Core Courses

This course is an introduction to modern colloquial Japanese through aural-oral drills and exercises using basic grammatical structures. By the end of the course, students are expected to be able to handle basic conversation used in greetings, self-introductions, shopping, etc. Students also acquire basic reading and writing skills through mastery of hiragana, katakana, and very basic kanji to write short sentences.

This high-elementary Japanese course is for those who have completed about 150 hours of classroom instruction. Students review low-elementary Japanese and then study high-elementary grammatical items through aural-oral drills and exercises. Students are expected to be able to handle daily conversation and write short essays with approximately 300 kanji and 1,500 basic words by the end of the course.

This low-intermediate Japanese course is for those who have completed elementary Japanese (approximately 300 classroom hours). It aims at further developing the four basic language skills. The strongest emphasis is on speaking properly in specific situations. Students practice different levels of speech (i.e., formal and informal styles), learn to give a short speech or report, take part in or preside over discussions, etc. Students also read materials with basic kanji and write short essays on specific topics.

This high-intermediate Japanese course provides students with the basic knowledge and skills to take content courses in Japanese, to participate in discussions, and to develop and deepen friendships in Japanese. In terms of knowledge building, students learn core vocabulary, expressions, and grammatical items through the use of everyday materials such as newspaper articles and newscasts. In terms of skills development, students are given tasks designed to help them; comprehend short passages quickly and accurately, follow short conversations and television broadcasts, express themselves in face-to-face and telephone conversations, give short presentations, and write letters and short reports.

This introductory advanced course has two goals:. (1) to provide students with additional knowledge and skills necessary for lectures and participation in discussions, and for developing and deepening friendships in Japanese; and (2) to improve each student's ability to manage his/her own learning experiences through consultation and discussions with the instructor and classmates. In terms of knowledge building, students learn vocabulary, expressions, and grammatical items used in materials such as introductory books in various fields of study and newspapers. In skills development, students practice rapidly processing large quantities of information in Japanese, and expressing themselves in their own words. Students also reflect on what they have learned in and outside the classroom with the goal of becoming autonomous learners who can manage the process of learning on their own.

This course is designed for advanced or very advanced students. It aims to improve each student's ability to manage his/her own learning experiences through consultation and discussion with the instructor and classmates. Students are expected to consider the relationship(s) among (1) the social group that they belong to, (2) the Japanese language, and (3) themselves, and then set their own goals and plans for learning Japanese. Next, they will write reports and make presentations about what they have learned from their overseas study experience, choosing appropriate material from their coursework and daily lives so as to acquire those aspects of Japanese language that they really need. In the process of doing these tasks, students will be expected to rapidly process large quantities of Japanese, express themselves to others in their own words, and resolve their questions about the differences between written and oral expressions and about society and culture.