2/05/2018

What color will your Karate belt be next?

My 9-year-old son started practicing Karate 2 years ago.

He sometimes didn't want to go to the Karate school because it made him tired.

He had hesitated to take the promotion test, so he had been wearing the white belt, it means he is still a beginner.

One day, his Karate teacher strongly advised him to take the test after the practice.

He said,

"You can do it. Recently you seem to be stuck in a rut. Karate is not just a lesson or activity, it is a training method. I think you should try it."

I also tried to persuade my son to take the test.

At first, he didn't follow his teacher's advice because he didn't have any confidence that he would pass the test.

But, the teacher praised my son again in the next practice.

He said,

"Wow! You did a great job today! You seemed to be more motivated than before. I know you can do it!"

He was getting motivated actually, finally he decided to take the test.

The night before the test day, he seemed to be nervous.

He asked me,

"What if I can't do it?"

"Your teacher told you that you can do it. I believe this is so. If you don't do well, you can try it again. Don't be afraid of mistakes."

I encouraged him.


He woke up at 5:30am in the morning on the day of the test.

He was still nervous, but he did very well at the test!

After the test, he said,

"It was easier than I expected. I gained the confidence from today's test. Yes, I can do it. I want to try the next test in June!"

I was surprised and glad to hear that.

Trying to achieve a challenge makes children grow.

I appreciate that my son has met an awesome teacher.

I'm sure that the color of his belt will turn to blue in the next practice!


Thank you(^o^) for reading this article!



6 comments:

  1. Hello Kumisan,

    I am glad to see that you are writing in your blog again. I hope you had a nice setsubun and the demons went outside and that fortune went inside. Also congratulations to your Son on doing so well on his test day. I hope your Daughter and Husband are also well.

    I am still having fun learning Japanese, posting too much on Google Plus but at least I am learning very very slowly.

    Here is a list of some of the issues for with your post:

    Part 1:

    This line:
    One day, his Karate teacher strongly recommended him to take the test after the practice.

    Should probably be:
    One day, his Karate teacher strongly recommended to him to take the test after the practice.

    Or:
    One day, his Karate teacher strongly advised him to take the test after the practice.

    This line:
    "You can do it. Recently you seem to stuck in a rut. Karate is not just a lesson or activity, it is a training. I think you should try it."

    Should probably be:
    "You can do it. Recently you seem to be stuck in a rut. Karate is not just a lesson or activity, it is a training method. I think you should try it."

    This line:
    I also persuaded my son to take the test.

    Should probably be:
    I also (encouraged/tried to persuade) my son to take the test.

    This line:
    At first, he didn't follow his teacher's advice because he didn't have any confidence to pass the test.

    Should probably be:
    At first, he didn't follow his teacher's advice because he didn't have any confidence that he would pass the test.

    This line:
    At the night before the test day, he seemed to be nervous.

    Should probably be:
    The night before the test day, he seemed to be nervous.

    Reason: You do not need to include the word 'At' because 'The night before' already indicates the location in time you are talking about. It can be thought of in this case as having the で/に particle hiding on the end of 'The night before(で/に)'

    Note: The use of で/に and when to use one or the other is still confusing to me so if the above example is confusing please ignore it.

    ReplyDelete

  2. Part 2:

    This line:
    "What if I couldn't do well?"

    Should probably be:
    "What if I don't do well?"

    Or:
    "What if I am unable to do well?"

    Or:
    "What if I can't do it?"

    This line:
    "Your teacher told you that you can do it. I believe so. If you couldn't do well, you can try it again. Don't be afraid of mistakes."

    Should probably be:
    "Your teacher told you that you can do it. I believe (this also/this is so). If you don't do well, you can try again. Don't be afraid of mistakes."


    This line:
    He woke up at 5:30am in the morning of the test day.

    Should probably be:
    He woke up at 5:30am on the morning of the test day.

    Reason: If the sentence were 'He woke up at 5:30am in the morning.' then you could use 'in' but because you also want to indicate that it was certain type of day (test day). In this case 'on' can be used.

    You could rewrite the sentence to keep the 'in the morning' sequence like so:
    He woke up at 5:30am in the morning on the day of the test.

    This line:
    He was still nervous, bt he did very well at the test!

    Reason: Spelling mistake bt should be 'but'

    This line:
    "It was easier than I expected. I got a confidence from today's test. Yes, I can do it. I want to try the next test in June!"

    Should probably be:
    "It was easier than I expected. I (got a confidence boost/grew in confidence/gained confidence) from today's test. Yes, I can do it. I want to try the next test in June!"

    This line
    To challenge something makes children grow.

    Should probably be:
    Trying to achieve a challenge makes children grow.

    This line:
    I appreciate that my son has met the awesome teacher.

    Should probably be:
    I appreciate that my son has met an awesome teacher.

    Reason: 'the' implies in this case that there is only one good teacher, but it is very likely there is more than one good teacher and so 'an' would be a better word choice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Terry, how are you?
      Thank you for your corrections!
      I wrote this article after a long interval.
      I'm really glad that you come here again and help me a lot.
      From your example of で/に, I can see you keep learning Japanese!
      If you need some help for your study, please let me know(^^).

      Delete
  3. At this time I am practicing Kanji and Kanji Radical writing and stroke orders. Relaxing but very time consuming. I record myself writing them so as to motive myself to learn them and try to get better but I am not a good writer even in my native language of English, so I find Kanji very difficult to write well. I upload my practce sessions on to youtube so I can review them when I don't have my tablet. They are boring to watch for anyone else but a learner however 😃

    Though I do listen to music on my tablet while I practice.

    http://www.youtube.com/c/TerryWallwork

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I saw your YouTube page, I'm impressed that you practices so hard!

      I would like to introduce a website which can practise writing Kanji for Japanese elementary school students.

      http://happylilac.net/p-sy-kanzi.html

      My children usually use materials like that, too.
      I think it is good that they include how to use in the sentences, so you can learn the examples, too.

      You can click the link "小学1年生の漢字練習・テスト プリント 無料ダウンロード・印刷", so that you can see the materials for 1st grade students and download them.
      There are materials for from 1st to 6th grade students.

      Keep learning each other!

      Delete
  4. Thank you Kumi for the link those pdfs look very useful. I bookmarked them and posted them on my G+ page.

    It looks like little children in Japan have quite a lot of Kanji to learn in their first year.

    ReplyDelete