Japanese JA250

Koichi NISHIGUCHI (Center for International Education and Exchange)

Course Objective
   This course is designed for post-elementary students to aquire basic practical language skills, both spoken and written further building on the the knowledge of Japanese they have acquired in elementary courses. The specific objectives of JA250 are:
     (1) to expand ability for daily communication on topics mostly related to self and immediate environment in both spoken and written Japanese
     (2) to become fluent in using the language structures, vocabulary and phrases both of spoken and written Japanesecommonly used in daily conversations and informal discussions
     (3) to be able to talk and understand on a viriety of subjects within his/her field of interest with some assistance from the interlocutor
     (4) to be able to comprehend and write texts constructed with new combinations of learned structures, using hiragana, katakana and approximately 500 and more kanjis

Requirement / Prerequisite
   Students should have completed Japanese JA200 or an elementary Japanese course at other institution.

Course Content
   Several topics or themes among the following ones will be chosen as the topics or themes of the course.

• different aspects of one's life
• one's family
• one's childhood
• one's near future
• one's relations with Japan
• experiences in which one is helped or assisted by other persons
• experiences in which one helped or assisted other persons
• a story in which someone urges someone else to do something
• a story in which one is urged to do something
• miserable experiences
• evolution of tools/language/human's capacity
• hisotorical development of industry and the society, and change of human living conditions
• education and children
• education system
• place of work in life
• company and individual
• employment system in Japan
• work-life balance
• modern Japanese hisroty and Japanese people
• living in Japan as an individual coming from abroad

Textbooks

1. "A New Approach to Intermediate Japanese"(Osaka University, to be provided in class)
2. "Perfect Master Kanji N2"(Bonjinsha, to be purchased at COOP)

Grading Policy
   One lecture and two sessions (90 minutes each) will be given in a week for 15 weeks. Regular attendance to all classes is required. Being absent for one third or more of the classes will be considered as withdrawal from the course.

Grading
   Class attendance, participation and performance 40%
   Quiz, assignment, essay and presentation 20%
   Final written Exam. 20%
   Final oral exam. 20%