a lot of kanji.

I also HAD the opportunity to watch a film CALLED the Last Samurai and I LEARNED a lot about these warriors.

Japanese traditional figures

Do you want to know more about these warriors?

IN THIS UNIT WE are going to STUDY some of the japanese traditions and we are going to focus on TRADITIONAL FIGUREs, like the SAMURAI and the geisha

PAST SIMPLE: TALKING ABOUT PAST SITUATIONS

BEFORE TALKING ABOUT THESE WARRIORS AND BEAUTIFUL WOMEN, LET’S REFLECT A LITTLE BIT ABOUT MY EXPERIENCE!IS IT A PRESENT OR A PAST SITUATION?WHICH VERB TENSE DID I USE?

PAST SIMPLE: TALKING ABOUT PAST SITUATIONS

Here you will find all the verbs that I used to explain my experience in Japan.

STARTED, FINISHED, DECIDED, LOOKED FOR, ARRANGED, LASTED, ARRIVED, PREFERRED. TALKED, WATCHED, VISITED, CALLED, LEARNED, TOOK, SLEPT, HAD, FOUND, ATE, DRANK, WENT, MET, BECAME, SPENT, WORE, BOUGHT, WROTE, SAW

Can you classify them somehow?

PAST SIMPLE: TALKING ABOUT PAST SITUATIONS

REGULAR VERBS

STARTEDFINISHEDDECIDEDLOOKED FORARRANGEDLASTEDARRIVEDPREFERREDTALKEDWATCHEDVISITEDCALLEDLEARNED

» DIDN’T LIKE

IRREGULAR VERBS

TOOKSLEPTHADFOUNDATEDRANKWENTMETBECAMESPENTWOREBOUGHTWROTESAW

PAST SIMPLE USES

Actions that started and finished in the past

Example: I didn’t go to class yesterday

Actions that happened one after the other in the past (like in my story)

Example: We talked a little bit about the Spanish customs and then we watched a film.

PAST SIMPLE: TALKING ABOUT PAST SITUATIONS

REGULAR VERBSAFFIRMATIVE: I learned a lot of JapaneseNEGATIVE: I didn’t learn EnglishQUESTION: Did I learn English?

PAST SIMPLE: TALKING ABOUT PAST SITUATIONS

IRREGULAR VERBSAFFIRMATIVE: I ate sushi.NEGATIVE: I didn’t eat an appleQUESTION: Did I eat a hamburger?

PAST SIMPLE: RULES

The past forms of regular verbs end in –edThe past form of irregular verbs are all different The negative form of verbs in the past is didn’t+ infintiveWe use Did to make questions in the past simple ( regular and irregular verbs)ADVERBS OF FREQUENCY: yesterday, two weeks ago, last year

PAST SIMPLE: verb to be

TO BE ( WAS/WERE)AFFIRMATIVE:

She was a beautiful geisha.Samurai were Japanese warriors.

NEGATIVE: I wasn’t a foreign in Tokyo.Samurai weren’t American soldiers

QUESTION: Was the manga interesting?Were samurai brave?