COURSE DESCRIPTION

Third Year JLCC is for those who have completed the equivalent of two years of college level Japanese.  It will  enable students to upgrade their Japanese communication skills from the intermediate level, where they are able to communicate in typical daily situations, to the advanced level, where they can conduct spontaneous conversations smoothly and can express their thoughts on more abstract levels.

This transition will be facilitated by the study of current Japanese media, such as newspaper, magazine and book excerpts written for native speakers of Japanese.  Students will have many opportunities to further deepen their grasp of these materials through class discussions.  Such lively interactions and exposure to authentic Japanese writings will converge to enhance all four areas of language --  speaking, listening, reading and writing.
 

Content
Theme : Understanding lives of young people in Japan

Topics:
 Secrets of mastering foreign languages
 College life in Japan
 How to get a job in Japan
 World of Japanese children
 Love & marriage in Japan
 Social and geographical dialects; popular vernacular
 

Materials:
 Newspaper & magazine excerpts
 Essays
 Web pages
 TV talk show & drama video clips
 Taped interviews
 

Objectives:  "Advanced" Level according to ACTFL Guideline at the end of the school year

1. Speaking: You will be able to initiate, sustain and close a general conversation with a number of strategies appropriate to a range of circumstances and topics.

2. Listening: You will be able to understand main ideas and most details of interviews, short lectures on familiar topics, and news items and reports dealing primarily with factual information.

3. Writing: You will be able to express your thoughts and opinions on familiar topics, and meet practical writing needs of daily life.

4. Reading: You will be able to read multi-paragraphic materials of a factual nature with the help of dictionaries.
 

Textbooks
 "Authentic Japanese: Progressing from Intermediate to Advanced" (1998) by Osamu Kamada et al.
 Supplementary Course Reader
 

Class Hours
 MTWThF 10:00 - 10:50
 

Requirements
 1. Active participation
 Regular attendance is extremely important for this course.  Students are also   expected to participate fully in class activities and discussions.

 2. Textbook and course reader
 Students are expected to read assigned pages before coming to class.

 3. Video clips
   Students are expected to view assigned video clips and fill in the blanks in the  scripts before coming to class.

 4. Homework
 Homework is due on the schedule dates. Students are expected to submit all  required materials to the instructor at the beginning of each class session.  Please do  not forget to staple all pages.