Advanced Japanese |
Spring 2016
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Course Information
J11 ABC, R, W, S, K
MLO 1: Language & Communication MLO 5: Cultural Internalization & Language Immersion Course Description
This course is actually comprised of five different classes: grammar (ABC), reading (R), writing (W), speaking (S), and kanji (K). The content covers the latter part of JLPT N3 level and the first part of N2 level.
Course Work
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Reflective Narrative
Normally, after J4 you move onto J10, but I scored well enough on the second semester’s placement exam that I was able to skip a level and enter J11. It was completely unexpected for me because I didn’t do any extra studying before the placement exam, so I get my scores are a reflection of the language immersion environment. Furthermore, because I didn’t follow the usual progression, my classmates from the previous semester weren’t in my class; this was actually another benefit from leveling up because I was able to interact with a different variety of students.
Instead of completing the second half of the J4 textbook, this semester we moved onto a new textbook-workbook combination for Grammar and Writing classes, which caused the day-to-day schedule to change a bit in comparison to the previous semester. Luckily though, the textbook for Reading that we never got to last semester was put to good use in J11R. Kanji didn’t use a textbook this semester; rather, the teacher printed copies for us each week. They were fun because rather than just a list of kanji and common words, it was more of a puzzle-style with blanks we had to fill in using our kanji knowledge. I would say that once again, Speaking was the most difficult section for me—even moreso because I didn’t necessarily do well the previous semester either. What was really interesting this semester in Speaking compared to last semester though was that we focused on debates for the second half of the semester, which I wasn’t expecting (and I don’t even like in English), but was really challenging. Something fun for me this semester was the final article presentation for J11R. Continuing with my design theme, this semester I read an article explaining about colors in Japanese. It was interesting because it's knowledge that I've learned previously in English, so although the content was recognizable, the Japanese was new for me. |