No one reads anymore!

It finally occurred to me that no one reads anymore. They skim, scan, or glance over articles, posts, or tweets but they don't read. No one reads anymore!

Is there anything sadder than this?

You read all sorts of comments after reading an article and realize, no one reads the actual content.

(Fine, it might not be a new concept and I might have been in denial all this while believing in the human race but my bubble has finally burst.)

Vocabulary Grabber

As an English tutor, it's sometimes difficult to juggle between preparing for a class and my day job so I rely on many, many online resources to generate instantaneous materials. I love flash cards and quizzes but I don't have the time to make either of them. Here's a few links to flash card/quiz resources that may be helpful to you.

Vocabulary Grabber
Copy any text from any reading material you plan to use and paste it into this lovely vocabulary grabber. It grabs all the words in your text based on frequency and difficulty. And it gives you the option of choosing to list only the top 10 words (most used? most difficult?) or you could scan through the list and choose which words you'd want to help your students with. Or just choose everything.

Otherwise, vocabulary.com is a great place to look for word lists that you think your students should know.

Exam English
I was recently required to sit for TOEIC. An English test for listening and reading that most people in Japan would have to sit for. Especially when applying for a job. They also have a speaking and writing test but that costs almost twice the fee it costs for the listening and reading test. I'm not even sure if I should consider taking that.

I digress.

This website has quizzes for major English proficiency tests. Have fun using it. They have a level check too, which should be fairly accurate.

English Grammar
English Grammar is a grammar guide with grammar rules and online exercises. Perfect for reviewing your language ability.

Edufind English Grammar Guide
More English grammar guide! Always good to have more than one reference point for accuracy.

---

Previous Post: ESL Learning Materials

JLPT N1 Preparation Course (Memrise!)

Once you've passed JLPT N2, you're ready to speak to Japanese people, read signs, and be able to live a normal student life in Japan as a foreigner. Your Japanese isn't perfect but you get the gist of most conversations and you are able to build your own lexicon of Japanese vocabulary used only by you and those around you.

So, if you think you're ready to take on JLPT N1, you might have to think twice. I found out the hard way that the leap from N2 to N1 was massive! First of all, you will need to know 2000 漢字（かんじ・Chinese characters). That's twice the amount you were required to know in N2! Next is a list of advanced grammar patterns that you've never seen or heard of. It's almost impossible to learn them on your own without someone to explain them to you. Especially if you don't have a good grammar book.

Anyway.

The test consists of the following sections as far as I'm concerned: Vocabulary, Grammar, Reading Comprehension, and Listening. Since it's Japanese, vocabulary comes in two parts: recognition and recollection. Or being able to read the 漢字 and being able to recall the 漢字. The following online resources listed are what I intend to use to prepare myself for the JLPT N1 in July. The list I have compiled includes flash cards made with Memrise; an excellent SRS app that does what I expect flash cards to do. (I've vetted each deck to suit my learning style.) I'm using a drill book concurrently to keep track of my progress weekly.

---

VOCABULARY (Memrise)

Phase I (Must complete to pass, at least)
JLPT N1 2000 Vocabulary Words

Tanos N1 Vocabulary (non-cumulative list; alphabetical order)
Tanos N1 Vocabulary (non-cumulative, random order)

(Drill Book Supplement)
Verbs, Na-Adj, Nouns
Adjectives
Nouns
Wago Verbs
Combined Verbs
Combined Words
Difficult Readings

語彙まとめドリル。新日本語５００問。
文字まとめドリル。新日本語５００問。
文法まとめドリル。新日本語５００問。

Phase II (To get a better grade)
JLPT N1 Comprehensive
JLPT N1 Kanji
JLPT N1 Revision
JLPT N1 Vocabulary (1)
JLPT N1 Vocabulary (2)

Phase III (If you have the time)
JLPT N1 Vocab and Readings
N1 Vocabulary
完全マスター漢字N1 (1)
完全マスター漢字N1 (2)

Phase IV (After you're done with JLPT) - not so much for preparation but if you have the time why not? xD
読み方が同じになる漢字
日本語の小説

http://m.nestle.jp/recipe/from1/cook/scene/cut 料理に用語辞典

Japan's Prefectures
Complete Japanese Keigo
Japanese Cooking and Ingredients

---

GRAMMAR
JLPT N1 Resources
JLPT N1 Grammar Usage
Old JLPT Level 1 Grammar Guide

---

READING COMPREHENSION
Free N1 Quizzes
Fun Reading Materials
Reading Practice

JLPT Practice Test (free trial)

---

LISTENING
JLPT Official Practice Workbook
Shadowing Practice (Core Sentences)
Shadowing Practice (Full List)

---

EXTRA
A Guide to Japanese Grammar - Tae Kim

This is just something extra if you're interested in learning Japanese. This flash card deck should be used with the source website (Tae Kim's Japanese Grammar Guide), which is an excellent starting point for learning Japanese as a beginner.