The Q&A Diary – Is it Worthwhile?
Potentially rewarding to both English language teachers and students
A few months ago, my daughter pointed out this diary to me in our local bookstore here in Japan. She was excited, and that was enough for me to take a look. On that day, I fell in love with the book and purchased two copies.
Brett's Thoughts
I think it best that you know my stance on making reviews upfront. I don’t like making them.
However, this book is worth mentioning. Since I have already created a YouTube video on it (It is only a 2 minute video by the way), I think it would be worthwhile to put it into words. Upfront, I find this book potentially useful for both English language teachers and students, but it has a questionable area of difficulty. Let’s have a deeper look.
The Design and Look
- The diary is well-made. Pages are thick and the binding seems durable. When splayed open, it is an A4 size.
- It has a question prompt.
- There is more than enough space to write in the three lines given.
- There is a Words & Phrases portion of the book. It has perhaps 6 vocabulary words or short idiomatic phrases.
- It has a small memo area.
- The date area is left blank, which is also a very practical aspect.
- Overall, the design and look are both visually appealing and practical.
The Pros
- It is inspirational and multifunctional by design. Simple and thought-provoking.
- It is written in both Japanese and English.
- It has truly excellent question prompts. They can be repurposed easily using some imagination. For example: The page above asks, “If you could swim, where would you go?”. If you replace the verb fly with “could breathe underwater”, then you would have a whole new area to practice with.
- The Words and Phrases portion of the book are interesting, albeit not always useful for the purpose of the 3-line writing exercises. Excellent research potential.
- I could see how this would benefit my students if I provided them with homework using pages of this book, then following up with it the next day.
- The Memo area is a nice touch. I can see it being used by teachers for writing corrections or assessment.
The Cons
Months later, my daughter still has not started writing in hers yet, which is the main downside of this diary that I want to talk about.
The main criticism of this book is its very nature as a diary.
Using a diary with writing prompts can potentially help English learners improve their language skills. It gives them a structured way to practice writing, learn new words and expressions, and build confidence. Keeping a private diary lets learners play with language in a safe place without criticism.
However, without corrections and feedback from a teacher, learners might keep making the same language mistakes. They also might not feel like they are getting better at writing.
My daughter says this makes it feel like a boring chore. While she is only 12 at the time I wrote this article, this is most definitely the biggest problem area of the book.
The Use of AI as a teacher
The question, as quoted from the Q&A Diary, is “Who is the nicest person around you?”
My answer was intentionally facetious: “The nicest being around me is my dog. She is very kind. She gives me hugs.”
The word “nice” should be changed to “nicest” for proper comparative usage. Error 1.
Although many people view dogs as “man’s best friend” and humanize them to a certain extent, they are still animals and cannot be categorized as people. Therefore, my answer was factually incorrect. Error 2.
While AI technology has made significant advances, it cannot fully replace a language teacher’s expertise and guidance.
My Conclusion
It is both good and bad.
More importantly, what do you think?
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