Find kids who are good at playing a musical instrument, and you'll have your students.

Stansfield123 Wrote:

sholum Wrote:I don't understand what you're referring to, and apparently my post wasn't clear to you.

Your post was very clear. You declared that selecting the kids who are most likely to succeed at learning Japanese, based on past performance in related areas, is "mean". And you also indicated that you reached this conclusion based on your own fear of being discriminated against.

I'm trying to explain that such selection is actually a way to reward those kids who have done well before. I thought that maybe giving you an example of you being rewarded, rather than discriminated against, for an achievement you had, would help you better understand why that is fair, and even kind, not "mean": that it isn't aimed at punishing kids who don't get in, it's meant to reward and help the kids who earned it.

Though you know the point I was discussing, you've failed to understand which side I was on, how about I give an excerpt:

sholum Wrote:Yes, it sounds mean, but that's just how these things work (and it's definitely not 'discriminatory'; that'd be if children were disqualified for having a mental disorder, being a certain race, being in a house with a particular income level, etc.; the effects of some of those might cause the child to be disqualified (for lack of commitment, lack of time because they're helping their household, etc). Ignoring the anger of your post, I'll quote something important that you've said:
"Basically what I'm saying is, there is no solution."
No, this is wrong; while the ideal solution is inapplicable, there are other solutions; that is what we are discussing: the best applicable solution.

I'm disagreeing with Helena4, who thinks that selection based on previous test scores is 'mean' and that asking students about their hobbies and how often they participate in them is a poor test of dedication (I'm one of those that suggested these methods in the first place). I agreed that, in an ideal world, that students would be able to have a trial period, but then stated that things just don't work that way. Thus, the above selection from my previous post.

So no, my post most certainly wasn't clear to you. Of course, had you taken a minute to glance at the earlier posts on this thread, then it wouldn't have mattered, since I clearly stated my opinion at the beginning

Ok, back to the original topic, if the OP is even still reading, lol.

I've been thinking about what kind of test you could use. Obviously you'd have to make your own, as this is a fairly unique case.

I think that the best method would be something like pattern recognition, but without being too obvious about it. You'd have to write the test in romaji (hepburn), because for beginners some kana look too similar to differentiate.

I think you could do something like a short dialogue with word to word translations underneath the sentences, then English word order translations below. This would be to provide the sample pattern. Then below the dialogue, you would have a list of, let's say, adjectives, and then have the students conjugate them into past tense. I think you'd have to restrict yourself to i-adjectives, because the pattern is simpler, and would be quicker to recognise.

So I guess I'm thinking something like this: (excuse any mistakes)

Please read the short dialogue below.

A: Kawaii inu desu ne!
Cute dog is isn't it?
That's a cute dog, isn't it?

B: Hai, kawaii desu ne. Demo, koinu koro ni, motto kawaikatta desu yo.
Yes, cute is isn't it? But puppy when more was cute is (emphatic)
Yes, he's cute. But when he was a puppy, he was even cuter.

Please change these adjectives into the past tense:

1. Takai (expensive)
2. Oishii (delicious)
3. Futoi (fat)
4. Ureshii (happy)
5. Kawaii (cute)

I think it would be better to separate out ichidan and go dan verbs.

And I think if throughout the test you gave them enough vocab and patterns that they could notice sentence patterns and then be able to write a few simple sentences about themselves at the end. Something like "Watashi ha John desu. Watashi ha sakkaa ga suki desu. Watashi ha ragubii ga jouzu desu. Watashi ha aisu kuriimu ga suki desu.
I don't think that that would be too taxing.

And with a test like this, you'd be testing the ability to notice and apply patterns. You'd just need to make sure you weren't overly explaining things, because you want to test those who have the ability to recognise these things on their own, since that is a big factor in successful language learning, I think.