May 14, 2014　=========
☆ drill　演習
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My mother in law sometimes sends us little “care packages” from Japan. It includes things like Okinawa black sugar, Chisuko biscuits, and other yummy things that we can’t buy in Australia. She also usually includes Japanese books for my kids and especially the Kumon books that are filled with drills. Drills for adding, drills for subtraction, drills for hiragana and kanji and so on and so on. The packages are usually very heavy because of these workbooks!
What do you think about these workbooks filled with drills only? Are they useful? Can you get the same kind of thing from Kumon or other businesses to help you learn English through drills? A famous American motivational author and speaker, Zig Ziglar used to say that we need to know the basics of a language (or other skill) so well that our subconscious can deal with it completely, which then leaves our conscious mind free to be more spontaneous and creative. I imagine that this is the purpose of these kinds of drills. Once the mind has remembered these basic kinds of drills, it is ready for more creative work. What do you think? Is this the logic behind these kinds of workbooks filled with drills or is there another reason they are so popular in Japan?
Bye,
Chris