Games in Japanese - Course Introduction Video (and transcript)
/On Games in Japanese (日本語でゲーム), we practise communicating in Japanese by playing games!
This footage is from the 2019 Games in Japanese Summer Course at Step Up Japanese in Brighton, UK. In summer 2020, we also held our first Online Games in Japanese course.
Thanks to Daniel Sheen for making this video!
Watch the video, or scroll down to read a transcript. Click "CC" to turn on the subtitles 👍
What is Games in Japanese?
David: In 日本語でゲーム (Games in Japanese), we play a variety of games, only ever using the Japanese language.
Showing students how to play:
Fran: どれですか。(Which one is it?)
Fran: そうですね。木が同じです。(That’s right! KI [tree] is the same)
Fran: ３，２，１、はい。(3, 2, 1, go!)
Fran: あ！あ！ハサミ！(Ah! “Scissors!”)
Fran: 私は取ります。(So, I take the card)
Sara: You’ve got all the numbers, the names out on the floor, and it’s the reading and trying to get to it before everyone else, which is quite funny.
N: クエスチョン、はてなマーク (“question mark”)
What do you like about “Games in Japanese”?
David: I find it difficult to play games in only Japanese, but I really relish the challenge to speak only Japanese. It really makes me have to think in a way that maybe I wouldn't have the opportunity to do if I wasn't taking the course.
David: サングラス (“sunglasses”) (Laughter)
Sara: It’s very good vocab practice. I think it’s more, the games we have, it’s a lot more sort of random words so I feel like you’re a lot faster with it, so you tend to do a bit less thinking about the words that you want, you just kind of go like “that word, quick!”
Fran: はい (OK, let’s go)
A:ピエロ (“clown”)
Sara: So you’re trying to beat everyone else to it, so it's a bit more, a bit more silly.
Fran: 音楽 (“music”)…音楽 (“music”) (Laughter)
A: クモ (“spider”)
Sara: ドラゴン (“dragon”)
B: 花 (“flower”)
Sara: I quite like that game, it was funny.
Would you recommend Step Up Japanese?
Sara: I think Step Up Japanese is really good way to go, it’s really good practice, it’s a really relaxed atmosphere, and Fran’s such a good teacher. I’ll go home and I’m like, right, “I’m gonna do this”, I feel motivated to keep going at the weekends.
Like many people in the UK, I studied French in school. I liked French. I thought it was really fun to speak another language, to talk with people, and to try and listen to what was going on in a new country. (Still do!)
When I was 14 we went on a school exchange to the city of Reims, in northeastern France. I was paired with a boy, which I’m sure some 14-year-olds would find very exciting but which I found unbearably awkward. He was very sweet and we completely ignored each other.
That was nearly 20 years ago, and I didn’t learn or use any more French until, at some point in lockdown, I decided on a whim to take some one-to-one lessons with online teachers. Here are some things I learned about French, about language learning, and about myself.