Course Syllabus

JAPN 1010 Elementary Japanese I

Course Description

This course provides an introduction to the Japanese language and the cultures of Japanese-speaking peoples. It is designed for students with no previous Japanese study. During the course, students develop basic oral and listening communication skills by participating in activities that require them to use Japanese in a variety of situations, including conversation, grammar, pronunciation, reading, and writing. Numerous Chinese characters are introduced. Elemental cultural themes are also explored. Students meet with the instructor daily, and have tutorial assistants for additional in-class as well as out-of-class practice. This course is interactive with a focus on learner participation and basic conversation practice in Japanese.

Justification

This course is a prerequisite for JAPN 1020, which satisfies the foreign language requirement for the Associate of Arts degree at Snow College. It is also a prerequisite for intermediate and advanced study of the language. Students are introduced to the language, cultures, and values of Japanese-speaking peoples. Learning Japanese, particularly in combination with studies in other science, technical, or business fields, can provide a valuable and employable life resource. Moreover, Japanese culture is distinct from Western culture in many areas; Japanese studies provide students with a wider perspective of the world.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to understand some everyday words, phrases, and questions about themselves, their personal experiences, and their surroundings, when people speak slowly and clearly or there is repetition.
2. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to understand familiar words, phrases, and simple sentences.
3. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to interact with help using words, phrases, and memorized expressions. They will be able to answer simple questions on very familiar topics.
4. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to provide information about themselves and their immediate surroundings using words, phrases, and memorized expressions.
5. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to provide some basic information on familiar topics in lists, phrases, and memorized expressions.
6. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to seek opportunities to learn about and experience new cultures.
7. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to demonstrate a basic knowledge of cultural traditions, customs, and values in one or more of Japanese-speaking countries.

Course Content

The topics covered in Japanese 1010 include but are not limited to: everyday greetings; basic sentence structures; self-introduction; various particles; telling time; Japanese demonstratives; counting to 99,999; asking/answering telephone numbers; basic verbs and its conjugation; asking/answering directions and locations; shopping in a store; ordering food in a restaurant; various counters; talking about activities and events in the past, present and future time; days of the week and month; making invitations; basic adjectives and its conjugation; expressing likes/dislikes; describing people/places/things; reading and writing Japanese characters (hiragana and katakana) at the sentence/simple paragraph level; reading and writing 50 Chinese characters; various Japanese cultures to explore and discuss diversity. This content is delivered through interactive lecture, multimedia presentation, partner and group work, and instructor modeling of concepts.