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Originally Posted by darksyndrem
But I don't live in Japan, which means I don't hear everyone speaking Japanese everyday, which makes your scenario completely different
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Absolutely. I took ten years of French, but fifty minutes every other day of the regular school year with no studying beyond what would get a good grade accomplished only one thing: I can still read it. I cannot speak it, I can barely understand it when listening to it, and don't ask me to write any compositions in it!
(Incidentally, English teacher mode: on. Every day is two words, everyday means common, i.e. "that's so everyday." Good difference to know, since everyday is a great word when used within its actual definition
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I really wish I could move to Japan for a summer or a school year for that matter. But my point is learning to actually speak Japanese and hear it and understand it that way will probably be alot harder for me than it was you, just because you were constantly hearing it.
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Again, absolutely. I know my language acquisition will always be faster than my students' acquisition of English. I can't look at my TV or my refrigerator or pass a neighbor on the walk without being forced to use Japanese. That's why as hard as I try, for some students, my instruction of English will have no more impact than my French teachers had on me. Some students, of course, will indeed be impacted, and that is why I do this.
(A lot is also two words).