This course is the first half of the first-year Japanese course and is designed for students with little or no understanding of Japanese. The course focuses on the developing students’ proficiency in all four language skills (speaking, listening, writing, and reading) while simultaneously familiarizing them with aspects of both traditional and modern Japanese culture that are necessary to build language competency.
By the end of this course, students will be able to:
Understand and appropriately use the most basic grammar patterns and vocabulary terms
Understand and participate in basic conversations (e.g. self-introductions, shopping, making invitations, describing locations of items, talking about one’s favorite trips, etc.)
Read and write the Japanese hiragana and katakana characters, and produce approximately 50 kanji in context
Speak at a novice-mid, or higher, level of proficiency as defined by the ACTFL Oral Proficiency Interview.
Course Requirements:
Attendance, Classroom Performance & Participation, Assignments, Quizzes/Pronunciation Checks, Lesson Tests, Exams (Midterm & Final), and Project
Intended Audience:
This course is designed for students with little or no understanding of Japanese. The course is not designed for native speakers who: 1) Speak Japanese as first language 2) Completed their high school education at an institution where the language of instruction is Japanese only.
Class Format:
Drill sessions are conducted in Japanese and emphasize the ability to produce and comprehend Japanese at a natural speed. Analyses and explanations delivered in English and Japanese are reserved for the lecture sessions.