[Closed] Genki 1 & Genki 2 Study Group with Native Japanese Volunteers in Second Life starting January 2022

I would love to sign up! Please let me know how I can get a link to the room/session !

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This sounds really interesting! I’d love to join, I’ve never made it too far in the Genki books on my own. Signing up for a Second Life account now, hope it isn’t too late :smiley:

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I’m interested in joining for Genki 1

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Hi, I’m interested in joining for Genki one. I downloaded Second Life and took a look around today. I think it’s going to take a bit for me to get used to it, but hopefully I’ll figure it all out.

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Sorry for the late response, it’s been quite a busy time for me towards the end of the year. The date for Genki 1 class is finally confirmed to 15th January, so I’ve updated my post above accordingly.

If you make an account today or tomorrow, it will be exactly 2 weeks when the Genki 1 activity begins. That means there will be no hassle with adding names in the safe-list as you may just walk-in from the first day of class.

I’m looking forward to meeting all of you who wishes to attend this activity. The Kotatsu might not fit us all, but there should be enough space for everyone in the Nihongo Tea Room garden for sure!

For those who realised Second Life isn’t working on their computers or has a steep learning curve (not user-friendly enough or other reasons), please don’t feel discouraged as I think there are many other better ways to learn Japanese that could work for you. There’s no one ultimate way to reach our shared destination in Japanese learning, in my opinion.

It’s really unfortunate about the bad timing for some who wishes to join too. I won’t put my hopes up, but if there’s ever a similar activity at a better time, I’ll definitely make a new post for that. Regardless of the different learning methods each of us have, I believe we’ll reach our personal goals since we’re all working hard using WaniKani together right now :blush:

May 2022 New Year will be a brighter one for all of us. 良いお年を!

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I haven’t explored much of the other Japanese sims in Second Life since I’m not confident yet in joining in the conversations or typing in complete Japanese. But this link has many events that are organised by native Japanese in Second Life, so you might be able to find some that’s closer to your timezone. It’s all written in Japanese though, and that’s another reason why I haven’t dare to explore deeper for now.

And just to give a heads up, not all places in Second Life uses Voice Chat, so it might defeat your purpose for speaking practice. However, that could be good for fast paced text-chat style typing practice instead, if that’s part of your learning goal too.

Regarding other audio practice, maybe the resources list below could be of help.

Thank you for your the suggestion with Japanese the Manga Way textbook to Lswan too. I’ve only tried Genki textbook so I don’t have any leverage to compare other textbooks that might be better for others.

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Here you go: Second Life Maps | Mallo

Pardon my forgetfulness to link the map to Nihongo Tea Room as at first I worry some might get kicked out automatically for being having an account that’s less than 2 weeks old.

However, that should not be a problem if you’ve made an account earlier, today or tomorrow as it will be exactly 2 weeks by the time it’s the 15th January. So hope to see you there!

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do we need to have to the book by the 15th or is the first meeting just introductory?

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You don’t have to worry if your Genki copy hasn’t arrived yet by the 15th or a couple of weekends after (I know deliveries after New Year can lag a little). Yoshi Sensei will have the lessons displayed on a whiteboard anyway so anyone without a textbook could always follow along.

I also think introductions wouldn’t take the whole hour of lesson time and maybe Sensei will start with something light from the start of the textbook. This is so he can gauge each of the learner’s individual weak and strong points, in finding ways on how to tackle them from the next weekend onwards.

Hope that helps. Looking forward to seeing you in Nihongo Tea Room soon!


Tagging for the Important Notice at the top of this Thread (please scroll to the top. Thank you :bowing_woman:)
@Jorlp @Wildstern @RobSolo

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I have been through Genki 1 and some of 2, but this is coming up at a good time of the year for me.

I will give it some thought, and I may participate.

I remember you from a couple of years ago! I hope that you are doing well with your studies, and your life. :slight_smile:

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I remember you too because you’re the first person in WaniKani to welcome me! :blush: Thanks to your advice, I’m moving along quite well in my slow-but-steady pace of grinding the SRS so far, averaging 1 level per month.

It would be great if you could participate in this activity as well! I hope the learning curve of using Second Life won’t get to you so much and that your computer is able to handle it, because those are the main stumbling blocks, in my opinion.

Crossing fingers to hear from you in Second Life very soon as that would mean you’ve made it there and I’ll get the Nihongo Tea Room owner to add you in the safe list since the start of Genki 2 activity will be this weekend. Hope you are doing well with your studies and your life too!

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Ah, I didn’t see this thread until now. I made a Second Life account just now, but I’m basically one day too late to access the first Genki 1 meeting. Do I need to do anything more in order to join the weekend after? (you mentioned contacting you and being added to a safe list?)

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I have also just seen this thread. I’m creating an SL account today, but am not certain I can make the time. I have the same question as above.

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@Beyond_Sleepy

You’re right, since your Second Life account will be less than 2 weeks old before the start of Genki 1 class, it would be great if you could send an IM to my account there (Haruka Flores). Then I could give your Second Life username to the Nihongo Tea Room owner so she can add you in a safelist. Or if you prefer, you can share your Second Life account name here under this thread too.

Sorry for the slight hassle in membership screening using the vouch system. I blame the trolls (they usually like to make new disposable accounts) in making everyone’s life a bit harder, lol. Nonetheless, one can also wait for their account to be 2 weeks old naturally and just walk-in later as well. I think it doesn’t matter when one starts as long they are able to catch up with the lessons.

Other than that, there’s nothing much else that you need to do before walking into the class other than what’s already written in my posts above. In my opinion, making yourself familiar with the avatar movements and voice chat controls before the activity would help make your learning experience in Second Life goes more smoothly.

@synergiance

Don’t worry about not being able to make time much for this activity. When I was studying with Genki 1 in Nihongo Tea Room, there were a couple of learners who only popped in once in a while because their schedules are busier on most weekends. But that didn’t disrupt their ongoing Japanese studies as they’ve done some homework and practiced on their own while away.

In fact, I’ve started learning at Nihongo Tea Room half-way through Genki 1 myself. All that matters is as long as one is able to catch up if they’ve done their own revisions. I wouldn’t fret about missing a couple of weekends in a row since Yoshi Sensei gives some light homework every week (announced in a private Group on Facebook by Sunday - you’ll be added after your first attendance) so one is able to know where we’re at whenever they return again to Nihongo Tea Room.

Hope that helps and looking forward to having you both as my virtual classmates soon!

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Not sure how to send an IM there, so I’ll just share my SL account name here then, its Synergiance, same as my name here but with a capital S

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I followed the link given, and it took me directly to the Nihongo Tea Room even though my account is less than two weeks old. I’m not sure if the lessons are in a special area, but I was telaported to a Japanese garden type area, and I could see all the schedules.

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@synergiance

Thank you! I’ll pass your Second Life’s username to the Nihongo Tea Room owner this weekend during my Genki 2 class and you should be able to enter the Genki 1 class without any problems by the 15th January. See you then!

@Izabelle

I think you might be lucky that the auto-booter was either deactivated or the new account sensor is only placed in the classroom areas.

According to the Nihongo Tea Room owner, one doesn’t need permission to simply come visit Nihongo Tea Room and play with games like Karuta or Shogi over there. One just needs to pass their Second Life username in advance if they wish to join the classes. Hope that makes sense.

Regarding the schedules displayed, I would take half of them with a grain of salt as some hasn’t been updated in a while. Especially the Google Calendar ones, if I’m not mistaken. The regularly updated ones are from their private Facebook Group updates, which you’ll be added after your first day of attendance in class.

I’ve also just seen Yoshi Sensei’s new updates today on Facebook regarding the Genki 1 and Genki 2 activities. I’ll copy and paste them below and update my first post above too.


BEGINNER JAPANESE 1

January 15, Saturday
9:00 pm (JST)
Break the ice!
Please introduce yourself (Japanese or English).
Let’s practice reading Hiragana together.


JAPANESE 2

1月 8日 土曜日 午後10時(JST),
January 8, Saturday

みなさん、あけましておめでとうございます。
今年もよろしくおねがいします。
さぁ、スタートしますよ!

【GENKI2】
Lesson13 アルバイト探し(Looking for a Part-time Job)のダイアログを読みましょう。

・30ページと31ページのGrammar 1 Potential Verbsを読んでおいてください。

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Okay, thank you. My username is shinpachi99. Could you please add me as well? Thank you.

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Hi! I just found this thread and I’m interested in joining, but since I just created the Second Life account today, it won’t be more than 2 weeks old by the time the first class starts. If you could add me to the “not a troll” list, I would appreciate it :slight_smile:
My username is Silversong20 (same as it is here, but with 20)

(I’m not sure my very old computer will actually allow me to run Second Life smoothly, but I’m going to try anyway :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes: )

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@Izabelle

Of course, I’ll give the Nihongo Tea Room owner your username soon and thank you for your interest in joining the study group. Looking forward to seeing you there! :smiley:

@Silversong

Good luck with the trial using your good old computer! I know the pain of lag in Second Life as my laptop just barely pass for learning purposes too. Sometimes I have to relog a couple of times and usually as long as I sit still and have my screen zoomed-in to the whiteboard, I could follow along the class decently enough, lol. :sweat_smile:

If all goes well, hope to see you in Nihongo Tea Room soon and I’ll pass along your Second Life username to the owner earlier too!

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